Beware of the “iTunes Fraud”

No, no, Apple is not stealing your money through its online music store. Rather, it turns out that thieves are beginning to use online services (i.e., iTunes), to test the legitimacy of stolen credit cards. According to The Mail on Sunday, this is referred to as the “51p iTunes fraud”.

It works in three stages. First, the thieve steals your (or some unlucky person’s) credit card details over the internet. Then, they make a small purchase through iTunes. Since the value of purchase is usually less than $10, little or no warning is given to the cardholder.