Jpopmp3s blog

It looks like Apple has responded to the recent news about Chinese hackers selling 200 dollar iTunes cards for less than $3 online by trying to limit their liability and capping giftcard purchases to USD50 (5000 yen in the Japanese store).

When attempting to purchase a 10,000 yen card tonight I was surprised when the drop down menu only gave me 5 choices, up to a maximum of 5000 yen. At first I thought that maybe I was approaching my limit on my account and only had 5000 yen credit left, (Apple limits the amount of gift cards you can purchase on each iTunes music store account).  But a quick check at various iTunes music stores verified that a 50 dollar limit was in place on all international stores as well as the US store.

Hopefully this is just a temporary action while Apple tries to figure out how to beat these cyber-criminals who are selling thousands of dollars worth of cards online. There is speculation  online about whether the hackers have cracked the algorythm that creates the iTunes store codes or if it’s just a case of criminals using stolen credit card numbers to buy large quantities of cards and then selling them.

For the time-being I’ll be removing the option to purchase 6000-9000 yen cards from the store until further developments at the iTunes music store. Check back here for further updates on the situation.

Meanwhile, in the silver lining department, if anyone chooses a 10,000 yen card, I’ll send them two 5000 cards for the price of a 10,000 yen card, which is actually USD4.60 less than the price of the 2 cards sold separately