iTunes Gift Card scams are still being used
Last month I heard from one of my readers about a scam he’d fallen for. Apparently, he’d been tricked into paying for something using an iTunes gift card. The lesson cost him $600—a stiff price to pay for letting his guard down for a few minutes.
iTunes gift cards have limited usage
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reported on this scam in May 2016. At the time, they specifically mentioned scams involving iTunes cards being used to pay for back taxes or to transfer money to another person online. The problem is that iTunes cards cannot be used for these purposes.
According to Apple, “iTunes Gift Cards are solely for the purchase of goods and services on the iTunes Store and App Store. Should you receive a request for payment using iTunes Gift Cards outside of iTunes and the App Store please report it at ftc.gov/complaint.”
How the scam works
Just like other scams involving Amazon gift cards, PayPal or MoneyPak, the scammers ask you to buy a card and then give them the security code. For an iTunes card this is a 16-character code on the card. Once the scammer has the code, the money can be taken at any time and there will be nothing you can do to stop it.