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iTunes Gift Card Key System Cracked, Exploited

Posted by kdawson on from the poisoning-the-currency dept.

moonbender writes "Fake but working iTunes gift cards are being sold on Chinese auction sites for a fraction of their value: 'The owner of the Taobao shop told us frankly that the gift card codes are created using key-generators. He also said that he paid money to use the hackers' service. Half a year ago, when they started the business, the price was around 320 RMB [about $47] for [a] $200 card, then more people went into this business and the price went all the way down to 18 RMB [about $2.60] per card, "but we make more money as the amount of customers is growing rapidly."' The people at Chinese market researcher Outdustry have apparently confirmed this by buying a coupon and transferring it into an iTunes account. Oops."

7 of 388 comments (clear)

  1. BitTorrent by MrEricSir · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's still easier to use BitTorrent.

    --
    There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
    1. Re:BitTorrent by Shakrai · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's still easier to use BitTorrent.

      It's probably safer too. Bittorrent is going to be a civil matter. Exploiting a hole in Apple's POS system to get free stuff probably qualifies as fraud and would bring criminal charges.

      Random thought: Reminds me of the old days when you could create credit card "numbers" that weren't actually valid but passed the checksum test and use them to create AOL accounts. Kind of surprised that Apple wouldn't know better.

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
    2. Re:BitTorrent by bkgood · · Score: 5, Insightful

      companies like Apple who take massive amounts of GPL code to build their empires and give NOTHING in return.

      ... except the huge advances Apple has given KHTML in the form of WebKit.

  2. And You Wonder Why Amazon MP3 Only Works in the US by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "but we make more money as the amount of customers is growing rapidly."

    Brilliant business model there, Taobao. I used to feel bad that Amazon's MP3 Service only worked inside the United States but now it's pretty clear: I doubt Apple will have much luck prosecuting anyone in this case whereas it would have been different had it happened on American soil.

    I'm sure the Chinese government will help protect Apple's ... hahahaha sorry, couldn't quite say that with a straight face. Seriously, we must look like ripe-for-the-picking rubes to places like China. They're sitting there with free copies of Vista, Adobe Suites and now cheap "legal" music. I guess it will forever remain a mystery to them why their nation isn't home to prosperous software & music industries while the status quo is free for the taking with no repurcussions.

    --
    My work here is dung.
  3. Invalidated by Norsefire · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The other side to this is that when a legitimate customer buys a card that's code has already been found using a keygen their card won't work, I hope Apple has a refund system. The joys of security through obscurity in action.

  4. Re:And You Wonder Why Amazon MP3 Only Works in the by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Personally, I think that will become the downfall of our county.

    Our main products that we're making here are things that can be easily recreated at no cost. Sure, we've got laws that attempt to stop it, but many places don't.

    We've shipped most of our jobs making actual products overseas. And we wonder why China is becoming so powerful? They're making physical goods, and freely recreating our virtual goods.

  5. Re:Occam's razor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I once received a gift certificate in a Christmas card that was delivered accidentally to my address, and I was able to go ahead and use it.

    You just admitted to comitting a Federal crime, son, and a Felony at that. If I were you, I'd shut the hell up and never mention your this "freebie" to anybody.