Chinese Hacker Tricks iTunes Gift Card Algorithm

Reports say that Apple's iTunes gift card algorithm has been hacked by someone in China. The hackers of Apple’s iTunes store gift vouchers and their local agents alledly make profits by selling $200USD iTunes gift cards for as little as 17.9 RMB - roughly $2.6 USD.

Outdustry is reporting that China’s biggest C2C online shopping site, Taobao, is the platform used for selling the cards. “All the seller actually sells is the gift voucher code which they send you directly through Taobao’s IM software. You can then redeem the card in your iTunes account,” Outdustry explains. Apple has not officially commented on the matter yet.

“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,” the report continues. “Half a year ago, when they started the business, the price was around 320 RMB for 200 USD card, then more people went into this business and the price went all the way down to 18 RMB per card, 'but we make more money as the amount of customers is growing rapidly',” Taobao's head told the site.

“The hackers are based in China, but I don’t know if they do the same thing in eBay,” the Taobao shopkeeper added. “Most of our customers use iTunes store for music, then Apple applications (bear in mind that the iPhone is only available in the grey market in mainland China) and films. iPod games are least popular.”




As Neowin points out, the algorithm being generated by the Chinese hackers could be on an actual $200.00 gift card being sold as you are reading these lines. Imagine the frustration of the customer redeeming the valuable card only to find that it's not useable. Apple's image may suffer deeply, should this turn into a widespread issue.