Chinese auction site sells thousands of stolen iTunes accounts

50,000 stolen iTunes accounts linked to stolen credit cards are being sold on a Chinese auction site, according to a report from the BBC.

Listings on TaoBao, the Chinese equivalent of eBay, are promising access to iTunes downloads for between 1 yuan ($0.15) and 200 yuan ($30).

However, customers are advised that they are likely to only have about 12 hours to download apps, movies, games and music from the online store before their accounts are suspended.

A reporter with the Global Times, who discovered the activity on Taobao, paid $5 for an iTunes username and password. When accessing the account they found that it contained credit card details and the address of a user based in the United States.

What isn’t entirely clear is whether fraudulent…

Read more in my article on the Naked Security website.

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Graham Cluley •   @gcluley

Graham Cluley is a veteran of the anti-virus industry having worked for a number of security companies since the early 1990s when he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows. Now an independent security analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and is an international public speaker on the topic of computer security, hackers, and online privacy. Follow him on Twitter at @gcluley, on Mastodon at @[email protected], or drop him an email.