Chinese hackers have managed to reverse-engineer the iTunes Gift Certificate algorithm and are knocking out knock-off cards and selling them cheap. In China, a $200 equivalent card can be had for just $3.
In a tribute to China’s healthy disregard for intellectual property (much like the policy in the US for the first 100 years of its life), these numbers are being traded on Taobao, the "Chinese Ebay". Buyers receive their codes via instant message, ready to be redeemed. Searching on the US Ebay site turns some codes up, too. According to Yahoo news, the going rate is around $40 for a $200 card.
Because the hackers appear to have discovered how to make genuine gift codes, the numbers are legitimate and cannot be distinguished from those blessed with Apple’s magic wand. Good news for the dodgy buyers, but bad news for real, honest customers: it’s entirely possible that the Chinese hackers could sell off a code that is already on a card in a store in the US, meaning the honest buyer will be left with an invalid certificate.
Not surprisingly, Apple is quiet on the matter. Expect to hear something when the company finds a fix. This could be tricky — the code generating algorithms could be changed, but that would leave a bunch of honest buyers with dead cards.
Hacked: $200 iTunes Gift Card for Only $2.60 [Yahoo News]
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