A selection of Apple Gift Card designs - Image Credit: Apple
The locking of an Apple Account and the difficulty one loyal Apple customer has experienced in regaining access is a stark reminder to be vigilant when buying gift cards for the holidays.
While holiday presents tend to involve physical items or cash, gift cards are often included in the mix, especially as a last-minute purchase. However, as one prominent Apple user has discovered, sometimes buying a gift card can be hazardous, even if they take a lot of precautions.
Posted on Saturday, Paris Buttfield-Addison of game studio Secret Lab explains how access to their entire Apple digital life has been blocked off. All stemming from an Apple Gift Card purchase.
There was an attempt to apply an Apple Gift Card code valued at $500 to an Apple Account, in order to pay for a 6TB iCloud+ storage plan. However, the code was rejected by Apple.
The vendor was contacted about the code, proposing that the card number was probably compromised. The retailer then reissued a code, which was used on the account.
Not long after, the account was locked.
The blog post explains that the gift card was purchased from a "major brick-and-mortar retailer," rather than a smaller, less secure retailer or from an acquaintance. Indeed, to try and prove the legitimacy, a copy of the receipt including the gift card's serial number and purchase location were sent to Apple.
While this is a problem that could've affected a typical user, the victim in this case is far from a casual Apple customer. They have written books on Apple development and have helped to run the longest-running third-party Apple developer event, /dev/world.
Digital life destroyed
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