How do I verify and prevent unauthorized charges on my Apple Account?

Hard to believe a charge you did not authorize would even appear on your Apple Account in any way

Charges are authorized by you with biometric authentication (Face ID, Touch ID or device passcode), so it's pretty difficult for a charge to just somehow appear on your account.

There is no way to block a charge once you see it, since it's already happened by the time it appears on your account, there is no pre-charge announcement for it.

If you downloaded an app with a free trial, those usually renew into paid subscriptions automatically unless you cancel them before they renew. But those are again, authorized by you and confirmed through the aformentioned biometric authentication when you download the App. It's quite rare for a charge from Apple to be truly unauthorized.

Your only other possibility, would be if your payment method has been compromised and someone else is using it to make purchases, in which case the course of action would be to call your card issuer or bank and block the card.

Where are you seeing this charge exactly?

Have you identified the charge at https://reportaproblem.apple.com?

click here ➜ Get help with charges from apple.com/bill - Apple Support

Are you sure it was not something you downloaded and forgot about?

Are you the Family Organizer in a Family sharing group? If so, charges from other members may be charged to your payment method.

If this charge is only seen on an email or text message, then those are pretty much always scams.

click here ➜ Recognize and avoid social engineering schemes including phishing messages, phony support calls, and other scams - Apple Support

For minors who are part of the Family sharing group, you can set up Ask To Buy so all charges initiated by minors are required to be authorized by the family organizer before they are allowed to complete.

click here ➜ Approve what your child can purchase and download with Ask to Buy - Apple Support

That’s a phishing attempt from scammers and it’s literally been reported 100’s of times if not 1000’s. 

Apple would never contact you. Your bank (issuer of card) would contract you. Banks do the exact opposite of the message you received. If they suspect fraud, the transaction is stopped immediately. You have to call to verify the transaction, not call to stop the transaction. Scammers are giving it a sense of urgency so you’ll react without thinking. You were wise to slow down and ask questions.

“Don't answer suspicious phone calls or messages claiming to be from Apple. Instead, contact Apple directly through our official support channels.”

”To report a suspicious SMS text message that looks like it's supposed to be from Apple, take a screenshot of the message and email the screenshot to [email protected].”

You can report phishing at these links and most importantly your local law enforcement.

Identify legitimate emails from the App Store or iTunes Store.

FTC Complaint Assistant

FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center

Learn about how not to be a victim of Social Engineering.

Recognize and avoid social engineering schemes including phishing messages, phony support calls, and other scams - Apple Support

seleta21 wrote:

Yes it popped up while I was reading a story on fb.

What exactly popped up? Was it a notification or a pop up inside of the Facebook app? Do you have a screenshot? Do you remember what it was a charge for?

Did you receive an email or a text? This sounds like a scam? Please provide more details so we can properly assist you.

Yes it popped up while I was reading a story on fb.

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