Billed, but you didn’t buy?
Did you receive an unexpected bill for an app or service you didn’t buy?
Confirm the payment actually happened with your payment provider, as there are phishing messages falsely claiming to be bills, but these messages are seeking to obtain your Apple Account login credentials! They’re not actually bills!
For these, see: Scam Pop-ups, Scam Viruses, Scam Receipts… - Apple Community
Here are the four usual causes, and what to do about each.
1️⃣ Are you in a Family Sharing group, and with shared purchases enabled?
If so, check with the others in the group, and their Apple Account purchases. This purchase should show on the purchaser’s Apple Account, and also on the shared payment method account.
Optionally, for Family Sharing groups with younger members:
Do not share an Apple Account, and this for various reasons including purchase responsibility.
2️⃣ Is the purchase shown in your Apple Account billing and subscriptions, and you’re not in Family Sharing?
If so, you have an Apple Account breach, or a passcode breach, or both. You’ll want to re-secure your Apple Account, reset your passcode, and request a refund from Apple.
- Subscriptions and Billing - Official Apple Support
- If you think your Apple Account has been compromised - Apple Support
- Request a refund for apps or content that you bought from Apple - Apple Support
Apple may or may not grant a refund, and at their sole discretion.
Unfortunately, sharing an Apple Account password or device passcode can get expensive and messy. Here is how to move from a not-recommended shared Apple Account to the recommended individual accounts:
- Make sure that each family member has a unique Apple Account - Apple Support
- What is Family Sharing? - Apple Support
- How to “unshare” an Apple ID - Apple Community
- Require a password for purchases in the App Store and other Apple services - Apple Support
3️⃣ If the purchase is not shown on your Apple Account, and is shown on your payment card provider’s billing details?
If so, notify your credit card or debit card provider. Your card provider will then resolve this as appropriate.
This can be some sort of payment fraud, and can be somebody else is using your credit card or debit card details on their Apple Account, or potentially the merchant is billing when you believe they shouldn’t be.
Again, contact your credit card or debit card provider, and report this. Contact info for your card provider is on the back of the card, or is included on the payment card provider’s account statement, or is available in Wallet app for Apple Card.
It is not your role to report this to Apple.
(Not unless your payment provider is Apple Card, then report this to Apple Card support.)
Your credit card or debit card provider will take appropriate the steps with your report, and they will notify Apple. Not you. You do not notify Apple here. Your card provider makes that notification.
How did your credit card or debit card details get compromised? It varies. Widely :
4️⃣ Otherwise…
The message you’re reading is likely some sort of spam or account phishing, or somebody mistyped your email address somewhere. This if there’s no indication of an unrecognized or matching billing amount on your payment card, or on your Apple Account.
Here are some of the other common scams:
- Recognizing Apple Pay Fraud Report Scams - Apple Community
- Scam Pop-ups, Scam Viruses, Scam Receipts… - Apple Community
