According to the lawsuit, the company knowingly allowed fraudsters to use its gift cards while keeping a 30% commission on the stolen money.

Scammers contacted victims over the phone and convinced them to purchase App Store and iTunes gift cards to cover various expenses, including taxes, hospital bills, utilities, and more. In the future, cardholders were encouraged to share the codes on the back (despite the fact that the cards contained a warning not to share the code with outsiders).

According to Reuters, Apple kept 30% of each cardholder’s stolen funds as a “commission” for converting the stolen codes into dollars.

According to a statement filed in federal court in San Jose, California, Apple and the plaintiffs have agreed to a settlement after working with a mediator and are preparing a formal agreement to be presented to US District Judge Edward Davile for preliminary approval.

In June 2022, Davila denied Apple’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

The lawsuit concerns all US customers who, between 2015 and July 31, 2020, purchased gift cards that could be used in iTunes or the App Store, provided codes to fraudsters, and received no refund from Apple. In total, victims could lose “hundreds of millions of dollars.”