Several people who have their Paypal accounts tied to their iTunes accounts woke up to some surprising emails this morning. A hacker managed to gain access to their accounts and drained thousands of dollars from several unsuspecting people. One customer reported that “My account was charged over $4700. I called security at PayPal and was told a large number of iTunes store accounts were compromised.”

Joey Bruce is one of the people who were hit the hardest by this hack. “Someone hacked my iTunes/paypal acct and drained everything from my bank account. Life is kicking me in the balls while I’m down.”

All reports point to this being a fault on the side of Apple and iTunes instead of PayPal itself. Apple has had several security setbacks in recent months, including the exposure of iPad customer data in June. I think that perhaps someone in Cupertino needs to take a hard look at adding more security layers to their products and services. The company has long trumpeted their security successes as being nearly untouchable by other platforms and companies. That foundation has been seriously shaken in 2010.

Were your accounts compromised today? We’d love to hear from you about the incident. Is PayPal cooperating with you and helping you to rectify the situation? Has anyone heard directly from Apple in this matter?

Update – Digital Daily reports that there isn’t really a security hole in iTunes – according to Apple. It’s more likely that several people were hit with a bot/phishing attack yesterday.

In any case, make sure your security software is fully updated and that you are careful with your account information.