The Scam App #210

If An App Cost Money, Don’t Buy It. It Could Be A Scam App. You Can Always Get Something Similar Or Better For Free.

A report came out that the Apple app store was home to nearly 2000 scam apps. These are apps that promise one thing for a monetary fee and deliver nothing in return. The company selling a finger print heart rate monitor that was selling for $85 US dollars. And had earned over $400,000 dollars in one month.

This is incredible, both the lucrative nature of the scam and that people would pay such an atrocious amount for something you could check yourself for free. Or they could buy a working heart rate monitor for a quarter of the cost probably even less off amazon or their local sporting goods store. That’s only one example of a scam. There are so many more that you can find alternative solutions too. Rather than purchasing.

Apple Scam App Detection.

How do these apps slip past the watchful eye that is hired to detect such illicit activities? They apparently submit legit looking code to the app store. Than insert the corruption upon entry. Sad thing is the app store themselves do make a cut off these illegitimate application.

What’s 30% of 400k?

A pretty nice money haul for any company. That’s what Apple earns off one of the millions of apps out there. Hard to shut it down until there is enough uproar. On top of that these companies that build the scam operate through out the world making it near impossible to prosecute or seek retribution. So really this falls to Apple to make right with customers and banish the scams before they even begin.

What Can We Do To Prevent This?

All in all apps are predominantly free. You do not need to purchase any. If you absolutely love an applications service and they offer in app purchases, go for it. That is if you feel so inclined to upgrade a service you already trust. But don’t simply buy an app without doing your due diligence. Researching the cost to it’s actual value and looking for alternatives. Also if reviews are filled with broken English you know they are fake reviews. Just be conscientious when spending money on a unknown resource.

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