An app farm infestation is being battled by Apple App Store users. The App Store is being hacked by Apple App scammers who hack iTunes accounts to make purchases of some bogus apps. The hack will go and steal money from iTunes accounts and improve the App Store rankings of the bogus apps.
Some of the greedy scammers blew up the App store cover
The App Store scam may have gone undetected longer if not for a thieving app farm developer with the name Thuat Nguyen. Nguyen got too greedy and 40 of his apps in the books category showed up within the top 50 App Store rankings. Other app developers smelled something wrong and Apple pulled the Thuat Nguyen apps. Thousands of dollars have been stolen by Nguyen and other App Store scammers, who are nevertheless active.
App Store rankings compromised
News about the App Store scam broke when thenextweb.com reported that Thuat Nguyen had hacked some iTunes accounts and purchased his own apps using those accounts. When their popular titles were displaced App Store rankings by Nguyen apps, two iPhone app developers had the alarm sounded. Upon investigation a number of iTunes accounts are hacked worldwide to buy apps. Some iTunes users had between $ 100 and $ 1400 spent on their accounts. All iTunes users should check their accounts for bad purchases of cheap apps ($ 1-$ 3) followed by one at an outrageous price ($ 90 ). According to thenextweb.com, hackers are also signing users up for a free app called World War that sends their money to scammer accounts.
Find a way to protect yourself from App store scam
To verify that you have or have not become a victim of the App Store scam, it’s easy to check the security of your own iTunes account.
A procedure outlined by PCWorld goes as follows:
Click on your account name on the right hand side of the iTunes menu bar. After entering your password, click on the View Account button. You’ll be taken to the Apple Account Info page where you are able to view your purchase history. From there, you are able to make sure that all your app purchases are ones that you’ve made. If you spot an app you didn’t buy among your recent purchases, click the Report a Problem button. To safeguard against a compromised password, you can click on Edit Account Info to change it. Longer passwords containing numbers and special characters are harder for hackers to crack.
Bogus app farms still scamming
The Apple App Store scam has yet to be eliminated. Betanews.com reports that at least two other scam developers are using comparable practices. Be on the lookout for 3 apps from Charismaist. One Charismaist app is an apparent sonic mosquito repellent that has scammed users out of $ 100 at probably the most, even though it is marked as free. Storm 8’s App Store scam involves in-game point purchases costing as much as $ 150. One iTunes user reported about $ 1,400 in bogus charges from a Storm 8 game. Charismaist and Storm 8 are both still in the App store.
App store scam details
The Apple App Store scam is used to make bogus purchases that elevate the apps within the iTunes ranking so users can be attracted to the apps based upon on their high sales. Be on the lookout for app icons that are low-res images from the web. The scammers’ sites direct users to non-existent sites or landing pages. The Next Web explained that all the bogus apps are owned by unknown, Asia-based developers. Apparently the scam has been happening over the last four weeks.
Citations:
thenextweb.com
thenextweb.com/apple/2010/07/04/app-store-hacked/comment-page-1/#comment-11929
PC World
pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/200503/apps_disappear_from_app_store_amid_hacking_complaints.html
betanews.com
betanews.com/article/Apple-still-silent-as-more-scams-are-found-on-App-Store/1278363193
