Apple’s App Store Hosting Scams Bringing In Millions Of Dollars In Revenue, Developer Says

An app developer has claimed that Apple’s App Store is home to alleged scams that involve millions of dollars.

Apple might be known for its outspoken push for user privacy, especially in recent times, but there’s one thing that many consumers do not know, according to Kosta Eleftheriou: its App Store is “fundamentally broken” and is home to scams due to the company’s “lax” enforcement of rules, The Verge reported.

The mobile app developer said that Apple’s leniency when it comes to enforcing App Store rules has allowed scam apps to not just exist in the mobile app market but also thrive and continue to be downloaded by throngs of users without knowing they are part of a means to illegally gain money.

Per Eleftheriou, these scam apps, which include those that clone legitimate apps from verified app makers, go unnoticed. More than that, they are often top-ranked thanks to five-star ratings and reviews that, most of the time, are fake.

“It’s surprising more people don’t know about this. The extent to which this has been going on and is currently going on is absolutely mind-blowing,” the developer, who shifted to taking on the scams, told The Verge.

“In particular now with the App Store, which is my main concern, the problem has grown to such an extent that having the rating and review system is making it worse. It gives consumers a false sense of security and a false idea that the app is great as you’re entering it through a glowing App Store page with raving reviews,” Eleftheriou continued.

Eleftheriou first encountered this scam when his app, the popular Apple Watch keyboard app FlickType, was cloned by some developers. The copy didn’t function at all but demanded that users pay a monthly subscription. The fake app’s non-functioning nature and expensive cost should’ve rung alarm bells but didn’t drive people away because of the five-star ratings and reviews it had.

Eleftheriou said the people behind the clone app heavily promoted it, even using the real app’s promo video (which has his name on it) on Facebook and Instagram. The clone app would then charge users $416 per year to use a dead, unusable fake app.

One particular fake review praised the app’s “features” – all of which do not exist at all:

Eleftheriou is now working to discover these scam apps in an attempt to root them out of the App Store and bring attention to the topic. Apple has noticed his efforts and has taken down some of the apps he pointed out.