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Game Maker Says 40% of iTunes In-App Buys Are Fraud

Posted by Soulskill on from the most-of-the-remainder-are-probably-three-year-olds dept.

chicksdaddy writes "Hong Kong-based Lakoo, maker of the Empire Online game, says that 4 in 10 in-application purchases by users of the iOS version of its MMORPG are fraudulent, and made through compromised iTunes accounts. But Apple has turned a deaf ear to its requests for help to stop the bogus activity."

4 of 114 comments (clear)

  1. Re:If this were a systemic Problem, by commodore6502 · · Score: 3, Informative

    It likely IS a problem but Apple..... like Paypal..... chooses to ignore the abusive, illegal payments. Paypal eventually ended-up before the US DOJ and forced to refund money back to various persons (I got $75). Perhaps the same will happen with Apple in a few years.

    --
    Information wants to be expensive AND wants to be free. So you have Value vs. Cheap distribution fighting each other.
  2. Wrong, hope you aren't spreading panic. by saboosh · · Score: 4, Informative

    Developers do not have access to your visa, regardless of how you pay for content in iOS. All iOS purchases, whether they be appstore or in-app, are payed to Apple, period, end of story. Apple, then, takes care of distributing the payment. Apple mediates everything. The developer is cut a check from Apple after they take a cut, even for in-app purchases.

  3. Re:Motivation? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    What seems to be missing here is any sort of motive. Both the game developer and Apple should be worried - running down a competitor's reputation is a fairly poor motive for this, getting refunds doesn't seem to be it, so why are they picking on this app and why are spending other people's money with no hope of retrieving it?

    Looks like most of the Empire Online in-app stuff is buying in-game currency. In other words, this is just another bunch of Chinese gold farmers, who likely purchase the currency then offload it to other compromised accounts.

  4. Re:Motivation? by increment1 · · Score: 3, Informative

    The motive is financial.

    Steps:
    1. Compromise account.
    2. Buy in game goods with compromised account's Visa, gift cards, or (perhaps) fraudulently generated gift cards.
    3. Sell in game goods for real currency.

    The reason this particular developer is getting hit the hardest is probably because their game is the current best way to realize profits from a compromised account. For many other apps with in app purchases, it is probably difficult to convert your purchase back into money.