Fraudulent Apps Found In Apple's Store

snydeq writes Angry support queries citing problems with mystery iOS apps has led InfoWorld's Simon Phipps to discover the existence of several scamware apps in Apple's App Store. "If you're a scammer looking to make a fast buck, it appears that [Apple's App Store] process can be defeated," Phipps reports. "The questions originated from a support link for a $2.99 app in Apple's iTunes Store," which pointed angry customers to the Apache OpenOffice community, which doesn't even have an iOS app. The app in question, Quickoffice Pro, "simply displays a gray screen with the word Tap. When you tap the screen, the app exits." Further investigation has uncovered two other scam apps thus far.

Comments

Clearly

[Anonymous Coward]

You're tapping it wrong.

This is news.... because?

[bhlowe]

2 lameware apps out of 1.2 million apps? I'm guessing people will get over it.

Re:This is news.... because?

[amber_of_luxor]

The issue is that Apple claims that each app is vetted for potential security issues. By most definitions of the term, "fraud" falls under the category "security issue". Consequently, the discovery of even one fraud app means that Apple is not vetting apps in a manner consistent with what they claim.

Walled Garden = Stewardship

[EndlessNameless]

This is where Apple can provide value to their customers by managing the ecosystem.

They should be more than capable of issuing refunds to anyone who was scammed, remotely nuking the app, and punishing the publisher in an appropriate manner.

If they do all of those things, it justifies some of their policies, at least for mainstream users.

It does what?

[SeaFox]

How does an app with no functionality get through the approval process to start with? This isn't a case of the app having a secret feature of calling home or installing malware. I mean, if it doesn't do anything how could anyone have reviewed the app to begin with?

Re:For the Love of Cock!

[seoras]

It's getting boring here on Slashdot, this shift from Microsoft bashing to Apple bashing.
The article's making it to front page are becoming very one sided, pro-Google/Android and anti-Apple.

Only several out of a million+ Apps?
So a few wild animals jump over into the walled garden, easy enough to chase them out and plug that hole.

Quickoffice Pro Is not a "scam app"

[Saysys]

Quickoffice Pro is a useful program i've been using since I purchased an iPhone 3G. It recently had a bad update that broke it, a mistake on the publisher's part no doubt, but not a scam. Honestly this article reads way to joyously consists of way too little research on the subject.

It's like some people want IOS to suck in the same ways Android does; sorry folks! It sucks in it's own ways.

Re:Quickoffice Pro Is not a "scam app"

[Anonymous Coward]

If you had even went as far as reading the summary, you would have seen that these apps are not the actual quickoffice owned by google (and since discontinued), but scam apps designed to get people to pay for them but do not deliver the advertised functionality. They are blatant ripoffs, down to stealing google's logo and including bogus support links to avoid attention.

Re:Security?

[v1]

not prevented, just greatly reduced.

Though even just looking at raw numbers isn't even fair. Apppl's store inventory dwarfs all of the others, and still numerically has fewer scams. It ought to work the other way around unless the wall is performing very effectively.

But bottom line here is some reviewers just got fired, and those that remain were harshly threatened. Reminds me of the recent peer reviewed journals that got caught with some lazy reviewers rubber stamping to boost their productivity numbers.