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Fake Shopping Apps Are Invading the iPhone (nypost.com)

Posted by msmash on from the state-of-the-art dept.

An anonymous reader shares a NYPost report: For tech-focused scammers, knocking off sneakers and handbags is so last decade. Thieves in the digital age are slamming consumers right in the app. A slew of knockoff shopping apps have quietly infiltrated Apple's App Store in recent months, looking to lure unsuspecting iPhone owners with bogus deals on everything from jewelry to designer duds. The fake apps mimic the look of legit apps -- and have proliferated since this summer, experts said. It didn't help that earlier this month, Apple introduced search ads in its App Store. The fake apps are buying search terms, it would appear, to increase their exposure to consumers. The crooks are looking to tap into the fast-growing market for mobile sales, which last year leaped 56 percent to $49.2 billion, according to comScore.Further reading on NYTimes (NYTimes has opened its paywall till November 9).

23 of 41 comments (clear)

  1. but... but.. by Virtucon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    come up with a political parody app and you won't be able to have it on the App Store. Develop a phony shopping app and you're given the green light. This is what we call hypocrisy folks and why Walled Gardens aren't all they are promised to be.

    --
    Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
  2. Don't they review this crap? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I thought the appeal of the "walled garden" was that garbage like this wasn't supposed to make it into the App Store...

    1. Re:Don't they review this crap? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      How do you review an app that shows 9 valid goods and 1 faked one?

      That question should be posed to apple. Presumably it is why people pay so much extra to apple for their walled-garden experience - to be protected and looked after (and data-mined).

    2. Re:Don't they review this crap? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I thought the appeal of the "walled garden" was that garbage like this wasn't supposed to make it into the App Store...

      The only reason for a Walled Garden is to charge a toll at the gate.

    3. Re:Don't they review this crap? by phorm · · Score: 1

      Now now, people can just as easily pay Google for the privilege of being data-mined

  3. Re:App appers reinventing the web by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Looks like these app appers failed to reinvent the web for obvious reasons. This is mostly solved problem with www.

    Pffft, it was a "solved problem" with catalogs and mail order.

  4. quick weeding by supernova87a · · Score: 1

    Perhaps someone with knowledge could comment - if Apple requires some authoritative identification behind each developer (phone #, validated proof of identity), couldn't they start just yanking entire groups of apps by spam developers once one fraudulent app is identified?

    Make it a "[n] strikes and you're out" kind of system and can't fraud be controlled quite quickly?

    1. Re:quick weeding by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      That would work. Because developers couldn't get different phone numbers or have different identities and start again. Brilliant.

    2. Re:quick weeding by swb · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I don't know about you, but if I was going to be running this kind of a scam I would do everything possible to make sure each of my counterfeit shopping apps had a unique identifier as far as Apple was concerned.

      That way you couldn't easily get all your apps blacklisted.

      What puzzles me is how easily so many got through. I wonder if part of the problem is that a fair number of luxury goods aren't sold direct to consumer, but through authorized resellers and I wonder if what the apps really look like is "price comparison" apps -- ie, some way of aggregating prices for luxury products and allowing people to purchase a specific good as if it was going through the actual merchant selling the products.

      IE, to users or Apple the apps look like "Priceline" for some luxury good.

    3. Re:quick weeding by ilsaloving · · Score: 1

      Yes they can, and they have already done so in the past. That one company in China that was using compromised versions of XCode had every app they made taken down from the app store, IIRC.

    4. Re:quick weeding by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

      The difference between iOS and Android is that Apple charges significantly more per developer account and actually validates the business. A dev getting banned will have to do a lot more than just go from "abc inc" to "xyz inc" to get their stuff back in the Apple Store. $100/year doesn't sound like much, but it does keep the riffraff out for the most part.

      $100/yr AND a verifiable Credit Card and Email addy.

      Obviously not foolproof; but also demonstrably far more effective than whatever it is that Google does.

  5. Shows ultimately how stupid most people are by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    "Hey this looks just like Amazon!"

    "yes, but it says scAmazon"

    "That's not fair! That sounds a lot like Amazon!"

    "But the app doesn't look anything like Amazon"

    "Yes but...."

    "And Amazon never says 'get an iPod for only a Penny! Just give us your credit card!"

    "I thought it was a Black Friday Sale!"

    "Well, you're too stupid to work the internet then"

    1. Re:Shows ultimately how stupid most people are by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I often laugh about this.

      "We don't have those scummy apps like in Android. Apple makes sure that everything is on the up-and-up so you don't have to worry."
      "No they don't."
      "Well, you should know better than to trust these ridiculous offers! It's not Apple's fault!"
      "But didn't you just say...?"
      "Look! Apple's shipping a new adapter! Ooh...shiny..."

  6. Super secure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I thought the walled garden was supposed to prevent this kind of stuff.

    1. Re:Super secure by dasgoober · · Score: 2

      Those who give up freedom for security ....

    2. Re:Super secure by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

      Those who give up freedom for security ....

      ...Don't have to run A/V on their phones!

  7. More LUDDITE lies! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    LUDDITES are ruining appy app apps by making fake apps that are actually LUDDITE programs! ONLY apps can app apps, NOT LUDDITE software!

    Apps!

  8. Fake ID by sjbe · · Score: 2

    if Apple requires some authoritative identification behind each developer (phone #, validated proof of identity}

    It's adorable that you think criminals intent on stealing your money would be bothered by the problem of forging one or more sets of false credentials.

  9. Silly me! by AndyKron · · Score: 1

    I thought Apple checks the apps that go in their store? Silly me!

    1. Re:Silly me! by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

      I thought Apple checks the apps that go in their store? Silly me!

      They do. And obviously, given the number of malware reports for Android vs. iOS, they are, to an extremely large extent, amazingly successful at preventing malware.

  10. Okay, seriously by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

    Okay, seriously, what kind of idiot actually needs an app to shop for stuff? Is going to the store's website in a browser just too dang hard, or what?

    --
    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    1. Re:Okay, seriously by tnok85 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Usually it's something like "Install our App to get X% off!". Legit sites do that all the time, if you purchase through their mobile app they'll give a discount.

  11. Solved by 9 am. by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

    How to clean this up: Make Apple pay for fraud using fake lookalike apps.

    --
    (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.