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.
App store cover was uncovered because of greedy scammer
. Nguyen got too greedy with his app farms and 40 of his apps showed up in the top 50 App Store rankings. Other app developers smelled something fishy and Apple pulled the Thuat Nguyen apps. Thousands of dollars were stolen by Nguyen and other App Store scammers, who are nevertheless active.
The app store rankings were compromised
News about the App Store scam broke when thenextweb.com reported that Thuat Nguyen hacked iTunes accounts and purchased his own apps using those accounts. When their popular titles were displaced in the App Store rankings by Nguyen apps, two app developers sent the alarm. Numerous iTunes accounts were hacked to buy apps. On their accounts, many had spent between $ 100 and $ 1400. All iTunes users should check their accounts for bad purchases of cheap apps ($ 1-$ 3) followed by one at an outrageous price ($ 90 ). It was reported by Thenextweb.com that hackers are also signing users up for a free app called World War that sends their money to scammer accounts.
From app store scam, you have to protect yourself
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.
PCWorld gives this procedure:
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’re 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 purchase among your recent purchases, click the Report a Problem button. To safeguard against a compromised password, you are able to click on Edit Account Info to change it. Longer passwords containing numbers and special characters are harder for hackers to crack.
App farm is still scamming
The Apple App store scam isn’t done yet. At least two other scammers are using comparable practices as outlined by Betanews.com. Charismaist is somebody you need to keep away from 3 apps from. One Charismaist app is an apparent sonic mosquito repellent that has scammed users out of as much as $ 100, although it is marked as free. Storm 8’s App Store scam involves in-game point purchases costing as much as $ 150. One iTunes user said there were up to $ 1,400 in bogus charges from a Storm 8 game. Charismaist and Storm 8 are both nevertheless within the App store.
More of the app store scam information
The Apple App Store scam is used primarily make bogus purchases that elevate the apps in the iTunes ranking so users can be attracted to the apps depending on their high sales. Look out for app icons with low res images that come from the web. The scammers’ support links direct users to non-existent sites or landing pages. The Next Web said that all the bogus apps are owned by unknown, Asia-based developers. Over the last four weeks, the app scam has been happening.
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
