Apple App Store users are battling an app farm infestation. The App Store is being hacked by some interesting Apple App scammers who hack private iTunes accounts to make purchases of bogus apps. The hack will go and steal money from iTunes accounts and improve the App Store rankings of the bogus apps.
Greedy scammer blows App Store cover
The App Store scam probably would have gone undetected longer if not for a thieving app farm developer known as Thuat Nguyen. Nguyen got too greedy with his app farms and 40 of his apps within the books category showed up within the top 50 App Store rankings. Other app developers smelled something fishy and Apple pulled the Thuat Nguyen apps. Thousands of dollars have been stolen by Nguyen and some of the other App Store scammers, who are still active.
Compromised were the app store rankings
News about the App Store scam broke when thenextweb.com reported that Thuat Nguyen hacked iTunes accounts and purchased many of his own apps using those accounts. When their popular titles were displaced in the App Store rankings by Nguyen apps, two iPhone application developers sounded the alarm. Numerous iTunes accounts were hacked to purchase 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.
Discover a way to protect yourself from App store scam
To verify that you have or have not become a victim of the App Store scam, it is 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.
The Apple App Store scam hasn’t been eliminated with the purging of the Thuat Nguyen apps. Betanews.com reports that at least two other scam developers are using comparable practices. Be on the lookout for 3 apps from Charismaist. One Charismaist app is an apparent sonic mosquito repellent that has scammed users out of as much as $ 100, despite the fact that 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 still within the App store.
More app store scam details
The Apple App Store scam is used to make bogus purchases that elevate the apps within the iTunes ranking so users could 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’ sites and support links direct users to non-existent websites or landing pages. As outlined by the Next Web, all the bogus apps are owned by unknown, Asia-based developers. Over the last four weeks, the app scam has been happening.
More information about this topic at these websites:
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
