Apple's tightly controlled App Store is teeming with scams
Apple’s tightly controlled App Store is teeming with scams
By Reed Albergotti and Chris Alcantara
Apple chief executive Tim Cook has long argued it needs to control app distribution on iPhones, otherwise the App Store would turn into “a flea market.”
But among the 1.8 million apps on the App Store, scams are hiding in plain sight. Customers for several VPN apps, which allegedly protect users’ data, complained in Apple App Store reviews that the apps told users their devices have been infected by a virus to dupe them into downloading and paying for software they don’t need. A QR code reader app that remains on the store tricks customers into paying $4.99 a week for a service that is now included in the camera app of the iPhone. Some apps fraudulently present themselves as being from major brands such as Amazon and Samsung.
More at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/06/06/apple-app-store-scams-fraud/