Apple App Store users are battling an app farm infestation. The App Store is being hacked by Apple App scammers who hack private iTunes accounts to purchase bogus apps. The hacks steal money from iTunes accounts and increase the App Store rankings of the bogus apps.
Source for this article: Scammers use Apple App Store hack to steal money, boost rankings by Personal Money Store
App store cover blown by greedy scammers
The App Store scam may have gone undetected longer if not for a thieving app farm developer with the name Thuat Nguyen. Nguyen got too greedy with his app farms and 40 of his apps in the books category showed up within the top 50 App Store rankings. Other app developers knew something was wrong and Apple pulled the Thuat Nguyen apps. Thousands of dollars were stolen by Nguyen and other App Store scammers, who are still active.
Compromised were the rankings of the app store
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 within the App Store rankings by Nguyen apps, two iPhone app developers sent the alarm. Numerous iTunes accounts were hacked to purchase apps. Some iTunes users had between $ 100 and $ 1400 spent on their accounts. All iTunes users should check their accounts for stealth purchases of cheap apps (around $ 1-$ 3) followed by one at an outrageous price (around $ 90 ). Thenextweb.com said 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 need to protect yourself
To verify that you have or haven’t become a victim of the App Store scam, it is easy to check the security of your own iTunes account.
This is the procedure done by PCWorld:
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 Data page where you’re able to view your purchase history. From there, you can make certain 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 can click on Edit Account Info to change it. Longer passwords containing numbers and special characters are harder for hackers to crack.
App farms continue to scam
The Apple App store scam isn't done yet. At least two other scammers are using similar practices as outlined by Betanews.com. 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 has in-game point purchases costing as much as $ 150. One iTunes user reported about $ 1,400 in bogus charges from a Storm 8 game. Charismaist and Storm 8 are both still within the App store.
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 of low res images from the web. The scammers’ support links direct users to non-existent sites or landing pages. As outlined by the Next Web, all the bogus apps are owned by unknown, Asia-based developers. It is believed the App Store scam has been happening over the last four weeks.
More details accessible 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
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