socialrosiechen: iPhone App Store scammers hack accounts, buy their own apps with your money

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

iPhone App Store scammers hack accounts, buy their own apps with your money

Filed under: Security, News, Apple, iPhone

iPhone users have fallen victim to rogue developers who are hacking accounts and using them to buy fake apps, stealing Apple customers' money and driving up the popularity of their useless apps at the same time. TheNextWeb has a thorough report on the scams, along with plenty of testimony from users who say they've been duped out of hundreds of dollars. At first, it seemed like this ripoff was being run by one developer, based in Asia and using fake website and support links. That account was shut down, but there are multiple "app farms" out there engaging in similar behavior.

Some apps take the scam a step further: they sell for free, and then steal your money with in-app purchases (beware of an app called World War). To make sure you haven't been hacked, check your purchase history in iTunes for suspicious activity. As a precaution, it also doesn't hurt to change your account password and remove any saved credit card info. If you've already been scammed, call Apple and your bank and try to stop the purchases from clearing.

If you need more info, TheNextWeb has details on a few of the specific app farms, as well as a good overview of the scam.

UPDATE: Here's a statement from Storm8, one of the companies on TheNextWeb's app farm list.

Most of our games have been on the App Store for over a year. Our games are free to download and play. Like many apps from iTunes, we offer certain virtual goods (like Honor Points) for sale through In-App Purchase. They are an optional part of the game, and serve to enhance various aspects of user experience and game play. In no case do users have to buy points to use our free applications.

Looks like there may have been some exaggeration on TheNextWeb's part in this company's case, but it's still a good idea to be careful of in-app purchases. Also, it still seems sketchy to have so many identical apps, just with different point totals (and different prices) attached.