Scammers use Apple App Store hack to steal money, boost rankings

Users of Apple's app store are battling an app farm infestation. 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.

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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 in the books category 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 are stolen by Nguyen and some of the other App Store scammers, who are nevertheless active.

App store rankings are compromised

News about the App Store scam broke when thenextweb.com reported that Thuat Nguyen hacked iTunes accounts and purchased numerous of 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. Many iTunes accounts were hacked to buy 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.

Find a way to protect yourself from App store scam

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.

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 buy 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.

Scamming still is the app farms

The Apple App Store scam has yet to be eliminated. Beranews.com explains that two other developers at least are using comparable practices. Charismaist is somebody you need to keep away from three apps from. One Charismaist app is an apparent sonic mosquito repellent that has scammed users out of $ 100 at the most, 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 reported up to $ 1,400 in bogus charges from a Storm 8 game. Charismaist and Storm 8 are both still 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 based on their high sales. Be on the lookout for app icons that are low-res images from the web. The scammers’ web sites 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. Evidently the scam has been happening over the last four weeks.

More info 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