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Bitcoin Scam App Approved by Apple Robs iPhone User of $600,000+

There are so many different takes here, and I agree with all of them...
  • Cryptocurrencies are a pox and should go away.
  • The guy was carelessly stupid.
  • Not Apple's fault, but their responsibility for approving the app, and they should compensate him.
  • If not for the App Store, there would be a lot more of this.
 
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Fowl said:
There are so many different takes here, and I agree with all of them...
  • Cryptocurrencies are a pox and should go away.
  • The guy was carelessly stupid.
  • Not Apple's fault, but their responsibility for approving the app, and they should compensate him.
  • If not for the App Store, there would be a lot more of this.
Click to expand...
Great summary there.
 
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diddl14 said:
So you download an App from the internet (AppStore) that you’ve never ever used before, with no release history and probably a couple of bad reviews as it turned out to a scam, then you enter your private account info to give this app full control over approx 600.000 $.

Sorry, but that just makes you not the most clever person on this planet.

It is well known that fake apps exist, Apple will never be able to 100% filter out scams. Any expectation that Apple can fully eliminate this risk and let you blindly trust whatever you download from the AppStore is just completely ignorant!
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That's the thing, it had a couple bad reviews. But it also had a nearly perfect rating according to articles out there (most likely fake paid ratings)

That's the thing Kosta Eleftheriou has been claiming on Twitter for months, the rating/review system is broken and should be get rid completely, most people don't know fake reviews on the App Store are as bad as Amazon these days
 
The optics are terrible. User hands over $600K assets without due diligence (careless). Apple allows copycat/malware app through walled garden (careless). Should Apple pay up? Very sticky situation.
 
tgwaste said:
If I were Apple I would reimburse this user immediately. 1 million is nothing to Apple and Epic is going to add this to their arsenal.
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Let Epic add this. What are they going to claim, that app store security isn't perfect?

That Epic themselves snuck a booby-trapped app into the app store proving the app store is not perfect, and that got them kicked out by apple.
 
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kennyt72 said:
You have to ask how the other 6,500 apps got through before they were removed as well.
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Developers complained that Apple’s rules are draconian and it should be the wild Wild West now it not draconian enough. In truth, There are 100s of millions of companies in the world. If I name my app the same as another company who doesn’t have an app on my platform, chances are good I might not be aware of them. So would it be Apple’s fault they tricked people into downloading the app that worked as submitted until I switched it on my end.
 
This is the reality of the so called Walled Garden it seems
 

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This was the app in question. A flaw in the current App Store means you cannot report a 'fault' with an app until you have downloaded it and have a record of it in your purchase history.

When I first saw the app it was on here for weeks until it disappeared.

For your pleasure the directors of this fake company are listed here.

ADVANCED FINANCE CAPITAL LTD overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK

ADVANCED FINANCE CAPITAL LTD - Free company information from Companies House including registered office address, filing history, accounts, annual return, officers, charges, business activity
find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk
 

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Is it possible that some of the users that reported losing money could actually be the ones running a scam on Apple? Could some of these individuals be working with the app itself or for another company (like E___C)? I’m not saying this is the case, but it’s worth looking into — the lengths some go to cheat others doesn’t surprise me anymore. I wouldn’t blindly accept this story at face value.
 
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It's clear that the vast majority of end users still don't seem to understand why Apple has the controls on the App Store that they do ...

1) The safe guards are there to ensure the vast majority of "crap apps" and apps that don't appear to be what they are, do infact get blocked and denied by Apple. The methods are various. No official stats but one can be assured it's thousands of apps a month.

2) if you compare the apps on Google Play with those on Apple's App Store, you will find at least 80% higher quality applications on the Apple App Store, with credentials and validations to match. They work, and have legit support behind them.

3) No one system is perfect. As I read in an earlier post, if you don't do the work to ensure that you are giving your login credentials over to just "anyone" and it involves your personal information, or finances, etc..... then you really need to rethink your own personal security protocol when using apps and websites online

4) end user agreements are in place for a reason. It protects the designer from any misuse to ensure law suits don't go out for just anything based on personal losses. If you don't "read the EUA" and just click "accept" then chances are you are not really fully understanding the terms by which that software is used and what to do when something unlawful occurs

5) crypto-currency is "fake" currency.... it's not backed by any one nation, or standard. There are no Gold or Silver bars at the world bank to back every cent of crypto-currency mined..... there isn't any institution in the EU or USA that had any means to financially back any of the transactions that occur with such currency.... and it's frankly all based on "hyper speculation" - meaning it's become more a "collectors" realm vs a real viable means of conducting business day to day. If crypto-currency were infact a great idea, I would think more worldly nations would be leaning toward it. Just because an eccentric billionaire purchases a butt load so such currency doesn't make it a sure thing. (But I still hold mad props to Elon for his boldness). And when the value of the currency begins to rocket downward and "crypto-investors" attempt to sell their coins off in an effort to maintain their "financial health" I'm pretty sure the crypto-exchanges out there won't have any means to "cash out" into real useable dollars.

nothing is a guarantee. Apple does what they can to protect themselves and their end users. If you don't believe that's the case, then slide on over to Android, and have some fun there.
 
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tgwaste said:
If I were Apple I would reimburse this user immediately. 1 million is nothing to Apple and Epic is going to add this to their arsenal.
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In that case I will also give my bitcoin info away to a fraudulent app. Can I get my 1 million from Apple too?

(I don't actually have bitcoin)
 
kennyt72 said:
You have to ask how the other 6,500 apps got through before they were removed as well.
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That is easy. Hidden features that "unlock" after a certain amount of time passes. Stealth updates to include features not orgianly in game (a problem the ESRB has). There are many ways.
 
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