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PSA: Watch Out for Fake ChatGPT Apps and Other Scams in the Mac App Store

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There have long been complaints from developers and App Store users about apps that offer limited functionality and charge high prices in an effort to scam people out of their money, and the latest trend is a glut of ChatGPT apps that have invaded the App Store.

Mac-App-Store-General-Feature.jpg

Privacy 1st researcher Alex Kleber over the weekend did a deep dive into the Mac App Store after noticing an alarming number of ChatGPT apps from the same handful of developers, and he shared his findings on Medium. As Kleber explains, dozens of copycat OpenAI/ChatGPT apps have popped up on the Mac App Store, with "shady" developers "flooding" the Mac App Store with apps that are nearly identical to confuse consumers and shut out other developers.

Searching for OpenAI or ChatGPT on the Mac App Store brings up a long list of apps that are offer much of the same functionality, and as Kleber discovered, there are some developers who are gaming the Mac App Store with keywords, misleading marketing tactics, fake reviews, stolen OpenAI logos, and multiples of the same app.
It's not uncommon to come across several apps with identical or similar names and logos copies of OpenAI icons and colors, claiming to offer advanced AI-powered chatbots or language models. However, most of these apps are nothing but cheap imitations or outright scams that fail to deliver on their promises. These scams not only deceive users but also tarnish the reputation of legitimate developers and hinder the growth of the app ecosystem on the MacOS platform.
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Two of the app developers, Pixelsbay and ParallelWorld, for example, share the same parent company in Pakistan and the apps have 99 percent of the same code. They have the same interface and the same paywall, and there is no way to exit out of the paywall popup, something that can be confusing for app users not accustomed to exiting out of an app and restarting it.

chatbot-scam-1.jpg

All of these ChatGPT apps are charging comparatively high prices by taking advantage of the popularity of chatbots, garnering the developers of the apps a good amount of money.

On the web, ChatGPT is free to use. OpenAI offers a "Plus" program with faster response speeds and priority access to new features for $20 a month. Microsoft's Bing chatbot, based on OpenAI, is free to use, and Google Bard, Google's version of a chatbot, is also free. Most if not all of the sketchily-named and relatively new "ChatGPT" apps in the iOS and macOS App Stores are scammy apps that you should not pay for, and many of them don't even offer the functionality that they promise. Most of these apps have weekly subscription fees, which is a red flag.

chatbot-scam-2.jpg

There are some exceptions because legitimate apps have integrated ChatGPT features, but most apps built around ChatGPT are taking advantage of App Store users that don't know better.

Kleber is calling on Apple to take a stricter stance against scam apps like these to prevent users from losing money to unscrupulous developers. His full Medium post has a more in-depth look at which apps to look out for and the lengths the developers are going to in order to trick Mac App Store users.

Article Link: PSA: Watch Out for Fake ChatGPT Apps and Other Scams in the Mac App Store
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2023/04/25/chatgpt-scam-apps-mac-app-store/
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MacRumors said:
There are some exceptions because legitimate apps have integrated ChatGPT features, but most apps built around ChatGPT are taking advantage of App Store users that don't know better.
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So, we are to believe that the Venn diagram of “App Store users that don’t know better” and “App Store users that know what ChatGPT is” are NOT two completely separate circles?
 
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sw1tcher said:
How can there be fake and scam apps in Apple's App store when each and every app is reviewed and then either approved or rejected by Apple's Walled Garden Protection Team™?

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Presumably you are being sarcastic. App Store scam apps have been huge revenue generators for years and years. Apple has profited immensely at 30% x [Tens of billions of $]. A major, major problem with the App Store is that Apple says it has validated (human review) each app. Unfortunately these reviews are not designed/enabled for really catching scams. So most Apple users think a scam app has Apple's blessing. This plus the lack of trademark enforcement is what tells you all you need to know re: Apple's App Store motivations. Personally I would feel safer side-loading from a known vendor's URL (where the courts will enforce their trademarks), but of course that will start an immediate flame war on Macrumors because of Apple's incredible gaslighting.
 
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It's funny considering it's only a matter of time before AI takes on some of the efforts of reviewing these apps, if it hasn't already. I use ChatGPT and Copilot daily to assist in my work. It's quite impressive already.
 
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TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️ said:
I just hate everything about ChatGPT and AI. Anyone feels the same?
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AI in general does have a certain "creepiness" to it, in that it's increasingly programmed to be more like us while still clearly not hitting the mark in many areas. There are a lot of beneficial and potentially good uses for it, along with a degree of danger.

I think we might be surprised to know how much "artificial intelligence" is already present in the products we own. A good example might be automobiles. Most cars made nowadays have a built-in network of microprocessors that communicate with each other to make decisions based on the condition of the other systems, to increase driver comfort or prolong the life of certain components. It doesn't have a language-based interface, but it does have a certain degree of programmed "intelligence."

The danger with chatGPT in particular is that the language model is so sophisticated that it can be mistaken for a human, yet it often spews out disinformation and falsehoods as if they were true. Fortunately, its programmers have created modesty subroutines to allow it to recognize its own mistakes, but that's only when the mistakes are actually pointed out. There are a lot of people who will take chatGPT at face value (like people who take the news media or TV at face value), believing it to be true simply because it uses language that people normally use and seems to "know" a great deal of things. Maybe I'm missing your point, though 😌
 
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sigmasirrus said:
If Apple isn’t really reviewing the apps they let into the store then their whole argument for not allow sideloading goes out the window.

Honestly if they’re letting this crap in, it makes me wonder if they really are doing any sort of security check?
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Without knowing the details, based on the results we can say that Apple's App Store software checks are routine and automated. They apparently do have certain security markers that are flagged if they find an offending app, but the system is far from perfect.

It's better for users to learn how to exercise caution themselves, with an understanding of what might be suspicious and what kind of apps should be avoided.

In the case of chatGPT, we know that the basic service is provided for free by OpenAI on the Web, so there should be no reason at all to subscribe or pay an app that gives you the same service. On the other hand, if the app offered extended functionality based on the chatGPT AI that makes it even more convenient and easier to use, that might warrant a purchase, but it really depends. Based on my experience with the app, chatGPT isn't worth paying for yet, because it simply produces too much disinformation and falsehoods, and the information is not really even current.
 
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MacRumors said:


There have long been complaints from developers and App Store users about apps that offer limited functionality and charge high prices in an effort to scam people out of their money, and the latest trend is a glut of ChatGPT apps that have invaded the App Store.

Mac-App-Store-General-Feature.jpg

Privacy 1st researcher Alex Kleber over the weekend did a deep dive into the Mac App Store after noticing an alarming number of ChatGPT apps from the same handful of developers, and he shared his findings on Medium. As Kleber explains, dozens of copycat OpenAI/ChatGPT apps have popped up on the Mac App Store, with "shady" developers "flooding" the Mac App Store with apps that are nearly identical to confuse consumers and shut out other developers.

Searching for OpenAI or ChatGPT on the Mac App Store brings up a long list of apps that are offer much of the same functionality, and as Kleber discovered, there are some developers who are gaming the Mac App Store with keywords, misleading marketing tactics, fake reviews, stolen OpenAI logos, and multiples of the same app.

Two of the app developers, Pixelsbay and ParallelWorld, for example, share the same parent company in Pakistan and the apps have 99 percent of the same code. They have the same interface and the same paywall, and there is no way to exit out of the paywall popup, something that can be confusing for app users not accustomed to exiting out of an app and restarting it.

chatbot-scam-1.jpg

All of these ChatGPT apps are charging comparatively high prices by taking advantage of the popularity of chatbots, garnering the developers of the apps a good amount of money.

On the web, ChatGPT is free to use. OpenAI offers a "Plus" program with faster response speeds and priority access to new features for $20 a month. Microsoft's Bing chatbot, based on OpenAI, is free to use, and Google Bard, Google's version of a chatbot, is also free. Most if not all of the sketchily-named and relatively new "ChatGPT" apps in the iOS and macOS App Stores are scammy apps that you should not pay for, and many of them don't even offer the functionality that they promise. Most of these apps have weekly subscription fees, which is a red flag.

chatbot-scam-2.jpg

There are some exceptions because legitimate apps have integrated ChatGPT features, but most apps built around ChatGPT are taking advantage of App Store users that don't know better.

Kleber is calling on Apple to take a stricter stance against scam apps like these to prevent users from losing money to unscrupulous developers. His full Medium post has a more in-depth look at which apps to look out for and the lengths the developers are going to in order to trick Mac App Store users.

Article Link: PSA: Watch Out for Fake ChatGPT Apps and Other Scams in the Mac App Store
Click to expand...
The Mac App Store is not a Walled Garden like the iPhone and these are the consequences 😡
 
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needsomecoffee said:
Presumably you are being sarcastic. App Store scam apps have been huge revenue generators for years and years. Apple has profited immensely at 30% x [Tens of billions of $]. A major, major problem with the App Store is that Apple says it has validated (human review) each app. Unfortunately these reviews are not designed/enabled for really catching scams. So most Apple users think a scam app has Apple's blessing. This plus the lack of trademark enforcement is what tells you all you need to know re: Apple's App Store motivations. Personally I would feel safer side-loading from a known vendor's URL (where the courts will enforce their trademarks), but of course that will start an immediate flame war on Macrumors because of Apple's incredible gaslighting.
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Except this is the Mac App Store, which totally separate from the Controlled App Store which is the iPhone App Store, there is a lot less scrutiny on Mac App Store, because of the ability to side load!
 
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