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Another fine example of how Tim wants "to serve humanity"....by hosting dishonest apps on his "closed ecosystem"?
 
I can't remember the last time I even downloaded an app from the App Store never mind paying for any in app purchases.

Hope people wise up to this.

I agree. Unless it is totally free, I don't even bother with an app. Of course Apple allowed this in app purchase model. It was only a matter of time before ppl would find ways to exploit it. Perhaps they should go back to a straight forward pay up front model?
 
I find the "Editor's Choice" app selections a bit odd, so far I have not found any I agree with. What is the basis for selection that the Editor uses???
I agree. I've often wondered if the 'reviews' are written by teenage or 20 something interns who love sitting trying out all the new games and chat apps.
 
An interesting thought for those that don't understand how people get scammed by this - what is the "get out of this screen button" in iOS? The home button. Now, what is the "I want to purchase this" gesture? There you go, trying to not purchase a thing and you accidentally purchase it (And maybe don't even know because they left the app)

That combined with in-app subscriptions being buried in the users iTunes settings means a lot of people not knowing how to cancel.
 
An interesting thought for those that don't understand how people get scammed by this - what is the "get out of this screen button" in iOS? The home button. Now, what is the "I want to purchase this" gesture? There you go, trying to not purchase a thing and you accidentally purchase it (And maybe don't even know because they left the app)

That combined with in-app subscriptions being buried in the users iTunes settings means a lot of people not knowing how to cancel.

How true about the "back" button being the same as the TouchID authentication.

Plus, it's been hammered to the general public that the iPhone is the easiest phone to use with a ultra-safe ecosystem (due to Apple's walled garden), people trust that the apps in the app store are legit. This makes for easy targets...especially senior citizens.
 
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I agree. Unless it is totally free, I don't even bother with an app. Of course Apple allowed this in app purchase model. It was only a matter of time before ppl would find ways to exploit it. Perhaps they should go back to a straight forward pay up front model?
Yes, why would one want to actually pay and support those who are providing goods and services to you. The nerve that they would even expect as much!

SMH
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It's not mentioned, and to save people time, how do you report these scam ads?
The article has been updated. Here's the link: report scam apps
 
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However, being on staff at MR(F), you should know better than most how quickly an easily nefarious ad providers can make their way into the pool.

I don't think it's really comparable - Apple explicitly approved these apps and then allowed them to advertise so they should certainly shoulder the blame.
 
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Gruber wrote a scathing blog post about this. I'm pretty sure Schiller sees what Gruber writes. Everything he says is spot on.

https://daringfireball.net/2017/06/in-app_purchase_scams_in_the_app_store

Great investigative piece by Johnny Lin looking into a top-10 highest grossing app named “Mobile protection :Clean & Security VPN” (punctuation and grammatical errors sic), from a developer named Ngan Vo Thi Thuy:

“Full Virus, Malware scanner”: What? I’m pretty sure it’s impossible for any app to scan my iPhone for viruses or malware, since third party apps are sandboxed to their own data, but let’s keep reading…​

“You will pay $99.99 for a 7-day subscription”

Uhh… come again?​

There should be no “virus and malware” scanners in the App Store. None. iOS does not need anti-virus software. The App Store sandboxing rules mean that anti-virus software couldn’t really do anything useful anyway. And by allowing them to be listed on the store, it creates the false impression that Apple thinks you might need anti-virus software.

But do-nothing anti-virus utilities that are scamming people into $100/week subscriptions? That’s downright criminal.

Lin shows that “Mobile protection :Clean & Security VPN” is not alone. The productivity top-grossing list is riddled with similar scam apps.

Given how many legitimate developers are still having problems getting their apps approved due to seemingly capricious App Store reviewer decisions, it’s doubly outrageous that these apps have made their way onto the store in the first place. These are the exact sort of apps that the App Store review process should be primarily looking to block.

And there is no excuse for Apple not having flagged them after the fact, once they started generating significant revenue. It’s downright mind boggling that this horrendous “Mobile protection :Clean & Security VPN” app made it all the way into the top 10 without getting flagged.

Based on Lin’s research, the pattern is simple:
  1. Create a scammy utility app and get it into the store. Make it a free download with an expensive in-app subscription.
  2. Bid on common keywords like “virus”, “VPN”, and “wi-fi”.
  3. Get tens of thousands of downloads thanks to the top-of-results placement from the ad.
  4. Spring the in-app subscription prompt on your users and make money with a response rate of even just a fraction of 1 percent.
Apple needs to remove these apps from the App Store, and prevent such apps from getting into the store in the first place. They should reconsider the effects of allowing developers to buy their way to the top spot in search results. And they should police the top-grossing lists for apps that are pulling scams — the most important scams to catch are the successful ones.

Lastly, every single dollar these apps have generated should be refunded to the victims of these scams.
 
Maybe Apple should do a strong (manual) investigation into an app that offers recurring IAPs that exceed a certain level of spending that is out of the norm.

Same for one-time purchases too maybe.

Glassed Silver:mac
Perhaps for legit apps deemed "excessive" with regards to high-cost IAPs, Apple could send a follow-up "are you sure you want to purchase this" type of notification/warning that can be toggled in settings? Or, lengthen the amount of time you need to place your finger on the fingerprint reader for payments? At the end of the day, people need to take responsibility for their actions, but a little backup support might not be a bad idea.
 
It's humorous that you think one impedes the other.
And your snide remark in no way changes the fact that Apple customers are being scammed.........doesn't matter, as some here think, that those scammed are gullible or naive. Those are the very sections of society that deserve a degree of protection. Someone like you who clearly thinks themselves superior I'm sure has never made a mistake they regret.
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"The two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity."
And
"The two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity."
and those who like running their mouth....
 
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And your snide remark in no way changes the fact that Apple customers are being scammed.........doesn't matter, as some here think, that those scammed are gullible or naive. Those are the very sections of society that deserve a degree of protection. Someone like you who clearly thinks themselves superior I'm sure has never made a mistake they regret.

and those who like running their mouth....

And here I was thinking this was a public forum. My apologies for chasing your red herring.

I can assure you, it won't happen again, as based on your post history, you obviously have an axe to grind against Mr. Cook.

Grind away, good sir.
 
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In a walled garden, where every app in individually approved, why is Apple approving anti-virus apps in the first place? That defeats the purpose of having that process in the first place.

I think that's part of the problem. Apple loves promoting the amount of apps you can get from the App Store. But over the years the type of apps that get thru seems to boggle my mind. I look at a lot of these apps and think who approved this? It has become quantity over quality of apps.
 
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