{"id":30198,"date":"2020-09-22T15:56:11","date_gmt":"2020-09-22T19:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=30198"},"modified":"2021-02-08T14:42:55","modified_gmt":"2021-02-08T19:42:55","slug":"scam-apps-and-fleeceware","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2020\/09\/22\/scam-apps-and-fleeceware\/","title":{"rendered":"Scam Apps and Fleeceware"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dan Goodin<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

Posing as apps for entertainment, wallpaper images, or music downloads, some of the titles served intrusive ads even when an app wasn’t active. To prevent users from uninstalling them, the apps hid their icon, making it hard to identify where the ads were coming from. Other apps charged from $2 to $10 and generated revenue of more than $500,000, according to estimates from SensorTower, a smartphone-app intelligence service.<\/p>\n

The apps came to light after a girl found a profile on TikTok that was promoting what appeared to be an abusive app and reported it to Be Safe Online, a project in the Czech Republic that educates children about online safety. Acting on the tip, researchers from security firm Avast found 11 apps, for devices running both iOS and Android, that were engaged in similar scams.<\/p>\n

Many of the apps were promoted by one of three TikTok users, one of whom had more than 300,000 followers. A user on Instagram was also promoting the apps.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

Last month, researchers discovered more than 1,200 iPhone and iPad apps that were snooping on URL requests users made within an app<\/a>. This violates the App Store’s terms of service.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Jagadeesh Chandraiah<\/a> (in April, via Nick Heer<\/a>, Slashdot<\/a>):<\/p>\n

In this latest round of research, we found more than 30 apps we consider fleeceware in Apple’s official App Store.<\/p>

Many of these apps charge subscription rates like $30 per month or $9 per week after a 3- or 7-day trial period.<\/p>

[…]<\/p>

Many of the fleeceware apps we see are advertised within the App Store as “free” apps, which puts the apps at odds with section 2.3.2 of the App Store Review Guidelines<\/a>, which require developers to make sure their “app description, screenshots, and previews clearly indicate whether any featured items, levels, subscriptions, etc. require additional purchases.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Since iOS already requires apps to be sandboxed, the real protective value of the App Store is that in theory<\/em> it won’t contain these sort of deceptive apps. But, for whatever reason, many of them seem to get through App Review and stay on the store for long periods of time.<\/p>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n