I am not sure where to put this, so I am dropping it in the “Junk Drawer” forum.
According to this article in today’s Washington Post (April 6th, 2021) as many as 2% of all the applications in Apple App’s Store are designed to be used in scams:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/06/06/apple-app-store-scams-fraud/
In case some here might not be able to read the article, as the newspaper is paywalled and sometimes an article can be read by non-subscribers and sometimes it cannot, I am excerpting here three paragraphs where the main allegations are made:
“Apple chief executive Tim Cook has long argued it needs to control app distribution on iPhones, otherwise the App Store would turn into “a flea market.”
But among the 1.8 million apps on the App Store, scams are hiding in plain sight. Customers for several VPN apps, which allegedly protect users’ data, complained in Apple App Store reviews that the apps told users their devices have been infected by a virus to dupe them into downloading and paying for software they don’t need. A QR code reader app that remains on the store tricks customers into paying $4.99 a week for a service that is now included in the camera app of the iPhone. Some apps fraudulently present themselves as being from major brands such as Amazon and Samsung.
Of the highest 1,000 grossing apps on the App Store, nearly two percent are scams, according to an analysis by The Washington Post. And those apps have bilked consumers out of an estimated $48 million during the time they’ve been on the App Store, according to market research firm Appfigures. The scale of the problem has never before been reported. What’s more, Apple profits from these apps because it takes a cut of up to a 30 percent of all revenue generated through the App Store. Even more common, according to The Post’s analysis, are “fleeceware” apps that use inauthentic customer reviews to move up in the App Store rankings and give apps a sense of legitimacy to convince customers to pay higher prices for a service usually offered elsewhere with higher legitimate customer reviews.”
I suspect that Alex might have posted something about this in “Red Hot”, as he is mighty quick to do that sort of thing. But, if he has, I don’t remember seeing it. Otherwise, sorry. Also this WaPo article is pretty comprehensive and probably has additional information to what Alex might have put already somewhere else in this site. If he has put anything anywhere, yet, that is.
Full disclosure: I do have a Mac, but I have pretty much nothing from Apple’s Store, except for QuickTime, that I use to listen to the music and watch the videos I download and store in my Mac, and also a few “apps” that came pre-installed and I don’t use anyway. And I don’t have a “smartphone” either. So one could say that my own experience concerning the alleged scams is not all that extensive, or inclusive.
Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).
MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV
