Folks, WE DID IT!!
We shined a light on these scammers, and Apple TOOK THEM DOWN!👏
The bad news?
We shined a light on these scammers, and Apple TOOK THEM DOWN!👏
The bad news?
https://twitter.com/keleftheriou/status/1356011069395755009
While the “KeyWatch” $300k/month scam was removed, Apple did *not* take down their developer account.
Not only that, but their other scam, “GPS Speedometer”, remains on the App Store stealing $200k/month from unsuspecting people, with $416/year subscriptions.😱
UNREAL!
Not only that, but their other scam, “GPS Speedometer”, remains on the App Store stealing $200k/month from unsuspecting people, with $416/year subscriptions.😱
UNREAL!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“Accurate. Clean. Customizable. Simple. NO ADS!! If your work truck has a bad speedometer, this app will work.” wrote Camilla Baumbach, the exact same phrasing Jim Hoberek used a year earlier about “DigiHUD Speedometer”, an Android app on Google Play.
“Accurate. Clean. Customizable. Simple. NO ADS!! If your work truck has a bad speedometer, this app will work.” wrote Camilla Baumbach, the exact same phrasing Jim Hoberek used a year earlier about “DigiHUD Speedometer”, an Android app on Google Play.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“Good application to check vehicle speed on which you are traveling and not getting any idea about the Speed.” wrote Lucy Spears, but also Shravan Tiwari a month earlier about “GPS Speedometer, Distance Meter”, an Android app on Google Play.
“Good application to check vehicle speed on which you are traveling and not getting any idea about the Speed.” wrote Lucy Spears, but also Shravan Tiwari a month earlier about “GPS Speedometer, Distance Meter”, an Android app on Google Play.
You get the idea. These scammers pull text from reviews of other similar apps, sometimes change it up to be harder to detect, and use it for their own fake reviews. The scale at which this is happening on the App Store is simply STAGGERING. I’ve barely scratched the surface here.
In the *real* reviews, you can almost feel the pain of users:
“Had no clue I would be charged $8 per week. Run away!”
“SCAM. Automatically charged me.”
“It put me on a subscription with out me clicking anything”
“This is predatory and should be removed from the App Store.”
🤬
“Had no clue I would be charged $8 per week. Run away!”
“SCAM. Automatically charged me.”
“It put me on a subscription with out me clicking anything”
“This is predatory and should be removed from the App Store.”
🤬
Apple, please do better. Clean up this mess. Protect users. And let me, as a developer, feel like I can bet on myself again. I know a lot of other honest developers share this sentiment, too.
And Apple, please say something. Acknowledge the problem. Tell us you’re working on it. No one expects perfection, but please don’t stay silent about these rampant scams.
I know *I* am not going to stay silent. I’m gonna keep shining the light on these scammers, and I hope you’ll join me. So please, spread the word far and wide, for a better App Store for all of us.✌️
The other scam I mentioned yesterday is also still up: apps.apple.com/US/app/id14993…
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
