Scam Apps Have Made $400 Million From The App Store And Google Play

As much as Apple and Google tout the protections that they offer in their respective app stores, at the end of the day, humans still do the manual review of apps which means that every now and then, certain apps that shouldn’t have made the cut slip through the cracks, such as scam apps and malware disguised as apps.

For those wondering why scam apps exist, a recent study from Avast has revealed that there are quite a number of “fleeceware” apps found in the App Store and Google Play, where these apps have made their developers over $400 million to date. $400 million is obviously a lot of money which is why many of these apps exist and continue to exist today.

According to Avast, “It appears that part of the fleeceware strategy is to target younger audiences through playful themes and catchy advertisements on popular social networks with promises of free installation’ or free to download. By the time parents notice the weekly payments, the fleeceware may have already extracted significant amounts of money.”

Fleeceware apps are also not considered to be malware as they are legitimate apps, except maybe with some shady mechanics to encourage in-app purchases. It’s hard to tell which apps are fleeceware apps and which aren’t, so it’s always best to try them out before committing to any purchases.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Cellphones, General
Tags: Android, Apps, Google, iOS