Scammers are targeting Apple App Store to make thousands of Dollars by exploiting the Apple Touch ID feature.
The vulnerability lies within the fact that the Ads displayed on App Store Search Result Pages are very hard to distinguish from actual Apps. Moreover, some Ads might even take up the entire first page of the search results. People previously thought that Scammers were targeting search keywords related to Security. However, according to many sources, Scammers are actually bidding for other keywords as well. Scam Apps might also appear on the Top Grossing page.
One of the Apps that made it to the headlines is “Mobile Protection: Clean & Security VPN“. This App tricked users into signing up for a $99.99 one week subscription. According to marketing firm Sensor Tower, this app generated a revenue of $80,oo0 a month for its developers.
“Mobile Protection: Clean & Security VPN” described it to be a Virus scanner and also offered its users a one week trial period. But as soon as the users tapped on the Free Trial button a new pop-up appeared that read “Use Touch ID to start your free trial to Full Virus, Malware Scanner? You will pay $99.99 for a 7-day subscription starting June 9, 2017.” People who absentmindedly pressed on the Touch IDs helped its developers make $400 a month from one user alone. This means if the developers could trick only 200 users into getting the app, they would make $80,000 monthly.
Wrapping Up!
If you have downloaded any of the shady Apps, you should cancel the subscription and uninstall the app right now. Here is how you can do that.
- Navigate to Settings app and go to iTunes & App Store?Apple ID ?View Apple ID.
- Give your Apple ID password or press against Touch ID when prompted.
- Click on Subscriptions, select the subscriptions you want to cancel and tap Confirm.
- Once your current subscription period ends, you’ll not be charged any further.
