Apple App Store's Top-Grossing Applications Contains Scams and Could Cost $48 Million, Experts Claim

Griffin Davis , Tech Times 07 June 2021, 03:06 am

Apple is currently making innovations that could protect make its App Store a safe ecosystem. These include the launch of the latest ATT (App Tracking Transparency), which forces developers to disclose major details of their newly developed apps, such as user data tracking habits before they are published on the app provider.

Experts Claim Apple App Store's Top-Grossing Apps Contain Some Scams: How To Avoid Them?

(Photo : Photo Illustration by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
In this photo illustration, the Tik Tok app is displayed on an Apple iPhone on November 01, 2019 in San Anselmo, California. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) has started a national security investigation of social media app TikTok after Beijing ByteDance Technology Co acquired U.S. social media app Musical.ly for $1 billion.

Tim Cook, the CEO of the tech giant manufacturer, claimed that the official App Store's application distribution on iPhones should be controlled so that it will not turn into a "flea market." Although this is the case, various security experts and other researchers claimed that some scams were still able to breach the Apple App Store.

They said that nearly 2% of the platform's top-grossing apps contain scams each day. This might be a small number, but, it could affect many users and cost them around a total of $48 million.

Apple App Store's Apps Could Be Dangerous

Apple's App Tracking Transparency or ATT, which is currently available on iOS. This is just the tip of the iceberg of what the tech giant manufacturer is doing to keep its app users safe from malicious activities.

Experts Claim Apple App Store's Top-Grossing Apps Contain Some Scams: How To Avoid Them?

(Photo : Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
The new iPhone 5S with fingerprint technology is displayed during an Apple product announcement at the Apple campus on September 10, 2013 in Cupertino, California. The company launched the new iPhone 5C model that will run iOS 7 is made from hard-coated polycarbonate and comes in various colors and the iPhone 5S that features fingerprint recognition security.

Also Read: Face ID: Apple's Touch ID is Not Enough To Secure Your iPhone, iPad--Here's How to Effectively Lock Down Your Device

However, with all the efforts that Apple is implementing on its App Store, security experts claimed that in 1.8 million App Store's apps, various scams and other fraudulent acts are still lurking.

According to The Washington Post, some consumers, even those using VPN apps, complained that many iOS applications told them that their devices are infected by a computer virus.

After that, these applications will then ask them to install their services, which they need to pay for. However, it was later found out that these apps' warnings about device breaches are scams.

This is currently a serious matter since Apple profits from its top-grossing apps.

"If consumers were to have access to alternative app stores or other methods of distributing software, Apple would be a lot more likely to take this problem more seriously," said Stan Miles, one of Thompson Rivers University's economics professors.

How To Avoid Scam Apps?

Since Apple still can't secure its App Store completely, users need to adopt some habits that would help them prevent scam apps. We Live Security provided some tips that you need practice.