Apple Is Still Failing to Catch Scam Apps that Rip Off Customers

App developer Kosta Eleftheriou has once again highlighted a number of shady apps in Apple’s App Store, this time wth many of them on the Mac platform, that are attempting to scam users.

The Verge reports that Kosta Eleftheriou, the iOS developer who previously highlighted a number of scam apps in Apple’s App Store, has once again brought to light a number of shady apps attempting to steal money from users. This time, many of them have made their way to the Mac App Store, giving users pop-ups that make it difficult to quit an app without agreeing to a subscription.

( Drew Angerer /Getty)

These apps have managed to make it through Apple’s review system it seems without the company even noticing. The first of these suspicious apps was noticed by Edoardo Vacchi and is called My Metronome. Vacchi, Eleftheriou, and other users note that the app locks and won’t allow a user to quit it using keyboard shortcuts until they agree to a $9.99 a month subscription.

Eleftheriou said that it “seems like this developer has experimented with various techniques over the years of preventing people from closing the paywall.” Eleftheriou found multiple other apps in the app store employing similar measures.

Shortly after Eleftheriou’s tweets about the My Metronome app, it was removed from the store. Apple did not respond to a request for comment from The Verge about the status of the app or how it passed Apple’s review process in the first place.

Eleftheriou previously uncovered scam apps making millions on the Apple App Store.

As Breitbart News previously reported:

When users downloaded the app, they were met with a blank interface with a large “Unlock now” button. Upon tapping the button they were prompted to accept an Apple subscription of $8 per week. Even after paying the subscription fee, the app failed to work.

However, despite the app’s lack of function, it had quite a high app store rating after the app’s developers allegedly purchased fake ratings and reviews. According to data from Appfigures, the scam app KeyWatch generated $2 million a year through the App Store scam.

After Eleftheriou’s Twitter thread gained popularity, Apple investigated and removed KeyWatch and a number of similar scam Apple Watch keyboard apps from the App Store. However, Eletheriou noted that while the app itself was removed, Apple did not disable the developer’s account.

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