Scam apps are nothing new, but Apple and Google have yet to develop an effective solution to keep them out of their mobile app stores.
According to the most recent estimates, developers of fleeceware apps made $400 million from unsuspecting users in recent years.
Fleeware apps do not qualify as malware because they do not take control of your device or steal any of your data. However, it is precisely because of this that they are able to slip through the cracks in the Play Store and App Store review processes.
It doesn’t help that some of these apps have some useful functionality that makes them appear legitimate.
Most fleeceware offers a brief free trial period, after which users are charged a recurring fee that can quickly add up.
People usually forget to cancel those subscriptions or simply assume that uninstalling the offending apps will automatically end the corresponding subscriptions, which is why this scheme works so well.
Although Google’s Play Store has a less stringent app vetting process, fleeceware can make its way into Apple’s App Store.
The latter company is usually quick to tout the benefits of a more stringently regulated app store, and it has even added a feature for reporting scam apps.
Nonetheless, fleeceware developers have used, and continue to use, the App Store’s free trial mechanism.
According to a report, 84 fraudulent iOS apps are still in operation a year after being discovered by security firm Avast. According to some data, these apps generate more than $100 million in annual revenue.
This means that more than half of the most popular fleeceware apps are still active and are occasionally included in the top paid apps list.
Last month, 7.2 million people downloaded one or more of these, resulting in over $8 million in revenue in just a few weeks. This does not include apps like AmpMe and StringVPN, which have been able to operate under the radar for years.
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