Updates on the vietnamese apps story
Just in case the App Store team reads this blog (we got word from Philip Schiller that they are investigating this issue), at Patrick’s suggestion I took a look at the rest of the US top paid book apps. I therefore am inclined to think that the case I told about earlier today is probably not singular(although it’s the most visible one); other recent and expensive vietnamese book apps are doing suspiciously well in the US top 200 paid books. Maybe they are legit, but maybe they are using the same hack as the guy I told you about, but weren’t as greedy and managed to stay under the radar. I’m talking here about apps by the VietBooks company (http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/vietbooks/id364899691), Ut it company(http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/ut-it/id371650793) and possibly more.
I am amazed at the feedback this story had on such short notice. Whatever Apple’s decision on this, many thanks to all the blogs who linked here and, special thanks to Patrick Thompson(quickreader.net) and Joel Feather (feathermoor.com/) who took proactive steps to bringing this to my and Apple’s attention.
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27 Comments to “Updates on the vietnamese apps story”
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[...] A hack of the App Store rankings by a single developer was suspected.However, Brie later added that numerous Vietnamese book apps were doing suspiciously well in the rankings — Apple responded to the blogger that the issue [...]
[...] category so that 40 of the top 50 entries are all apps from their stable. It's possible that another two or three developers have tried the same thing, although to a less extraordinary [...]
[...] Brie later added that numerous Vietnamese book apps were doing suspiciously well in the rankings — Apple responded to the blogger that the issue [...]
[...] category so that 40 of the top 50 entries are all apps from their stable. It’s possible that another two or three developers have tried the same thing, although to a less extraordinary degree. As Alex points out, at least two of the reviews for [...]
[...] category so that 40 of the top 50 entries are all apps from their stable. It’s possible that another two or three developers have tried the same thing, although to a less extraordinary degree. As Alex points out, at least two of the reviews for [...]
[...] now we’re still in the dark regarding how this was possible and Apple is already looking into it. What’s curious, however, is that the growing flow of people reporting unusual activity on [...]
[...] later said that it was not just Thuat Nguyen apps ranking on the top but also several other Vietnamese [...]
[...] now we’re still in the dark regarding how this was possible and Apple is already looking into it. What’s curious, however, is that the growing flow of people reporting unusual activity on [...]
[...] Brie later added that numerous Vietnamese book apps were doing suspiciously well in the rankings — Apple responded to the blogger that the issue is [...]
[...] eerste instantie werd gedacht aan een hack van de Apple Store omdat 40 van de 50 entries van de Vietnamese ontwikkelaar waren. Verder [...]
[...] now we’re still in the dark regarding how this was possible and Apple Store is already looking into it. What’s curious, however, is that the growing flow of people reporting unusual activity on [...]
iTunes cracking afoot: http://www.alexbrie.com/archives/215
[...] está más que confirmado que éste usuario es la mente maestra tras éste atraco, porque para subir todas sus aplicaciones [...]
[...] Brie later added that numerous Vietnamese book apps were doing suspiciously well in the rankings — Apple responded to the blogger that the issue is [...]
[...] category so that 40 of the top 50 entries are all apps from their stable. It’s possible that another two or three developers have tried the same thing, although to a less extraordinary [...]
[...] hat die verdächtigen Developer-Accounts vorerst gesperrt und will sich das Problem genauer ansehen. Sehen Sie doch unsere Neusten Artikel und News [...]
[...] team, and hearing from Phil Schiller himself that Apple was looking into the problem, Alexandru posted an update to his original story that highlighted several other suspicious developers in the top 200 apps in [...]
[...] iOS app developer 發現 book 分類的排行榜突然被一大堆 來自越南的侵權漫畫 app 佔據，顯示這些 app 的銷售量激增。理論上這種低品質而且索價 U$ 4.99 至 U$ [...]
[...] esas cosas de la vida se pasa una fotografía de alguien en traje de baño se escandalizan pero si se pasan 40 o más aplicaciones del mismo desarrollador que hacen exactamente lo mismo nadie dice [...]
[...] the alleged hacks, but Nguyen’s apps have now disappeared from the App Store. Alex Brie noted on his blog he reported the issue to Apple, and that a team is investigating the [...]
[...] Brie later added that numerous Vietnamese book apps were doing suspiciously well in the rankings — Apple responded to the blogger that the issue is [...]
[...] category so that 40 of the top 50 entries are all apps from their stable. It’s possible that another two or three developers have tried the same thing, although to a less extraordinary [...]
詐欺アプリといえど、ドラえもんにだまされそうだな http://www.alexbrie.com/archives/215
I was one of the people that had about $500 of fraudulent charges against my account (most of them over a 10 minute period), and have received no help from Apple to date. I had my credit card company reverse the charges and reissue a new card to me.
I did notice however that of the 122 applications fraudulently purchased on my account that none seemed to be for the developer that was trying to drive up his numbers.
I think the reason Apple is doing such a poor job of addressing this issue is simply because they don’t know the extent of the problem. The approach that it’s not Apple’s problem, it’s the user’s problem, has really turned me off to Apple.
I have been around the internet for awhile now (been using it for about the last 20 years) so I am very cautious with my personal information. I have never had an account hacked until now.
What I find interesting is that if my iTunes account was compromised because someone was able to get my password, why purchase a bunch of $2 apps? Why not purchase TV shows, Movies, Books, and so on. It seems like the breach was limited to the App Store, not my iTunes account as a whole. Apple’s position on this is simply not credible. Their “not my problem” attitude is irresponsible and unethical.
Just as an additional note: Because my credit card company noticed the unusual purchase pattern, they stopped charges against my card until I contacted them (Great job on their part). Now, because the last block of fruadulent charges has not been paid for in my iTunes account, I cannot download any updates to the actual programs I did pay for in the past, because Apple is holding my iTunes account hostage until I pay for the fruadulent charges that are outstanding. Even though I have sent them the reason for this, I have received no response from Apple.
Where does this 400 user count come from? Apple hasn’t even acknowledged the problem exists, at least not to me.
Call me simplistic and stupid AND racist, but I think they ought to ban ALL Vietnamese developers for a couple weeks/months/years until they get this sorted out.
Time to drop more napalm on the gooks.
Actually AppleInsider suggests that one can purchase lots of iTunes hacked accounts information on Taobao.com, a major Chinese portal. Which means that this kind of iTunes fraud could be common to more than one countries.
Banning Vietnamese developers would be a simplistic and racist idea.
Instead, they could ask that apps in Vietnamese would only be sold in Vietnam AppStore, apps in Chinese only on China App Store and so on. Or at least ask for basic English localization, and remove the really bad/scammy apps from the store altogether.
And they could look for the IPs used for purchases: if most customers purchasing an app on the US AppStore have IPS from outside the US, then a fraud bell alarm should go off and they should contact the dev or the customers directly, to make sure they are really legit.
[...] the alleged hacks, but Nguyen’s apps have now disappeared from the App Store. Alex Brie noted on his blog he reported the issue to Apple, and that a team is investigating the [...]