Apple's iOS App Store Faceplant: Infiltration of Hundreds of Fake Apps

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Faceplant:

An unintentional result of a risky or stupid activity whereby a person becomes fully inverted from the normal upright position while one or more parts of the face impact the ground simultaneously with the full weight of the body.

A faceplant (also face plant) is like doing a handstand except with no hands so all that's left is your face.

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Apple is in the midst of an unprecedented faceplant whereby a reported hundreds of FAKE apps have been steadily infiltrating the iOS App Store. This of course is NEVER supposed to happen. Preventing this from happening is the single biggest point of using the iOS App Store. Consider the safety reputation of the Apple iOS App Store severely damaged. This is shameful of Apple. Consider me disgusted.

Below, I've posted links to relevant articles. I'll post further links if this situation worsens.

Fake shopping apps are invading the iPhone
New York Post
James Covert, October 30, 2016

... A slew of knockoff shopping apps have quietly infiltrated Apple’s App Store in recent months, looking to lure unsuspecting iPhone owners with bogus deals on everything from jewelry to designer duds.

The fake apps mimic the look of legit apps — and have proliferated since this summer, experts said.

It didn’t help that earlier this month, Apple introduced search ads in its App Store. The fake apps are buying search terms, it would appear, to increase their exposure to consumers.

The crooks are looking to tap into the fast-growing market for mobile sales, which last year leaped 56 percent to $49.2 billion, according to comScore. . . .

Beware, iPhone Users: Fake Retail Apps Are Surging Before Holidays
New York Times
By Vindu Goel, November. 6, 2016

Hundreds of fake retail and product apps have popped up in Apple’s App Store in recent weeks — just in time to deceive holiday shoppers.

The counterfeiters have masqueraded as retail chains like Dollar Tree and Foot Locker, big department stores like Dillard’s and Nordstrom, online product bazaars like Zappos.com and Polyvore, and luxury-goods makers like Jimmy Choo, Christian Dior and Salvatore Ferragamo.

“We’re seeing a barrage of fake apps,” said Chris Mason, chief executive of Branding Brand, a Pittsburgh company that helps retailers build and maintain apps. He said his company constantly tracks new shopping apps, and this was the first time it had seen so many counterfeit iPhone apps emerge in a short period of time.

But there are serious risks to using a fake app. Entering credit card information opens a customer to potential financial fraud. Some fake apps contain malware that can steal personal information or even lock the phone until the user pays a ransom. And some fakes encourage users to log in using their Facebook credentials, potentially exposing sensitive personal information.

The rogue apps, most of which came from developers in China, slipped through Apple’s process for reviewing every app before it is published. . . .

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Be safe out there kids! At the moment, Apple doesn't have your back. (-_-) zzz

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