Software developers are reportedly using Apple’s App store to scam users into buying subscriptions to shady apps.

Although scam apps have been an issue for a long time, the problem has increased to alarming levels in recent months.

According to a recent report, developers are using SEO and strategic search ads to boost the rankings of their scam apps, tricking users into paying hefty monthly fees for a subscription to a useless app.

Johnny Lin, a software developer who previously worked for Apple, published a post on Medium.com documenting his discovery of how big the problem really is.

Apple recently reported that the company has paid out $70 billion to developers, 30 percent of which was paid out in the last year alone. Lin set out to follow the money and learn more about how these developers are able to make such significant amounts of money from the App Store.

Lin checked out the lists of top-grossing apps and discovered something troubling. He found an app titled “Mobile protection :Clean & Security VPN” and immediately questioned the app due to its poor title, inconsistent capitalization, and misplaced colon. He was shocked to discover that the app revenue was $80,000 per month and dug down deeper to find out how this could be the case.

He downloaded the app and followed the installation prompts. Soon, he says he was offered the opportunity to subscribe to a 7-day free trial for a “Full Virus, Malware scanner,” which would then turn into a seven-day subscription that would cost $99.99.

“It suddenly made a lot of sense how this app generates $80,000 a month,” Lin writes. “At $400/month per subscriber, it only needs to scam 200 people to make $80,000/month, or $960,000 a year. Of that amount, Apple takes 30%, or $288,000—from just this one app.”

The app was reportedly ranked #144 in the list of the most downloaded free productivity apps available in the App Store, and there were about 50,000 downloads in April 2017, according to Lin.

Curious about how users were finding this app, Lin searched the App Store for “virus scanner” and discovered that the first result was an ad for a similar app that offered virus protection for $99.99.

“Turns out, scammers are abusing Apple’s relatively new and immature App Store Search Ads product,” Lim says. “They’re taking advantage of the fact that there’s no filtering or approval process for ads, and that ads look almost indistinguishable from real results, and some ads take up the entire search result’s first page.”

What You Can Learn from the App Store Scam

There are several important things we can learn from Lim’s deep dive into the App Store scams. By using effective SEO and targeted ads, you can reach a large number of potential clients. If you believe you have been the victim of auto-renewal app or other subscription that you were not properly notified about, you may have a legal claim. Contact the experienced consumer rights attorneys at Bradley/Grombacher today by filling out the short form on this page.