How to Know If You’re Being Fooled With Fleece Apps
Fleeceware is one of the worst scams you can face on your device because it has one single goal: to get as much money from you as possible. It not usually achieved by placing malicious programs on your device or otherwise forcing you to any action; instead, the fleece is hidden in plain sight, relying on misunderstanding or carelessness of the user to generate high costs.
Worse, most app stores find it harder to tag these apps – if they exist at all – because they don’t contain malware. They are just bad actors and a developer can sell apps and services at any price. As long as the app is operating in accordance with the rules of the app store, the practice of misleading users into committing, for example, a bogus $ 100 in-app purchase, is rarely easy to catch without multiple people checking the app or complaining directly. Even then, it may not be enough to force the removal of the application.
Avast recently discovered 204 fleece apps that are in the Apple and Google app stores. Given how many apps there are, it won’t really matter until you look at other statistics: over one billion downloads and over $ 400 million in revenue. Ugh.
The discovered fleece apps consist mainly of musical instrument apps, palm readers, image editors, camera filters, fortune tellers, QR code and PDF readers, and “slime simulators.” While apps generally serve their purpose, it is unlikely that a user will knowingly want to pay such a sizable, recurring fee for these apps, especially when there are cheaper or even free alternatives on the market.
It seems that part of the fleece software strategy is to target a younger audience with fun themes and catchy ads on popular social media platforms with promises of “free install” or “free download”. By the time parents notice the weekly payments, the fleece utensils may have already made significant amounts of money.
So how do you know if you’ve been sucked? First, check your purchases and active subscriptions:
iOS
- To check past purchases : App Store> Apple ID (top right) > Purchased.
- To check past purchases (with payments) : App Store> Apple ID (top right corner) > Apple ID (your name / email address) > Purchase history (scroll down a bit)
- To check active subscriptions : App Store> Apple ID (upper right corner) > Subscriptions.
Android
- To check past purchases (with payment) : Play Store> hamburger icon (top left corner) > Account> Purchase history.
- To check active subscriptions : Play Store> hamburger icon (top left corner) > Subscriptions.
You will be able to quickly see if you have made any in-app purchases that seem suspicious in reality. Likewise, if you’ve signed up for any expensive subscriptions that you haven’t noticed on your monthly credit card statements yet, you’ll be able to see them clearly. It goes without saying that if you’re paying regular money to access something you don’t need, cancel your subscription.
Of course, the best way is to avoid fleece items in the first place. It’s pretty easy to avoid fake apps on Android and iOS, but I also rather avoid the technical aspects in this regard: I don’t click or click on app ads, and I also don’t download apps with poor ratings or poorly written reviews. , or whose descriptions or screenshots just look like . And if I ever come across a “pay to unlock” or “pay to subscribe” offer – sometimes even just for a free trial – I tend to abandon the app. If I don’t check them out for Lifehacker, I only pay for apps that have been critically reviewed or recommended by others.
Of course, you can always check what in-app purchases an app offers on its product page in the Google Play Store or Apple App Store. If a seemingly common app offers a $ 500 subscription, chances are good you won’t need it on your phone to begin with.
And, of course, beware of what seems too good to be true. Check the details before signing up, especially the terms of things like free trials (multiple days? Per week? Per month?), Subscription billing (every week? Every month?), Price changes (X for one time period, Y for the other) and explicit baits and switches (one price is advertised in the app, but the actual price is much higher in the payment popup). You may have to do some in-app searches, including scanning tiny, almost hidden text, to find out the truth.
When in doubt, if you are working hard on validating the application and its legitimacy, this should be a sign that something is wrong. Great apps make it very easy to see what you are buying and what you are getting; fraudulent apps try to confuse you. Unfortunately, poorly designed but honest apps may fall somewhere in between, but ask yourself: Do you really need them on your device? Of course, there is a compelling alternative that is not that hard.