Mac App Store users are at risk of fraud as scammers find ways to trick the platform into accepting fake apps, an expert warns.
The fake apps, which purport to replace some of the world’s most popular productivity solutions, are being offered for sale on the repository, according to a report by security researcher Alex Kleber.
Kleber claims in his analysis to have discovered five active Mac App Store accounts, all owned by one person, all distributing fake apps.
False pretenses
These accounts offer apps such as “Work for Google Docs and Drive”, “Calendar for Google Calendar”, “Switcher for Chrome or Safari”, “PDF Editor for Adobe Acrobat” and similar – all of which look like they come from official Google or Adobe profiles. The scammers even used original Google and Adobe icons for their solutions, to increase the legitimacy of the apps.
Kleber says he has been tracking the fraudsters for years and even reported them to Apple in 2022, when the company deleted seven of their accounts.
“Despite this, the developer managed to return and continue the same activities, spamming multiple developer accounts and using the same techniques to scam MacOS App Store users,” he said. They apparently use multiple accounts to minimize the chance of all the fraudulent apps being removed at once.
“Techniques are used to trick users into buying applications under the false pretense that they are the original ones,” Kleber concluded. Some apps are designed in such a way that they cannot even be closed unless the user buys a subscription.
The researcher briefly discussed how such apps could possibly end up in the repository, saying the campaign demonstrates “how easy it can be to bypass the Apple Review team.”
TechRadar Pro has reached out to Apple for comment and will update this article when we have more information.
