Apple's App Store hosted kids' games that became crypto-based casinos if launched from some non-US locations
Kosta Eleftheriou has found another iOS scam — In popular culture, access to an illicit gambling den is as easy as stumbling into the right shop and saying the password — or greasing some palms.
Related Coverage
- This iOS Game Secretly Turns Into a Gambling App Gizmodo · John Biggs
- Kosta Eleftheriou's App Store Scam of the Day: ‘Jungle Runner 2k21’ Daring Fireball · John Gruber
- Apple boots children's game that was front for online casino from App Store iMore · Stephen Warwick
- Scam children's app on App Store flips to bogus online casino for users in Turkey AppleInsider · Will Shanklin
- Latest App Store scam exposed is a kids game with a hidden online casino 9to5Mac · Michael Potuck
- View article iPhone Hacks
Discussion
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@keleftheriou
Kosta Eleftheriou
on x
This @AppStore app pretends to be a silly platformer game for children 4+, but if I set my VPN to Turkey and relaunch it becomes an online casino that doesn't even use Apple's IAP.
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@s8mb
Sam Bowman
on x
This is exactly what Epic's lawsuit would get us more of, no? https://twitter.com/...
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@i0n1c
Stefan Esser
on x
Let's repeat the mantra: @AppStore is not for security it is for exercising control over the monopoly https://twitter.com/...
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@parkerortolani
Parker Ortolani
on x
Yikes. This kinda stuff doesn't help Apple make the compelling case they think they're making... https://twitter.com/...
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@tolmasky
Francisco Tolmasky
on x
This is why when the AppStore was first announced I thought the whole “no private APIs” thing was just a suggestion that no one would take seriously, just like on the Mac. It just seemed impossible to enforce (especially with ObjC). Just performSelector: after a certain date... h…
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@nsexceptional
Tanner B
on x
This is the craziest one yet lmao https://twitter.com/...
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@adora
Lisa Brewster
on x
Other than user reports, how would you detect something like this? https://twitter.com/...
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@keleftheriou
Kosta Eleftheriou
on x
I'm now being alerted it's not just Turkey. The app behaves like a casino in other countries too, like Italy and Kazakhstan. Presumably it's everywhere other than the US? https://twitter.com/...
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@charlesarthur
Charles Arthur
on x
This is SO super ultra shady, and so smart to find it. Isn't it about time Apple started putting Kosta on some sort of incentive payment, like an App Store version of Pwn2own, for finding these things? Or... put anyone on it, like bug bounties? App bounties? https://twitter.com/.…
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@brentdirks
Brent Dirks
on x
It's amazing that one man, @keleftheriou, continues to find these scams that Apple has been completely oblivious to. https://twitter.com/...
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@gartenberg
Michael Gartenberg
on x
You just can't review millions of apps effectively. I think the App Store has just gone beyond any scale imagined and like the iTunes App of old needs to be rethought and reworked https://twitter.com/...
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@steipete
Peter Steinberger
on x
These threads never stop. The App Store already is a “flea market” https://twitter.com/...
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@tomwarren
Tom Warren
on x
I thought Apple's App Store was supposed to protect us from the evils of scams. Instead, apps like this slip through all of the time 👇 https://twitter.com/...