Earlier today I decided to switch my Android for an iPhone. After moving all my apps I decided to make the jump and move my bitcoin from the android wallet. I searched for 'bitcoin wallet' on the Apple App Store, installed the first app I saw (as far as I could tell, looks legit), transferred bitcoin, and it immediately got sent off. Turns out this app was previously reported at least 12 days ago as a scam ( https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1b3q5wr/fake_wallet_on_apple_app_store/ ) but its still up there, #1 search result.<p>I get that I've failed to vet the app but honestly, how does a scam app become the #1 organic search result (not promoted) in the app store, topping binance, blockchain.com, and coinbase?<p>EDIT: linking to a screen recording that includes this post and comments of no repro:<p>Before removing the app - https://streamable.com/q2mulu<p>After removing the app - https://streamable.com/y5nhy7
I don't think I've ever searched for something on the app store and not got a scam as the first result<p>just tried it<p><pre><code> - my bank? I get crypto.com
- train company app? knockoff app that charges extra fees
- my broker? CFD gambling app
- official government app for paying my tax? intuit product
</code></pre>
I dare to think how many people this lures in<p>scammy ads plastered everywhere is what I'd expect from Google products<p>not for the Apple equivalent that commands a significant price premium
Apple statement on why the EU requiring open app stores is bad:<p><i>Schiller, an Apple veteran who once ran its marketing machine, said the moves to break the company’s closed ecosystem for software will undermine the privacy and security the company has worked to build into its products and services. “This isn’t our first choice,” he said. “We always want to have the highest standard everywhere in the world but we also have the requirement to meet the legal requirements in the local markets. “In the App Store we have a lot of signals that we are looking for every day to find scams and stop them,” Schiller said. “With these new marketplaces we won’t have visibility into those issues.”</i><p>Right.
I thought the Apple platform had the best consumer experience and that's why folk love it -- it "just works" -- cause they keep the riff-raff out of their gated community.<p>Perhaps they let this one slip through because their team was too busy dragging out the review process for our cannabis compliance application, they can only afford so many reviewers after all. We wouldn't want children accidentally getting their hands on regulatory compliance data for deadly deadly cannabis. (which could happen with our application, after they had signed up and verified their agency cannabis license (which only takes many months/years and $$$$$s to get))
I am in India and I can see the app on top spot (marked as Ad) when I search for Bitcoin Wallet.<p>My theory is, they paid for an Ad in a specific region and hence it started showing on top, people started downloading in that region, and that boosted the overall ranking for that app and hence people from other regions are seeing it among top results, even though its not an Ad there.
Irrespective of the rating or freshness of the app, since it is getting downloaded in one region (because it is an Ad there), automatically it goes to top in other regions.<p>This trick can be used by other apps also, considering it would be cheapter to buy the top Ad spot in India and then it organically rises to the top.
Promoted results in Google are loaded with scams. According to one recent report, 75% of brands are affected (<a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-search-ads-brands-fraud-436871" rel="nofollow">https://searchengineland.com/google-search-ads-brands-fraud-...</a>):<p><i>The researchers who conducted the report found that retail giants such as Amazon, American Airlines, Lego, Pizza Hut, and Samsung were all victims of identity fraud within Google Search Ads.</i><p>Here's a Google SERP for "Facebook" which shows Facebook as the URL, redirects to an Apple security scam: <a href="https://youtube.com/shorts/gTEuqXYAp58?si=lzFV9mfX31_8nzd1" rel="nofollow">https://youtube.com/shorts/gTEuqXYAp58?si=lzFV9mfX31_8nzd1</a><p>Google even vouches for the advertiser:<p><a href="https://twitter.com/leanmediaorg/status/1724467969344905534/photo/3" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/leanmediaorg/status/1724467969344905534/...</a>
> does a scam app become the #1 organic search result (not promoted) in the app store<p>It's possible that it's just because it was literally called "Bitcoin Wallet", an exact match for your search, or boosted by fake reviews, or it was actually an ad that you didn't notice. Though it shouldn't have gotten past review at all<p>But I don't really understand why you'd blindly trust some random app?<p>Also, would be interesting to take a look at the app, sadly know nothing about ios apps or how to get the IPA, only android.
Don't worry, everyone. Apple can now afford to hire some app store reviewers by using the revenue from its new "Core Technology Fee." This fee requires developers to pay Apple €0.50 for every first annual installation exceeding a threshold of 1 million for apps distributed outside the App Store.
But I've been assured that the 30% protection racket Apple charges is justified because they spend so much effort curating their store. I'm assured by Apple's latest press release that the web is full of scams and only they can protect me from it.
It is both impressive and concerning how well their app store optimization efforts were, for what seems like a major keyword/phrase. These type of shenanigans were usually reserved for the Play Store. No more.<p>To be fair many crypto wallet apps are deceptively simple applications.
Replying to verify I see the same app almost at the top of search result. Based in Canada and searching “Bitcoin Wallet”, it was the 2nd non-promoted result.<p>I have only 1 other app of this variety on my phone currently and haven’t used it or searched for anything crypto related including months.
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It is very important that common people understand that the Apple App Store is not a way to outsource their own security and blindly install whatever they find on it, personally I was always convinced that Apple Marketing about the security of their App Store in regard to opening competition sources of app installs, has done a lot of damage to their users for the benefit of their shareholders, and if I was a Apple user I would be pretty upset for them up to the point where I would be unable to trust them. Whatever the source you're responsible for your own safety. Don't be a victim of marketing departments.
This is understandably shocking. The way I have chosen bitcoin wallets is searching for trusted brands in the space using Google, and going to their website and then installing the app.
That's actually quite worrisome. I don't really think twice about downloading the top result for things like PayPal or local banking apps if I get a new phone, for example.
Must be region/account specific. I get crypto.com, bitcoin.com and coinbase as the top three results. Nevertheless I agree these should be moderated better and scam apps need to be removed quickly.
Working as intended. Apple has repeatedly rejected an update to an app that we have recently updated because it had a link to our help site which links to our main site which has an option to purchase a subscription. Despite us having published 60 versions successfully until today, that link being there and unchanged the entire time. But this sort of shit, no problem go right on through, sir.
There might be an argument that the app store itself is the scam.<p>I think there are ~ 3m apps available right now. Apple is the only place (currently) to sell apps, or buy apps. They interpose themselves, and do a poor job of things. How can a buyer make his apps visible? How can a seller find anything?<p>There should not only be more app stores, there should be markets and communities and personal apps.
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I have been scammed before by the top result also. So not only are they taking a 30!!!!!% tax on developers (not only on profit) but they milk ad. money from shysters. Yet you still have the just “use another phone” / don’t release your app with them people. Yeah who? Monopoly B?
When I perform your search, I get legitimate results at the top, and I don't see the <i>specific</i> app from the Reddit thread. But about at about rank #7, I see an app that uses a distorted form of the same logo, a different unfamiliar publisher, a slightly altered title and a similar smattering of only a few reviews.<p>It sounds like somebody is burning developer accounts to keep reposting the scam app. Not unlike people being banned from a website and then resubscribing with a different email or through a VPN or whatever. It slipping through into your results isn't so much plain neglect as it is an arms race that Apple is on the losing side of this time.<p>Robust algorithmic ranking and moderation at scale is a myth, though, and you can find this happen pretty much everywhere. This one will probanly get squashed with some near-term update to their algorithm, and then get compromised again sometime later since crypto is so ripe for scamming.<p>You can't escape personal due diligence and "it was top ranked!" has never been that.
> Earlier today I decided to switch my Android for an iPhone.<p>Mistake #1 : switching to an even more closed computing environment, where user has strictly no control<p>> android<p>Mistake #2 : running on a tech. stack you do not control: closed-source, walled-garden<p>> wallet<p>Mistake #3 : using a wallet instead of your own private cold storage to hold any kind of significant amounts of money<p>> but its still up there, #1 search result.<p>Mistake #4 : trusting that Apple is making huge efforts to secure their environment.<p>In the same vein as "not your keys, not your coins" :<p><pre><code> - "trust the vendor, not your coins"
- "not your hardware, not your coins"
- "not your operating system, not your coins"
- "not your key management software, not your coins"
- "not open source and therefore not auditable, not your coins"</code></pre>
No repro. Same search string gives me the Bitcoin.com and the Coinbase app at the top. Scrolled through several dozen wallet apps and the one in the Reddit link never surfaced.
AppStore is a fucking desert, no legit apps or games. Their only purpose is to trick people into recurring payments ($10/week for a Minecraft skin anyone?) or ask very high prices for addons.<p>It's a tragedy for parents who look for games for their kids, 99% scam. That's why Apple Arcade even exists. You can't find any legit games in the normal range $1-$20 one time payment and all features enabled.<p>To me this shows Apple is past its good phase and deep into the dark phase, where their only purpose is to milk present users of all their worth. Enshittification for profit.
And this is why bitcoin is a worthless pyramid scheme. People have kind of stopped arguing it has any value now but back when they used to pretend it was a currency they acted like it’s something people would use.<p>Who would ever use a currency that can just be stolen like this? No way of getting anything back. No security. Slower than a bank transfer now.
At this point, I'm about 80% sure that a lot of these scam apps are being approved by corrupted Apple review staff.<p>So many of them are blatantly scams that it's not credibly "human error".
App Store is as scammy as Google play store.<p>Apple vets every app through their review team but it’s a shit show of inconsistency.<p>Apple’s wall garden doesn’t do much other than rent seeking.<p>I got scammed in an ethereum site back in the day. Wasn’t a big loss but it was the straw that broke camel’s back.<p>If it was my credit card, I would have been refunded. Coinbase did fuck all, couldn’t even reach a real human.<p>I sold all my crypto a few months later.<p>Crypto and stock market move in tandem. Crypto has much higher trading fees. Fidelity gives me zero fees.<p>From a value investing perspective, crypto was a bad and unsafe investment.<p>I agree that folks who got in 10 years early made a fortune, but last few years have lackluster growth.
1) You see recently visited apps on top of search results. Same applies for Google/Yandex (unless you turned off specific personalization settings). It is a feature to save your time from scrolling.<p>2) Post on Reddit is FUD from competitors (newly created account included). People who transfer C$150k know <i>exactly</i> what to do when they lose money (no, they don't visit /r/Bitcoin to ask "any chance of fund recovery or all gone?"). Don't promote FUD on HN.
Sad to say but it seems pretty are pretty dumb. Robinhood yields robinhood for first non-ad app, same with Bank of America, chase, Citi, etc. do people really just click the first thing they see? Wow.<p>As for the example - can’t replicate, but seems crazy to put a seed phrase into some random app you didn’t get yourself. Even if the app wasn’t a scam.