A fake app pretending to be Amazon's official Alexa has managed to climb into the download charts in the App Store.
It seems that it's not just the Google Play Store that is vulnerable to fake apps, designed to take advantage of people's trust in a platform. Apple's App Store is equally vulnerable, as the recent app titled “Setup for Amazon Alexa” is a scam evidence of it.
This particular fake app has not only managed to stay in the App Store, which is strictly controlled by Apple but has also been downloaded. Although not so easy to achieve, the application reached No6 in Utilities and No75 in Top Free. Most regular and legitimate apps in the App Store have not even managed to get so high in their dream.
How is that possible?
It's not so much a mystery that he managed to get so high up in the App Store. It can easily be explained because of Christmas. Obviously, many users have received or bought a package from Amazon Alexa and started looking for a tool in the App Store. The wave of searches and users pushed it to the top.
Unlike the Google Play Store, the App Store is much better controlled and every app is evaluated before being accepted. Many large-scale applications, even large companies, were rejected, but somehow this false application managed to pass the approval process.
Shortly after users started realizing it was fake, “Setup for Amazon Alexa” was removed and is no longer available. Αν και η είδηση δεν αφορά τους χρήστες στην Ελλάδα, τους δίνει μία ιδέα για το τι συμβαίνει σήμερα στις πλατφόρμες εύρεσης εφαρμογών για τα κινητά τηλέφωνα και εξιστορεί ότι θα πρέπει να έχουν πάντα την προσοχή τους όταν κατεβάζουν κάτι στο mobile their.