Fleeceware scams promise free subscription trials but deliver costly charges to victims
Researchers at Avast have discovered a total of 204 fleeceware applications with over a billion downloads and over $400 million in revenue on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. The purpose of these applications is to draw users into a free trial to “test” the app, after which they overcharge them through subscriptions which sometimes run as high as $3,432 per year. These applications generally have no unique functionality and are merely conduits for the fleeceware scam. Avast has reported the fleeceware applications to both Apple and Google for review.
The bulk of the applications that we’ve discovered are musical instrument apps, palm readers, image editors, camera filters, fortune tellers, QR code/PDF readers and slime simulators. However, there are other variations of apps that rely on this fleeceware tactic. While the applications generally fulfill their intended purpose, it’s unlikely that a regular user would willingly pay a costly recurring fee for these applications — especially when there are cheaper or even free alternatives on both app stores. As an example, QR readers are currently part of the built-in functionality of the majority of mobile devices, which more or less eliminates the need for a separate app (especially a highly paid one).
The data is startling: with nearly a billion downloads and hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, this model is attracting more developers and there is evidence to suggest several popular existing apps have updated to include the free trial subscription with high recurring fees. Unfortunately, this endeavour can be lucrative even if a small percentage of users fall victim to fleeceware ..
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