1053 iPhone App Review Scam Ping!
If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.
A warning to any Windows developers (and their ilk...), don't try scamming the system in the Apple computer space...
A scamming iPhone app developer “canned”... :-)
“A warning to any Windows developers (and their ilk...), .”
Thats rather offensive
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2009 AT 10:06AM
Yesterday I was contacted by regular reader and someone who I consider to be an internet friend SCW, who had unearthed what he believes may be an AppStore review and ratings scam. The reason SCW contacted me, was he knew I have a couple of senior contacts with in Apple, and so wanted my help getting the information he had collated to them.
Having read his email (see below) I was also convinced there was something fishy going on, so between us we got this information to those who count, and last night (GMT) I got confirmation back from Phil Schiller that they would be investigating this possible scam.
The following email was sent by SCW to Phil Schiller:
"Attention Phil Schiller,
MAJOR FAKE AppStore Reviews & Ratings ALERT:
Please investigate for I have just looked at 44 of the reviewers who posted reviews for this Molinker Inc app "NightCam Pro" & EVERY Review except 2 of the 44+ are ALL FAKE 5 ★★★★★ reviews. (on my iPhone I could view more reviews but on my computer only 35 were visible & of the 35 visible 34 ARE fake). If you investigate ALL have ONLY reviewed ONLY Molinker apps. A little odd that 42 of 44 US reviews are poorly written & that all users have only written reviews for either All Molinker photography apps (giving 5 star reviews to 6-7 Molinker apps ONLY no other apps by any other developer) or the same 2 apps. 10 Reviewers who only reviewed NightCam Pro & ColorMagic (5 Stars), 24+ Reviewers have ONLY written reviews for 6-7 other Molinker photography apps (5 Stars) & 1-2 are real Reviews giving a 1 Star review & even a re-edited review by a user pointing out exactly what I am telling you (user formatt) is one of the two authentic reviews giving 1 star. It is VERY VERY ODD. This is absolutely fake, misleading & pushing false info to customers to buy their apps. One app "ColorMagic" is even on apps front page as an App Store "Staff Favorite" yet the reviews majority are FAKE (203) 5 Star & (91) 1 Star. I would also like to highly suggest to take a deep look into not only the "reviewers" but I will almost bet that all of these users redeemed "Promo Codes" for these apps in order to only access the US app store & publish these endless slew of fake postings. All to increase the developers ratings, status, sales & ultimately have a pay-off when potential customers see such high ratings & then just buy the apps. Then if any poor reviews are made they will be over shadowed by the unlimited amount of amazing 5 Star reviews posted by fake users.
* I have attached 8 desktop screenshots proving many points as listed above in visual form.
Now I must point out I am major user of the App Store & largely the Photography section. My iTunes apps combined collection is 1053+ apps at the moment. As well I should point out I have NOT yet purchased the "NightCam Pro app yet I was planning to when I unearthed this blatant SCAM. I even have been putting off buying "ColorMagic & "OOF" among other Molinker Inc's photography apps. As well I am solely the largest beta tester of iPhone photography apps. I many times give great reviews for apps BUT never will I ever give an app a 5 Star review if it is not worthy. I have NEVER been paid by any developer to beta test their apps nor any other type of payment for anything. I am very blunt & with my critique & reviews of many apps & my reputation as a true & honest person is always on the line. I would personally never jeopardize that for any developer nor plastering the app store with fake reviews. So this really disgusts me! Molinker Inc has gone above & beyond misleading they truly are stealing from the public!
This truly is an absolute disgrace & I will not let this go unnoticed! The public deserves to be aware of such a scam & ultimately legitimate purchases by users of any MoLinker app should be refunded. Molinker apps possibly should all be pulled & the developer banned & fined. If you would like my honest opinion & review PLEASE email me promo codes for all Molinker photography & photography related apps. I will be more than happy to give you my personal & honest opinion & review.
App Links:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nightcam-pro/id340358605?mt=8
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/colormagic/id328630755?mt=8
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cameraplus/id338364196?mt=8
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ppt-gurus/id328626751?mt=8
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ecamera/id328033552?mt=8
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/portrait-studio-from-dragdragdrag/id329492234?mt=8
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/oof-camera-from-dragdragdrag/id329491028?mt=8
Then read all reviews & click on each reviewers name to view all other apps they have reviewed.
I think I deserve a investigations reward for unearthing this blatant attempt at misleading & stealing from the public.
I await your reply & hope this grabs your utmost attention. Every moment wasted will result in another user being mislead & purchasing an app due to false reviews & rating results.
I plan to have this email publicly posted for all iPhone users to see & make their own investigated decision."
My phone came with some software (I think) that lets me make a phone call. Pretty neat if I have a signal.
>A warning to any Windows developers (and their ilk...), don’t try scamming the system in the Apple computer space...
So, because I develop software for Windows I’m prone to that sort of behavior? Interesting, I’d like to see your data.
(Unless you are purposely being on the same level as climate-change ‘scientists’.)
So, what apps do y’all iPhone users have, and which ones do you like the most?
I have had mine for about 2 months now, and love the thing.
I have...
Call Of Duty, World At War: Zombies
Resident Evil 4
Doom
Doom 3
Lightsaber
Bionic Ear
Voice changer
Don't you think that's a bit harsh?
If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.
2- Jailbreak it (no more Apple-approved-only apps)
Personally, I dislike being called "ilk."
I saw no indication that this developer was a Windows developer. . . or an "ilk" of either the Mac or Windows type (although to be an iPhone developer, he had to have had, a priori, a Mac) so, I would wager he is closer to a Mac ilk than a Windows ilk. ;^)> In any case, none of this flame war is necessary on this thread... Apple took the right action and banned the miscreant.
As a developer for Windows who also does iPhone dev I dislike being called ‘ilk’.
Coming from a C++ background I still dislike Objective-C and it’s [] bracket syntax nonsense.
What an ass.
AppleInsider
By Brian Garner
Published: Monday, December 7, 2009, 10:00 PM EST
Apple has taken action against app developer Molinker over alleged review fraud, resulting in the removal of all 1,000 of the company's apps.
Thanks to the detective work of one intrepid app store enthusiast, Molinker - developer of close to one percent of all the apps available on the App Store - has been banned from the App Store and all of its apps have been removed.
The issue was first brought to light by photo blog iPhoneography in a post highlighting the concerns of one of its regular readers. Reader SCW had concluded that app developer Molinker had been using its promo codes to write fake 5-star reviews of many of its apps. Each review shared the same short, disjointed style and the reviewers had only written reviews for other Molinker apps.
In a letter to Apple executive Phil Schiller, SCW laid out the case:
I would like to highly suggest to take a deep look into not only the 'reviewers' but I will almost bet that all of these users redeemed 'Promo Codes' for these apps in order to only access the US app store & publish these endless slew of fake postings. All to increase the developers ratings, status, sales & ultimately have a pay-off when potential customers see such high ratings & then just buy the apps.
After sending the email, Phil Schiller responded that Apple would look into the issue. On Sunday, both SCW and iPhoneography received word from Schiller confirming "Yes, this developer's apps have been removed from the App Store and their ratings no long appear either."
Molinker was a particularly prolific app developer, with over 1,000 apps appearing in the store. The great majority of its apps dealt with photography, travel, and public transportation. AppFreak was able to contact Molinker about the issue and received the following response:
We got email from Apple yesterday which told us our contract is changed to pending status.
Actually we do not know what's wrong so far. We had contacted Apple for such sudden changes, hope we can get quick response and actions from Apple.
As of Monday night, Molinker's website had no mention of what had transpired.
Posted by Ray Basile
at 10:41 AM
The idea of shady developers willfully trying to deceive iPhone users by gaming the App Store ratings system is not an absurd concept. Patrick Timney, stumbled onto one such developer and what he unwittingly discovered resulted in Molinker, Inc. having all 1,011 of their iPhone apps yanked down from the App Store. Timney confirmed that the removal order came directly from Phil Schiller himself, Apple's senior vice-president for worldwide product marketing.
Patrick Timney, who jokingly refers to himself as a pro iPhoneographer, spends a fair share of his time obsessing on iPhone photography, but he's also made a serious hobby out of beta testing photo apps for some of the most highly rated apps populating the Photography category of the App Store. It was well over a week ago when one of Molinker's apps, NightCam Pro caught Timney's eye.
"I was honestly interested in their stuff, and I went out of my way to check out their programs," Patrick Timney told the iPhone Savior, referring to Molinker's photo apps. "I really liked their Lomo filter I saw in pictures. Just as I'm about to buy it, I realized something was wrong with the reviews."
As he began to sift through user reviews, Timney quickly realized that some 40 five star ratings were left for NightCam Pro, even though it had only been in the App Store less than 24 hours. The real oddity Patrick noticed, was that most of the users left one sentence reviews containing poorly written English, like this one from IOve u;
"This app is quite good, I can not stop playing it. So much love for it." my images wrote.
It became obvious that Molinker may have been posting false reviews to lure in unsuspecting buyers. Accomplishing this by allegedly offering free programs to users who agreed to give the apps five star ratings. Two of Molinker's photography apps had already made it into the Top 20 Paid Apps, with Color Magic being featured in Apple's Staff Favorites section on the front page of the App Store.
"I compiled every investigative thing I could find to prove my point, including screen shot after screen shot proving that the reviews were bogus," Timney said. "I personally emailed Phil Schiller. On Saturday afternoon he sent me an email from his home, telling me they just removed all the Molinker apps from the App Store along with the ratings."
"I figured Apple would investigate my claims, but not yank every app Molinker had in the App Store, Patrick said. "I was speechless, I didn't think that was gonna happen."
You would have to be a tad naive to think that any new app receiving a huge slew of five star reviews gained that authentic feedback from giddy iPhone users. There are many quality apps that deserve such ratings and do often earn them one user at a time. But it's obvious when unscrupulous developers are stacking the deck with fat ratings fabricated by blind loyalists willing to mislead in the name of greed.
Molinker, Inc. just may become the unwitting poster child of such dubious practices, especially if alleged claims of ratings scamming permanently banishes the company from hawking their wares in the App Store. You can bet that the developer community is paying close attention to Apple's swift clean up efforts. The fact that Patrick Timney stumbled onto the App Store's seedy underbelly on his quest for the latest and greatest photo editing app, makes this story a delicious treat that's ready for prime-time television.
I asked Patrick what advice he had for the zombie hordes of new developers lined up outside the App Store with a pickaxe in hand, awaiting their chance to stake a claim in the iPhone gold rush. I wasn't too surprised by his answer.
"Hard work and a quality product will always pay off," Timney said. "One of the biggest things I look for when I review photo apps is full resolution images. Full resolution is key, it's a big selling factor."
As it turns out, Molinker's NightCam Pro app, did not include full iPhone 3G resolution (1536 x 2048). The app topped out at 600 x 800 resolution when Molinker was caught flashing the full monty. Timney should know, he ended up buying the app just before it became extinct. Some guys have all the luck.
Written on December 08, 2009
by Charles Jade
A story that began 10 days ago with a blog posting at iPhoneography and a letter to Apple VP Phil Schiller has ended with Apple banning prolific developer Molinker from the App Store. The developer has been charged with review fraud (not to mention poor grammar).
Molinker developed a lot of travel apps, guides, currency conversion tools, translation software, as well as photo editing software. A few reviews from NightCam Pro can be seen above. Like other Molinker software, the reviews are good…a little too good.
A reader of iPhoneography, SCW, thought in the above example it was “a little odd that 42 of 44 U.S. reviews are poorly written & that all users have only written reviews for either All Molinker photography apps…or the same two apps.” Apparently, short, effusive, English-as-second-language reviews are common for Molinker apps. SCW goes further, too, asserting that it is likely the all-positive reviews are derived from apps redeemed with developer promo codes.
Seeing as Molinker has promptly disappeared from the App Store, this could very well be. As for the developer’s response, Appfreakblog contacted the company and received this reply:
Actually, we do not know what’s wrong so far. We had contacted Apple for such sudden changes, hope we can get quick response and actions from Apple.
Well, it appears Molinker got its wish, at least in terms of “quick response and actions,” though it’s not the first company to suffer a mass banning. Content aggregator Perfect Acumen was banned along with 900-plus apps in August for alleged copyright violation and other complaints. Going forward, it’s likely there will be more mass bannings if allegations regarding the use of promo codes and astroturfing reviews are found to be true.
While some will argue this is yet another “black eye” for the App Store, possibly with Schiller doing another interview defending the review process, maybe some new restrictions on promo codes, does it really matter? The App Store, backed by more than 60 million iPhone OS devices and counting, remains the place to be for developers of mobile applications. A thousand bans here or there just don’t add up to much next to that.
By Yoni Heisler
Fri, 12/11/09 - 2:17am.
It's no secret that a well-reviewed and popular iPhone app can potentially net a developer hundreds of thousands of dollars. But the potential to make a lot of money inevitably causes some less than honest developers to try and scam the iTunes App Store for monetary gain. Scamming the iTunes App Store can take on a number of different forms, whether it be through creating knockoff applications or through sprinkling popular, but irrelevant, keywords throughout an app description.
In the most recent example of a developer attempting to milk Apple customers out of their hard earned money, a Chinese-based development company named Molinker engaged in a scheme to artificially inflate the number of positive reviews that appeared alongside many of their apps, which altogether total over 1,000.
The scary part about Molinker's insidious behavior is that it actually worked. By trading promo codes in exchange for positive app reviews, a number of Molinker's applications actually did quite well on the iTunes charts, with one app in particular, ColorMagic, actually making it onto the "Staff Favorites" section on iTunes - which kind of makes you wonder if the listed apps really are staff favorites.
In any event, after a good samaritan noticed something fishy about a number of Molinker app reviews, he shot over an email to Phil Schiller informing him of the situation. After looking into things, Schiller replied a few days later stating, "Yes, this developer's apps have been removed from the App Store and their ratings no longer appear either."
While it's all well and good that Apple kicked Molinker's apps to the curb, the fact that this ruse went on for as long as it did suggests that there are some glaring holes in Apple's app review process. Shouldn't the fact that a single development company was able to release over 1,000 apps have raised some red flags? Gameloft, by way of comparison, is a well-respected iPhone development house with an extensive catalogue of quality apps. As it stands now, they currently have 93 apps available for download on iTunes, and that figure includes various versions of the same title.
Put simply, there's no way a development company could realistically release 1,000 quality apps in just a few months. In those types of circumstances, it's not unreasonable to assume that something fishy is going on and would make sense for Apple to keep close tabs on development companies whose actions should trigger some sort of internal alarm.
In a similar example, it wasn't that long ago that Apple kicked out one of the most prolific iPhone developers for creating apps that consistently made use of copyrighted images and media content without legal permission. The development team in question was led by Khalid Shakih, a developer out of Pakistan with 26 employees working under him. Before getting kicked out of the app store, Shakih and his team released an astounding 943 iPhone applications, which comes out to 5 apps a day for each of the 250 days that Shakih's apps were available.
What's ridiculous is that Apple will ban apps for the silliest and most miniscule of things, yet they somehow go months without noticing an app development team with a pattern of subbing more apps than humanly seems possible - and apps with copyrighted material no less!
For as much flack as Apple receives over its app store rejections, it should also make a point to monitor potentially suspect developers even after an app has already been accepted into the app store. Hopefully going forward, Apple will at least keep an eye out on developers who have hundreds of apps in play on iTunes. Not only would this help keep out many of the blatant crapware and scamware apps that sometimes plague the app store, it would also help make app store browsing a more productive and enjoyable activity.