Report: iOS scam apps rake in over $100 million in annual revenue

Over one year has passed since Avast, an open source development company, published the list of the 133 dangerous iOS scam apps. Yet, in 2022, more than 60% of these apps are still active on the App Store, according to Digital Information World. In fact, they boast 500 million downloads and over US$100 million in annual revenue, the article adds.

The fraudulent apps also saw 7.2 million unique downloads for the month of May. According to a report published by VPNcheck, these figures don’t even account for fraudulent apps identified through other sources. Although Avast’s list of fleeceware subscription apps states that the developers of these apps have made more than $365 million in total revenue, based on Sensor Tower data, they did not provide any details of Apple’s cut of these earnings, according to Digital Information World.