How To Spot A Fake Shopping App
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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - There are hundreds of fake apps floating around in app stores ahead of the holidays.
Dr. Kevin Hamlen, Associate professor of Computer Science at the University of Texas in Dallas says more and more fake apps are getting past app reviewers.
"You enter a credit card number in the app to buy something, your credit card number gets stolen," he told CBS 11 news
He says a lot of consumers believe that anything in the app store is probably trustworthy but it's not.
One out of three major retailers have their own apps. And fake apps in the names of real web companies, such as Dillard's, Payless, even Christian Dior are showing up in app stores.
Greg Milesfsky, cyber security expert at Snoopwall says some of the counterfeit apps are very good.
"They give you a complete shopping cart experience," he says. "Everything through the 'congratulations, here's your order number, it's on its way' and then you'll never get the goods."
Recently, researchers at an internet security firm ESET found 1.5 million users downloaded several versions of fake photo editing app called Prisma from Google Play. Some with dangerous software that could damage the device.
These fake apps are sometimes hard to find but there are some clues says Dan Ackerman, of CNET. He says the first line of defense is to check who published the app.
He showed CBS11 a real and fake Overstock app, which has since been taken down.
"If I go to the Overstock app, the real one, it says it's by Overstock.com. One of the fake ones that we're talking about, it's by Overstock.inc," he said.
His next test is to check the number of reviews and ratings.
"I see there's a lot of ratings and reviews for this Overstock app — lifetime there's over 10,000 of them and it got an average of four stars. To me, that's a sign that this is the legitimate app from the legitimate company," he says.
The fake app didn't have any ratings or reviews and was only published a few days ago. Also check the app description and instructions.
"If there are a lot of typos and mistakes and it doesn't seem like they were written by someone whose first language is English, that's a big red flag right there," he says.
Another safeguard is to go directly to the store's website. It's a much safer way to download a legitimate app. Apple has removed hundreds of fake apps, but new apps are being created every day. So downloading any app requires a closer look in today's age of high-tech scams.
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