Fleeceware apps extract hundreds of dollars per year from their users through subscription services

2021-03-25 13:41

The applications attract users with a promise of a free 3-day trial, with an unusually high subscription fee attached.

Once the trial is over, users are charged a recurring subscription fee - even if they deleted the app by that time - until they cancel the subscription in their device's app subscriptions settings.

Fleeceware apps actively advertised on major social networks.

One of the apps, for example, offers a short free trial followed by a $66 per week subscription, potentially costing the victim $3,432 per year unless cancelled.

"The fleeceware applications we've discovered consist predominantly of musical instrument apps, palm readers, image editors, camera filters, fortune tellers, QR code and PDF readers, and 'slime simulators'."

Researchers discovered the Android fleeceware applications via its mobile threat intelligence platform apklab.io, and then expanded their research to the Apple App Store.

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