Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Scammed by the top result for 'Bitcoin wallet' in Apple App Store

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 179 posts

Re: Scammed by the top result for 'Bitcoin wallet' in Apple App Store

#131

Post by pjc50 »

OJFord wrote: post #56
blibble wrote: post #8

I don't think I've ever searched for something on the app store and not got a scam as the first result just tried it - my bank? I get crypto.com - train company app? knockoff app that charges extra fees - my broker? CFD gambling app - official government app for paying my tax? intuit product I dare to think how many people this lures in scammy ads plastered everywhere is what I'd expect from Google products not for t…

> my broker? CFD gambling app I don't think 'gambling app' is a fair description given it's a regulated security, any broker that truly offers CFD trading is (1) going to be legit; (2) going to be competing with the broker you were searching for for result space. Of course to serve its users any app store should massively prioritise the word/brand (incl. typos) you actually search for though.

https://www.fca.org.uk/publications/policy-statements/ps19-1...

They're in the category that, while they theoretically can be used by skilled investors, anyone offering them to retail punters is up to no good. Because those punters are going to lose money to them hand over fist.

Re: Scammed by the top result for 'Bitcoin wallet' in Apple App Store

#132

Post by 400thecat »

mvolfik wrote: post #122
Rodmine wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> scammy ads plastered everywhere is what I'd expect from Google products This won’t fit with the manufactured popular understanding, but at the current time, Google protects you from fraud and scam better than anyone. I have been unfortunate enough to be scammed recently from a bing search result (ad). (It was a new computer and I decided to use Edge and bing was the default search). Apple, Microsoft etc. are rookie…

> Google protects you from fraud and scam better than anyone I have to disagree. Czech Youtube is currently full of scam ads with photos (and sometimes even bad deepfakes) of Czech president and other public figures, supposedly endorsing some investment product that yields you like 50% profit. I keep reporting these, and I know some people who do too, but ~80% of those reports get handled as "we determined no violati…

where can I see one of these fakes ?

Re: Scammed by the top result for 'Bitcoin wallet' in Apple App Store

#133

Post by MagicMoonlight »

And this is why bitcoin is a worthless pyramid scheme. People have kind of stopped arguing it has any value now but back when they used to pretend it was a currency they acted like it’s something people would use.

Who would ever use a currency that can just be stolen like this? No way of getting anything back. No security. Slower than a bank transfer now.

Re: Scammed by the top result for 'Bitcoin wallet' in Apple App Store

#134

Post by visarga »

AppStore is a fucking desert, no legit apps or games. Their only purpose is to trick people into recurring payments ($10/week for a Minecraft skin anyone?) or ask very high prices for addons.

It's a tragedy for parents who look for games for their kids, 99% scam. That's why Apple Arcade even exists. You can't find any legit games in the normal range $1-$20 one time payment and all features enabled.

To me this shows Apple is past its good phase and deep into the dark phase, where their only purpose is to milk present users of all their worth. Enshittification for profit.

Re: Scammed by the top result for 'Bitcoin wallet' in Apple App Store

#135

Post by joquarky »

seanhunter wrote: post #118
blibble wrote: post #8

I don't think I've ever searched for something on the app store and not got a scam as the first result just tried it - my bank? I get crypto.com - train company app? knockoff app that charges extra fees - my broker? CFD gambling app - official government app for paying my tax? intuit product I dare to think how many people this lures in scammy ads plastered everywhere is what I'd expect from Google products not for t…

I don't recognize this picture at all. Even if you aren't distinguishing between ads and search results I'm not seeing scams as adverts but there may be a difference between the UK and US app stores in this respect perhaps. For me on apple UK app store: my bank - Ad: another legit bank. First result: my bank Train company - Ad: a generic legit train booking app. First result: the train company My broker - Ad: another…

At what point do we recognize marketing as a sociological disease?

Re: Scammed by the top result for 'Bitcoin wallet' in Apple App Store

#137

Post by gumby »

yunwal wrote: post #105
kibwen wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Apple should be better than that. Everyone should be better than that, but as far as Apple specifically, they're really no better than any other hypermegacorp. Apple's a company, it doesn't give a damn about you, it only gives a damn about enriching its owners.

Apple built up a really strong brand by not doing this kind of thing for a while. They get to charge twice as much money for half as much performance because they made sure their products felt nice and intuitive to use. Now they’re willing to destroy the most valuable brand in the world to make crypto money? It makes absolutely no sense, even accounting for greed. Also, I’m sure this kind of thing hurts their prospec…

> Apple … get to charge twice as much money for half as much performance…

Has this ever really been the case?

Re: Scammed by the top result for 'Bitcoin wallet' in Apple App Store

#138

Post by seaal »

Rodmine wrote: post #77
blibble wrote: post #8

I don't think I've ever searched for something on the app store and not got a scam as the first result just tried it - my bank? I get crypto.com - train company app? knockoff app that charges extra fees - my broker? CFD gambling app - official government app for paying my tax? intuit product I dare to think how many people this lures in scammy ads plastered everywhere is what I'd expect from Google products not for t…

> scammy ads plastered everywhere is what I'd expect from Google products This won’t fit with the manufactured popular understanding, but at the current time, Google protects you from fraud and scam better than anyone. I have been unfortunate enough to be scammed recently from a bing search result (ad). (It was a new computer and I decided to use Edge and bing was the default search). Apple, Microsoft etc. are rookie…

I almost got drained today by accidentally connecting my wallet to the first sponsored Google result for 1inch. Maybe not that good?

Re: Scammed by the top result for 'Bitcoin wallet' in Apple App Store

#139

Post by rchaud »

thiht wrote: post #120
blibble wrote: post #8

I don't think I've ever searched for something on the app store and not got a scam as the first result just tried it - my bank? I get crypto.com - train company app? knockoff app that charges extra fees - my broker? CFD gambling app - official government app for paying my tax? intuit product I dare to think how many people this lures in scammy ads plastered everywhere is what I'd expect from Google products not for t…

When I first got an iPhone a few years back, this is the thing that shocked me most. This is completely out of line with what I expect from Apple. I don’t have "scams" per se, but the first result when searching for a keyword is systematically an ad for a competitor: - Spotify -> Deezer - Uber -> Heetch - UberEats -> Deliveroo - Deliveroo -> Ubereats - My bank -> crypto.com I have no idea why Apple allows buying trad…

> I have no idea why Apple allows buying trademarks/full app names as an ad keyword.

Because unlike a regular search query, app store searches tend to be for app names, which are unique. Advertisers won't be interested unless bidding on brand names were allowed.

Re: Scammed by the top result for 'Bitcoin wallet' in Apple App Store

#140

Post by rchaud »

Reason077 wrote: post #36
pushcx wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty much every brand or app I search for finds a competitor first. Searching for "robinhood" turns up an unaffiliated cryptocurrency app and "macrofactor" turns up a competing diet app, etc. App store search has been broken for at least a few years.

> "Pretty much every brand or app I search for finds a competitor first." You're going to hate Amazon.com.

Amazon is known to be a flea market though. Apple is supposed to be the Nordstrom of this sector.
Post reply on HN