Apple has sent out a strong warning to all developers in the AppStore today, when they removed a developer and 1,011 of his apps. The Chinese-based software maker was removed after he was reported by a user for getting users to write false ratings on his applications.
One user detected the scam by a developer, Molink, where users had given a poorly written five-star rating review. The user also noticed that all of the applications created by Molinker were rated by the same users, with poorly written five-star reviews, boosting the developer's reviews, tricking people into purchasing the applications.
The suspicious user sent a letter to iPhoneography, a photography and videography blog, which than forwarded the letter to Apple's Philip Schiller, senior vice president of worldwide product marketing. The letter described that Molink was distributing free copies of their applications to users, who would give a five-star rating, even boosting the application to the AppStore staff-favourite section.
Apple was swift to remove all of the 1,011 applications immediately off of the AppStore and ban the developer.
The user that spotted the scam first, SCW, asked that Apple give users a refund for the applications. No exact numbers of how many of Molinks applications were sold, or if Apple will issue a refund.
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