This seems too crazy to be true.
It all begins with an otherwise unremarkable app suddenly skyrocketing in price, oftentimes all the way to the App Store’s limit of $999.99. The developer, or whoever is orchestrating the scam, wires a massive amount of money — Grachov used $10,000 as an example — to a second party. That individual then purchases 10 copies of the app, exhausting the available funds and indirectly paying $7,000 of the original deposit back to the developer. Apple takes their 30% as usual.
The App Store sees $10,000 worth of money changing hands over the app and, as Grachov says, “like magic” the app appears on the Top Paid apps list. (Note: It’s more likely that this trick would land you on the Top Grossing list, rather than Top Paid.) How close do you get to the no. 1 spot, for what is essentially a $3,000 App Store bribe? Anywhere from no. 18 to no. 13, according to Grachov.
Once the app has reached its highest point, the developer drops the price back to the one- to two-dollar range, and it gets at least a few hours of top-app sales before disappearing back into the ether. Whether the $3,000 investment is worth the eventual payoff depends on its performance during this relatively small window.
But there’s The Fleas, as promised, priced at $999.99. Who would fall for this?
No one would fall for it, which is why this crap is generally an inside job. All the way up to claiming credit card fraud for the purchases (done to get gift cards so Apple never sees the reports).
Generally they don’t go $999 but perhaps $99. Fake reviews get in the mix as well. To help when price goes down
This isn’t about somebody falling for the app.
This is about whitewashing cash from drug-deals or sales of stolen goods. Just use the cash to purchase a stack of iTunes cards in supermarkets and buy this app (provided you have a deal with the developer). Now you get perfectly clean money transferred to your bank account.
It does sound like the technique could be used for money laundering as well …
Why not 1,000 copies at .99? What is special about 999?
That’s what vendor gift cards are used for.
You only need 1 account to transfer the $999. To do the whole 10k transfer, you just need 10 accounts.
If you put them at .99, you need 1000 accounts. For a full 10k transfer that way, you need 10,000 accounts (and clicks and password entries.)