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They look like ordinary applications but experts call them "plucking" apps . They can be downloaded as if they were free on both the Android Google Play and the iPhone App Store. However, they have nothing for free because the user ends up paying amounts that exceed 450 euros per year per application .
In the case of phones with Android operating system, these applications total more than 600 million downloads and are present in more than 100 million phones. In the case of Apple, although the magnitude is still in the millions, the data is significantly lower with more than 3.6 million downloads.
It is a lucrative market discovered by cybersecurity company Sophos, a multinational company with billions of capital that is publicly traded.
The company has baptized these apps with the neologism of fleeware , which in Spanish is translated as plucking apps or plucking apps .
Tolerated by Google and Apple
Plucking apps have a shady business model based on tricks that Apple and Android tolerate . And, even if they are not Trojans or computer viruses, they use different schemes to get users to pay a (expensive) subscription without realizing it .
From Sophos they explain that one of the common characteristics is that " these are applications whose download is free but that all the functions they have incorporated are not and end up being very expensive".
The system to earn money is designed in such a way that users can download the applications from the App Store or from Google Play without having to pay anything. However, once the app is installed on the mobile phone, the applications themselves force users to sign up for a subscription system that has a short free trial . Otherwise, users will not be able to enjoy the benefits of the application.
However, " there is no warning that if you do not like the subscription and you cancel in a few days -usually in three- they will start charging you," they say from Sophos.
It is precisely at this moment that users begin to be "plucked" with inflated price subscriptions .
They are expressly designed to get the most money from the most unwary users . Many of them incorporate a weekly billing system . In this way, once the three-day period in which they are really free has passed, the user will begin to have to pay.
From Sophos indicate that prices are usually around 8.99 euros a week . This translates into 23.99 euros per month and 467.48 euros per year for an application that the user does not even know what they are paying for. However, there are apps that charge up to $ 69.99 a week .
In other cases, payments are made in advance and the user may have suddenly paid a year of use for these applications . In addition, there have been cases of applications that ask users to simultaneously pay a monthly subscription and a weekly subscription using a confusing interface.
Trick Ratings
Another common feature of these applications is that your note on Google Play and the App Store is tricked . They use bots that rate them with five stars and leaving a review (usually in English) with a message like "I like" or "I love this app".
They also use aggressive strategies to advertise . On many occasions, these ads are found within another application that the user has installed.
In addition, these applications have a feature that makes them especially dangerous: they are not exclusive . In other words, a user could be paying for several of these subscriptions simultaneously .
The application list
Plucking applications do not focus on any specific function. However, they all have in common that it is possible to find truly free applications that perform the same functions among the competition .
Some of the plucking applications identified by Sophos are photo editors, video editors, applications to record the screen, horoscope applications , applications to read the good fortune , applications that offer hidden folders on the phone, applications that serve to fix files in format MP3 and beauty filters to take photos.
What to do to avoid being plucked?
- Always read the fine print of the apps
- Pay attention to whether there are letters in gray tones or in other typefaces that are difficult to see
- Use applications in which you have to give your bank details once your free trial has finished
- Uninstalling the application is not enough. In many cases the payment is associated with the card of your Google or Apple account. You must also make sure that you have unsubscribed to cancel the payments. Otherwise you will have to continue paying the bills even if you do not have the app installed on your mobile.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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