Apple has responded to an incident last weekend which saw a developer use hacked iTunes accounts to make fraudulent App Store purchases.

The developer Thuat Nguyen and his apps were removed from the App Store for violating the developer Program License Agreement, including fraudulent purchase patterns.

Developers do not receive any iTunes confidential customer data when an app is downloaded.

If your credit card or iTunes password is stolen and used on iTunes we recommend that you contact your financial institution and inquire about canceling the card and issuing a chargeback for any unauthorized transactions. We also recommend that you change your iTunes account password immediately. For more information on best practices for password security visit http://www.apple.com/support/itunes.

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Two iPhone App developers have spotted what appears to be a hacking of the App store rankings by a rogue developer. The rankings in the books category of the US iTunes store features 40 out of 50 apps by the same app developer, Thuat Nguyen.

What’s more concerning is that it seems individuals iTunes accounts have been hacked to make mass purchases of that one developer’s apps.

One look at a screenshot of some twitter search results above should ring alarm bells – there is a problem. What’s more concerning is that these are just the people reporting it on twitter and we’re not even certain all those people’s accounts were hacked by the same developer.

A screenshot of the books category on iTunes below should illustrate the extent of the problem. How has this developer managed to hack enough iTunes accounts to buy the number of apps required for each to dominate the paid books category on iTunes?

Some users who have had their accounts hacked have left comments on the apps they have supposedly bought complaining that up to $200 has been spent on books they’d never personally bought themselves.

There are other comments clearly from the app developer himself, giving positive reviews in an attempt to draw attention away from the other comments.

Both the support and company links for the company in iTunes take you to a Home.com URL with nothing but a holding page. Also Google Search results for Thuat Nguyen do not provide any concrete details as to who the individual or company is.

Clearly when one developer completely dominates the ranking in a particular category, other app developers suffer but when it happens by means of hacking end users accounts – it’s a serious concern that leaves everyone involved suffering. Developers don’t get the recognition they deserve, users are being robbed and left with a poor user experience, while Apple is left with a tarnished brand and left with a lot of explaining to do. Why does Apple not have mechanisms in place to detect when previously unpopular apps from the same developer flood the top rankings?

When some apps are left waiting weeks for approval only to be rejected by Apple for minor objections, how does a company with no website, no description and apps that are literally swarming iTunes escape punishment? More importantly, how has someone managed to hack users’ accounts and left many, we can only assume, unaware they’ve been robbed?
What now?

For now, we can only recommend you check your recent purchases and change your iTunes password immediately. One of the app developers involved in drawing attention to the hacking, Alex Brie, investigated the situation himself and revealed that the apps only appear to be hijacking the rankings in the US app store, which would imply it is primarily US iTunes accounts that are being hacked. I can confirm there is no mention of any of the apps in the UK app store – please do let us know if you spot these apps in your country’s iTunes paid books charts.

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