Five iPhone distributors in China are under arrest after Apple told local police it was the victim of an unusual scam. The plot involved sending fake iPhone 4S parts to Apple for replacement and receiving real components worth more than $64,000, according to Monday reports.
The alleged fraudsters went so far as to accompany the fake components with the serial numbers of more than a hundred real iPhone handsets, police said. Read More
Okay, I’ll bite. Again.
Yesterday I called out the developer of “Dream JB” for promising to bring a jailbreak to the iPhone 5 when he knew good and well that he couldn’t fulfill that promise.
Understandably, a lot of readers were miffed that I had the audacity to dash their hopes for a jailbreak. We’ve waited a long time for a jailbreak for iOS 6 and the iPhone 5, so it didn’t really surprise me when I was labeled a pessimist, although I was surprised a bit that my journalistic integrity was questioned. Fair enough, I was pretty positive that in due time this “jailbreak” would be exposed for what it really was.
Due time came today.
As I stated, I too wish for a jailbreak, it’s in my best interest to have one…but I and many others saw through this for what it was — a fake. Now the developer has released a video showcasing his fake work. And although it’s a pretty ambitious job of fakery, at the end of the day it’s still fake. Read More
Over the last few weeks there’s been a slight buzz about a so-called iPhone 5 jailbreak from some unknown and unproven entity. So as not to draw attention to the folks behind what is almost assuredly a hoax, we’ll refrain from linking or name dropping.
The bottom line is this, if you don’t see word from a respectable member of the community, a member from proven teams like the Chronic Dev Team or the iPhone Dev Team, then it’s almost always fake. Please don’t get hyped up over something that isn’t real, only to be highly disappointed in a few weeks… Read More
There appears to be a new trend developing in the App Store: create a crappy application, name it after a popular jailbreak app, and hope folks mistakenly buy it for $0.99.
Last week we saw a fake Cydia app make its way into Apple’s digital download hub. And now we’ve come across a similar Activator impostor… Read More
The App Store hasn’t had any shortage of knockoff apps since its creation a few years ago. When popular games such as Angry Birds or Cut the Rope make their way up the charts, you can expect a few unscrupulous developers to rush and try to get their copycat app approved and available in the App Store in order to make a quick buck.
Surfing on the popularity of Cydia, the App Store for jailbreak apps and tweaks, one shady developer thought that releasing an app called Cydia and making it available to over 300 million iDevices (no jailbreak required, mind you) would be a good idea…
Last week, a report made its way around the blogosphere claiming that Apple’s CEO Tim Cook was spotted at Valve’s headquarters. This sparked all kinds of speculation regarding the nature of Cook’s visit, and the company’s future plans in the gaming space.
But alas, the story has been proven to be false. Valve head Gabe Newell debunked the rumor himself during an interview on the weekly Seven Day Cooldown podcast yesterday. And apparently, tech sites weren’t the only ones fooled by the report… Read More
I’ve heard the expression, “fake it ’til you make it” but this is a bit ridiculous. The Financial Times is reporting that a new trend is starting to catch among China’s mobile users — fake iPhone signatures.
I know, an Apple-related knock off in China, big surprise. But this might actually be taking things too far. Apparently users are willing to pay money for services to auto-add ‘sent from my iPhone’ to all of their messages… Read More
Even with Apple’s notoriously strict approval process, misleading applications constantly make their way into the App Store. We’ve covered a number of these titles on iDB — most recently Craft-Build Terrain, a fake MineCraft game.
These fraudulent applications have been making some serious waves in the developer community over the last few weeks. Developers believe these apps give their titles, and the App Store in general, a bad name. And Apple has responded… Read More
Over the past week or so, there has been a lot talk regarding a recently-released iPhone 4S jailbreak tweak that supposedly fixes the handset’s battery problem. We’ve neglected to mention the utility here on iDB for a couple reasons.
One, the tweak has only been available on the insanelyi repo — a Cydia repository known for hosting pirated applications. And two, it simply sounded too good to be true… Read More
When you are as big as Apple, bad guys will always seek to use you as a means to take people’s money, and unfortunately there is a new scam making the rounds.
According to The Mac Security Blog, the latest method of stealing people’s money comes courtesy of fake emails which purport to be from the iPhone maker, claiming that the user’s billing information is out of date. Obviously, the “helpful” email offers a link that gives the lucky recipient an easy way to make things right.
Of course, that link doesn’t take you to Apple’s billing pages, but rather a third party who wishes to steal your information… Read More
Although Apple has done a great job keeping malicious software out of the App Store, it hasn’t quite figured out how to keep the scammers at bay. It seems like we’ve seen several misleading apps surface in the App Store over the past few months.
What happens is, Apple will approve an application that doesn’t appear to be harmful. But for some reason, they fail to notice that the app’s description doesn’t have anything to do with what it actually does. And we’ve just come across another one… Read More
Since Siri is turning into the biggest thing to hit the internet since cats playing pianos, it was probably inevitable that someone would get around to making an easy way to fake Siri screenshots, and it has finally happened.
By offering a simple interface, the iFakeSiri web app allows self-professed comedians to enter their imaginary Siri conversations and have a fake screenshot created. This is perfect for, say, anyone that needs to write blog posts about Apple’s fancy assistant technology! Read More
A few days ago a $9.99 jailbreak app surfaced in the App Store. The app was clearly a fake, and we quickly told you that the app had nothing to do with jailbreaking anything — it was a crappy, 2D scrolling game.
Apple has now pulled the app from the App Store, so people will be unable to get duped by the app’s false description. The real question is this: How did Apple let an app called “Jailbreak” in the App Store in the first place? Read More
We recently told you about Project Black Mirror, a seemingly-ambitious attempt to control the iPhone’s Siri technology with only mind waves. When we watched the original video of the project demonstration, we all — including the rest of the internet — got excited about the possibility of futuristic mind control.
It appears that the “hackers” behind Project Black Mirror were only controlling all of our minds, not Siri’s. Several sites are now reporting that the project is fake… Read More
Everyone knows that Apple’s app approval process is one of the most stringent in the business. The Cupertino company has denied software for several different reasons, which has frequently sparked controversy in the iOS community.
But their strict approval methods have insured that its mobile platform has remained safe from malware and other malicious software. However, the process still can’t seem to filter out the scammers… Read More
Even though the evidence keeps stacking in favor of an iPhone 4S-only event next Tuesday, we’re still holding out hope for a second model. After 15 months of waiting, it’d be nice to see something that would completely blow us away.
But would an iPhone 4S really be that bad? I mean, it is supposed to have a faster processor (the A5) and a better camera. And there have been rumors of a larger, edge-to-edge display. But what would it all look like? Perhaps something like this… Read More
We knew China was the land of knockoffs and copycats. You can easily find an HiPhone 5, and the iPhone 5 hasn’t even come out yet. It now appears that you can also find lots of fake iPhone 4′s.
The Chinese police busted a gang responsible for a “sophisticated” counterfeit iPhone ring. They came across a group of individuals who purchased various parts in China, and assembled the fake iPhones in their apartment… Read More
The fact that Apple products are highly sought after and typically more expensive than similar electronics make them the perfect tool for scam artists. An Apple gadget offered at a significant discount is enough to make anyone oblivious to scandal.
That certainly seems to be the basis of an epidemic that has Grand Prairie police officers scratching their heads. The North-Texas city has seen over a dozen instances of a recurring scam involving fake Apple products… Read More
It appears fake Apple Stores aren’t the only aspects of the Cupertino outfit to fall foul to some dodgy dealings, with M.I.C. Gadget telling of an interesting new book being sold in Taiwan – a book that seems to be a fake Steve Jobs biography.
The impostor’s title loosely translates to Steve Jobs Gives 11 Advices to Teenager, according to the site, with the title appearing in the top five business books sold by Taiwanese book store KingStone… Read More
With Apple’s unprecedented success in the retail space, it’s no wonder that other businesses have tried to emulate. By now you’ve likely heard of the string of fake Apple Stores that have been springing up over the last few months.
While the previous counterfeits we’ve seen were located in China, apparently that’s not the only place harboring fakes. Reuters reports that there’s a couple of knock off stores located here in the States, and Apple is going after these faux retail outlets… Read More
