[coolpowers]

I'm crossposting this to both the Apps and Games subforums.

I'm alarmed and disappointed at the number of stolen Android apps flooding BlackBerry World. Unscrupulous developers (and I use that term lightly) are taking Android apps from other people, wrapping their own ads around them, and republishing them on BlackBerry World for BB10. The result is that these scammers get the ad money (and possibly more if they're putting them in BlackBerry World for a price), the real developers get nothing, and you get a horrible experience. Everybody in the BlackBerry ecosystem loses, because they're showing up in Trending Apps & Games and it reflects poorly on the platform.

So, how do you recognize a scam app if you don't know it already on other platforms? It's not always going to be obvious, but fortunately these people are incredibly lazy, as is usually the case when anyone wants to get rich quick. Look for these signs:

Are there any screenshots? While some of the better scammers are including screenshots, many of them are not. Who would download an app with no indicator as to what it is?! I wouldn't.

When you tap "More from XXXX" to see what else the developer has, is it a very large list? Are they pretty random apps and games with wildly different quality in icon artwork or style? (I know, it's really easy to hit the Share button when you're trying to tap the developer name, but do persevere )

I feel uncomfortable saying this because of course not everyone is a native English speaker, but is the app description terrible English?

I'm really not sure how to stop this without removing Android compatibility completely, charging developers for publishing to BlackBerry World, or drastically slowing down the submission process by requiring BlackBerry to do a better job of screening apps. I encourage you to warn other people if you've downloaded a scam app by writing a clear and simple review telling them that the "developer" has stolen the app.

I'm reluctant to start a witch hunt, but I feel confident in posting that these "developers" have a large catalog of stolen apps:

S&R
berrytable
何文斌

There are unfortunately way too many to list, these are just the ones appearing in Trending Apps & Games right now.

[captainronald]

I've seen a lot of these as well, but have been easily able to spot them. But ia agree with this post.

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[billsterjito]

Good to know as most would have no idea that they were stolen apps. I hope that the good people at BlackBerry can do something about this in the future.

Great post!

CB10 App, Z10

[knighty2112]

Thanks for the info. Not a big app user myself, but always handy to know.

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[jayemmbee]

I have the feeling the game unblockme was added illegally there's like 3 versions if the same game and they all barely work

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[KidCaboose]

I think we should bear in mind that maybe 90% of the apps and games in BlackBerry World fall not under just one of the op's scam criteria, but all of them.

Maybe rather than starting a witch hunt (remember that 90% of the population are donning full witch attire, regardless their actual witch persuasion), as consumers we can find other means to protect ourselves and BlackBerry's name.

In the end, this is completely BlackBerry's fault for opening the flood gates, and apparently not having a system to filter the sewage. Maybe we should be voicing our concerns directly to the source, and demanding a higher quality BlackBerry World. (on a side note, love the format and function of the new BlackBerry World, especially combined with the Games app) ( on another side note, the Games app needs a better name)

Another thing we can do is a quick check, something I've become accustomed to doing for side loading. I run the app name through Google Play, and check the credentials. Rating, Dev, etc.

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[I am JT]

Hasn't this been a common problem in the Android arena for awhile? I realized that the ease with which an app can be ported to BlackBerry compatibility probably aggravates the problem but I've always heard that piracy has been a huge problem for Android. Not sure what BlackBerry can do about this when Google has the same issue. This plus the malware issues is one of the reasons I prefer to avoid Android apps.