DZone has an interesting, if short, article about a young scammer who apparently understands what "snake oil" is and was selling the digital equivalent. He sold an app through the Google Play Store that purported to scan an Android device for malware but, in fact, did nothing. It did, however, keep its other promises such as no ads and a minimal impact on battery life.
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How a 17-Year-Old Android Developer Scammed Thousands
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(Score: 4, Funny) by skullz on Thursday April 17 2014, @09:14PM
I think the technical term is "entrepreneur"
(Score: 2) by edIII on Thursday April 17 2014, @09:29PM
The street name is "bullshit artist"
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday April 17 2014, @09:29PM
"Banker in training"
(Score: 3, Funny) by edIII on Thursday April 17 2014, @09:34PM
"Future Goldman Sachs employee"
I couldn't resist
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 17 2014, @09:29PM
That, or 'criminal'. Here's hoping the antisocial jerk gets a visit by the police and a mark on his record. When I was 17 I knew this kind of behavior was immoral and wrong.
Also, get off my lawn!
(Score: 2, Funny) by mashdar on Thursday April 17 2014, @09:30PM
"Job Creator"
(Score: 1) by song-of-the-pogo on Thursday April 17 2014, @11:12PM
Couldn't decide whether to moderate you insightful or funny.
"We have met the enemy and he is us."
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 17 2014, @11:16PM
Exactly! This is the Free Market at work! Obviously people want a product like this, otherwise they would've stopped buying it! Its simply supply and demand at work here. The only real problem is that there are so many laws and regulations that entrepreneurs like this get shut down, despite having a product thats in-demand.
Perhaps he would've been able to sell his product longer if he advertised it similar to how the TSA or DEA advertise their effectiveness. Really, at worst he was just digitizing their business model and porting it to mobile.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 17 2014, @09:57PM
Two weeks? Three weeks?
It was featured on the general interest podcast This Week In Google 2 or 3 weeks ago, and obviously was in the news before that.
I know the queue is light, but really?
It was covered in PC Magazine and freaking Fox News back on April 8, for goodness' sake.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2456165,00.as p [pcmag.com]
This is not a good thing.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 17 2014, @10:01PM
The time you spent searching for the links in and typing the text of your whining post could have been spent finding and writing up a submission. Consider that before you whine next time.
- DotF
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 17 2014, @10:22PM
Why? I have no particular interest in making submissions. I come here to read good content that is technical and newsworthy, not to work for free. You're being an ass to pull the "if you don't like it let's see you do better" card. That's childish.
Let me guess, if I had NOT provided a link you'd tell me I was being as lazy as the submitter and editor who put through this old article, right? Because I didn't back up my assertions?
What an obnoxious fool you are.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 17 2014, @10:31PM
The content that is technical and newsworthy comes from readers who work for free. If you're not willing to submit stories then you shouldn't complain about the lack of stories, because you're effectively complaining to the people who work for free. Which is obnoxious.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 17 2014, @10:37PM
Wrong on a huge number of levels. For starters, I wasn't complaining about the lack of news articles -- I'm complaining about THIS news article. It had no place being posted so very late after every mainstream news site featured the story WEEKS ago.
It doesn't belong on the front page of a tech news site.
And everyone has a right to complain, not merely those who have passed the secret initiation ritual and can prove they've submitted at least 5 stories for site credit. Where the heck do you think you are? Have you noticed we're posting anonymously?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 17 2014, @11:09PM
You have a right to complain but really I personally would only complain if there was a full queue.
I grant your point that this particular story shouldn't be considered news, but I stand by my point that you should have spent your energies looking for new stories rather than complaining.
You don't need to pass any tests in my book but at the same time you shouldn't complain about lack of unpaid work when you're unwilling to do unpaid work yourself.
As for the anonymously thing, I only post with an account when there's a good reason to.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Thursday April 17 2014, @11:17PM
Wow. An argument between AC's seems like so much pushing and shoving in a soup kitchen line.
Get a room you guys.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 17 2014, @11:21PM
If you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 18 2014, @09:29AM
You...
(Score: 1) by urza9814 on Thursday April 17 2014, @11:30PM
So...what, the entire site should obey your whims?
I haven't seen this article before. I'm glad it was posted here.
Besides, Fox "News" doesn't have the Soylent comments :)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 17 2014, @11:53PM
Absolutely. The new name I submitted for the site - AnonyNews - will better get that message through to my underlings.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Friday April 18 2014, @04:11AM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 2) by sjames on Friday April 18 2014, @04:13AM
Sorry, little princesses who don't do their homework can't have a pony.
(Score: 3, Funny) by skullz on Thursday April 17 2014, @10:25PM
Hay hay hay hay hay hay WHOA
SN is supposed to be just like the other site before the other site turned into the the crappy other site. Whenever that was.
Submitting stale stories with one line summaries is a time honored tradition!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 17 2014, @10:28PM
Fair enough.
Now THAT's a valid counterargument, not the silly "oh yeah why don't you do better" bullshit of the "DotF" poster above.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Nerdfest on Thursday April 17 2014, @11:10PM
I keep pretty up-to-date on tech news and I hadn't heard of it. Just another data point ...
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 17 2014, @11:33PM
So? I don't come here for up-to-date news, any more than I had on the other site. I come here for the commentary.
(Score: 1) by francois.barbier on Thursday April 17 2014, @09:59PM
This antivirus has many advantages (cpu, memory, speed, ...), with only one downside (it doesn't protect at all.) ...)
Now take a "real" AV. It has one advantage (some protection), with many downsides (cpu, memory, speed,
He's not a scammer any more than AV companies are. Just making money on some naive people.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 17 2014, @10:11PM
The AV companies may not have complete protection, but unless they claim complete, they're not false advertising. He's a scammer, not just making money off of ignorant (not naive) people.
(Score: 1) by e_armadillo on Thursday April 17 2014, @10:40PM
or trolling, but I will bite . . .
with only one downside (it doesn't protect at all.)
This is the entire downside -- it doesn't deliver the promised protection, the protection the users paid $3.99 to get.
Advantages of memory usage, cpu, speed, etc. only make sense if the app is really providing a service. This app is *not* doing any work for the users, and no changing an icon from an X to a check is not service, it is a lie and a scam. It doesn't matter how good or bad the real AV programs are, it doesn't justify what this kid did, apparently defrauding users and collecting approx $40k minus any Google Play fees.
"How are we gonna get out of here?" ... "We'll dig our way out!" ... "No, no, dig UP stupid!"
(Score: 3, Funny) by urza9814 on Thursday April 17 2014, @11:36PM
Surely it's providing a service -- just not to the people who paid for it.
Can't tell you how many times I've been asked to fix computers because some moron installed a half dozen virus scanners, to the point where the whole system locked up immediately on boot, and the virus software prevents you from disabling it even in safe mode. Several times I had to boot a Linux live CD and overwrite the virus scanner binary from /dev/null!
This app provides the service of preventing such people from doing the same damn thing to their phone, and also provides the service of their tech friend not having to fix it ;)
(Score: 3, Insightful) by isostatic on Friday April 18 2014, @01:05AM
Reminds me of my "linux AV" program I wrote when it was ./av.sh
#!/bin/bash
echo "Scan complete, no viruses found"
This was deemed suspicious as it was too quick. For some added realism I extended it ./av2.sh /dev/null 2>&1
#!/bin/bash
echo "Initial scan complete, no viruses found"
find / >
echo "Full disk scan complete, no viruses found"
The machine was never infected by a virus, therefore it worked. It could be a host, but no more than the FTP server on the cisco switch.
(Score: 2) by clone141166 on Friday April 18 2014, @12:00PM
Reminds me of "rainmakers". You pay a man to make it rain. If it rains he takes credit for it, if it doesn't rain he finds some excuse to pass off the blame and asks for more money to make it rain... repeat ad infinitum.
Just like those people who sell new strategies to managers to improve performance *cough* Agile Development *cough*.
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Friday April 18 2014, @09:58PM
Rainmakers? Is that some cloud-related technology?
(Score: 2) by Tork on Friday April 18 2014, @04:15AM
Um, no, he's still a scammer.
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 2) by Bartman12345 on Friday April 18 2014, @12:30PM
+1 Funny (Congratulations Francois, you just gave this thread multiple whooshes...)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 18 2014, @02:07PM
Like he said, same product, just a different set of features.
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Friday April 18 2014, @12:49PM
https://xkcd.com/937/ [xkcd.com]
systemd is Roko's Basilisk