App Store: this Russian bank’s Trojan horse deceives Apple

Following the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army, the United States and the European Union decided on a set of sanctions against the country ofPoutine, notably requiring Apple to ban Russian banks from the App Store. This measure directly impacted users in the country, wholost access to their banking applications. To overcome this problem, Russian banks have found a way to circumvent the restrictions ofCupertino.

One application can hide another

In a publication on the social network[X], user “wukko” reveals how a Russian bank is cheating Apple.

recently sber released yet another mock app that pretended to be a lending tracking app, which shortly got taken down
it pretends to be a lending app only in western countries (left), but if your ip is detected as russian, it lets you into the real part of the app (right)pic.twitter.com/EBexD6hGxa
— wukko (@uwukko)February 12, 2024

Recently,Sberposted a mock app claiming to be a loan tracking app, which was quickly removed.
it claims to be a loan app only for western countries (left), but if your IP address is detected as Russian, it lets you access the real part of the app (right)

In order to thwart the review process put in place by Apple to operate within the App Store, the Russian bankSberreleased an application acting as a Trojan horse. When app users are identified with a Russian IP address, they are redirected to the banking app. However, when the IP address is located somewhere other than the cradle of Slavic civilization, it displays a fake credit tracking application.

Apple turns a blind eye?

Wukko, the user[X]having discovered the maneuver, adds in his publication evidence showing that it is obvious that modifications had taken place between updates, then adds:

The point of this thread is to show that Apple doesn't really vet apps on the App Store, and is only picky when it benefits them, but not their users.

You would think that Apple would voluntarily let this kind of situation pass. This is to allow its Russian users to access their bank account on iPhone. Especially since they have nothing to do with the conflict, but no. As the publication mentions[X],the app was quickly removed.