6 ms·

can you do the iap several times? actually a fantastic idea. purchase gift cards with cash, credit into an apple account, do iaps, cash out as dev. how much wi

can you do the iap several times? actually a fantastic idea. purchase gift cards with cash, credit into an apple account, do iaps, cash out as dev. how much will be lost underway? 30%? where are the problems in that model?

kmonsen 5y ago
15% if you are big enough I believe
ceejayoz 5y ago
> can you do the iap several times? Yes, there's "consumable" IAPs for doing things like purchasing in-game currency in games.
- philjohn 5y ago
  The worst thing to happen to mobile apps.
0x0 5y ago
You'd need appleid accounts to load the gift cards into. I guess it would be tricky to set those up without linking phone numbers / apple device serials / ip addresses to your scam all the while establishing a reputation and legit looking usage history for them
judge2020 5y ago
30% isn't terrible in terms of laundering money, but chances are the App Store payout is how you're citing your income for taxes, so it's more risky than other ventures if Apple were to inform the IRS about something like "90% of this developer's revenue is via gift cards...".
- sneak 5y ago
  It is when NFTs are 0%.
  - joebob42 5y ago
    I think also that it's often desirable to run multiple steps. Losing 30% from a whole pipeline is one thing, but losing 30% from one transaction out of a couple seems like a fairly big hit.
heavyset_go 5y ago
People already launder money with gift cards. Further laundering it through apps whose merchant accounts are registered to real human beings, because of Know Your Customer laws, ruins the laundering aspect. There's no reason to go through additional de-anonymizing steps via apps once you've got or sold gift cards.
- bogwog 5y ago
  Especially when Apple takes an obscene 30%
- extrapickles 5y ago
  That is where the “Earn $XXX/mo for doing nothing” scams come in. The victim would be effectively laundering the money from any KYC. The victim would not be sophisticated enough to point law enforcement your way. So the chain would be gift card->app->patsy->you.

kmonsen 5y ago

15% if you are big enough I believe

ceejayoz 5y ago

> can you do the iap several times? Yes, there's "consumable" IAPs for doing things like purchasing in-game currency in games.

philjohn 5y ago
The worst thing to happen to mobile apps.

0x0 5y ago

You'd need appleid accounts to load the gift cards into. I guess it would be tricky to set those up without linking phone numbers / apple device serials / ip addresses to your scam all the while establishing a reputation and legit looking usage history for them

judge2020 5y ago

30% isn't terrible in terms of laundering money, but chances are the App Store payout is how you're citing your income for taxes, so it's more risky than other ventures if Apple were to inform the IRS about something like "90% of this developer's revenue is via gift cards...".

sneak 5y ago
It is when NFTs are 0%.
- joebob42 5y ago
  I think also that it's often desirable to run multiple steps. Losing 30% from a whole pipeline is one thing, but losing 30% from one transaction out of a couple seems like a fairly big hit.

heavyset_go 5y ago

People already launder money with gift cards. Further laundering it through apps whose merchant accounts are registered to real human beings, because of Know Your Customer laws, ruins the laundering aspect. There's no reason to go through additional de-anonymizing steps via apps once you've got or sold gift cards.

bogwog 5y ago
Especially when Apple takes an obscene 30%
extrapickles 5y ago
That is where the “Earn $XXX/mo for doing nothing” scams come in. The victim would be effectively laundering the money from any KYC. The victim would not be sophisticated enough to point law enforcement your way. So the chain would be gift card->app->patsy->you.