Apple Stealth Piracy App Trio, Combined Age 215 Years, Face $18.5m Damages Claim

Hidden pirate features within seemingly harmless apps, known as "stealth apps," are slipping past Apple's App Store security, offering users access to pirated movies and TV shows. Taiwan's Criminal Police Bureau recently busted three individuals promoting unlock instructions for these apps to roughly 400,000 users. Surprisingly, this tech-savvy scheme was orchestrated by a group whose combined age totals 215 years.

Apple’s position on obviously infringing movie and TV show streaming apps is that they’re not allowed on the App Store, period.

Hoping to reach a massive but restricted audience, so-called ‘stealth piracy’ apps employ trickery to circumvent Apple’s vetting process.

Over the past couple of years, stealth apps have made the headlines on a number of occasions and even attracted the attention of an Expert Group at the EU Intellectual Property Office Observatory. In general terms, these apps disguise themselves as a game or some other benign tool then once downloaded, users are able to ‘activate’ new functionality, such as streaming the latest movies and TV shows illegally.

Spreading Secrets

Whether a combination of secret key presses on a predetermined screen, or spinning around six times while holding an iPhone, secrets to unlock stealth apps eventually find their way to the intended recipients. According to Taiwan’s Criminal Police Bureau, there’s money to be made in the secret-spilling business.

In a statement issued today, police say that while investigating various online communities and websites, they discovered that “two prominent internet celebrities” were providing stealth app tutorials and download links. These allowed users to install apps such as “Multiple Choices” and “Shapes Find the Difference” from Apple’s App Store and then unlock them to obtain the pirate booty hidden inside.

In this case, Taiwan deployed a “special task force” to investigate the case and determined that the booty was live broadcast TV content owned by a member of Content Overseas Distribution Association, the Japan-based anti-piracy group also known as CODA.

Investigation and Raids

Authorities say that the investigation unit consisted of the District Prosecutor’s Offices in Taichung and Tainan, and the Intellectual Property Investigation Team of the Criminal Police Bureau.

Searches were executed on September 6 and October 29, 2024, at residential addresses in three locations; Taiping District in Taichung City, Anping District in Tainan City, and Zhubei City in Hsinchu County.

The three key suspects are all men, identified by a single name and their respective ages;

• Liang – 73 years old
• Shen – 62 years old
• Lin – 80 years old

Police say they were able to seize a number of items from the suspects’ residences including the following: 53 articles published on the website backend, 25 illegal video apps, 2 USB flash drives, 1 iPad, 1 mobile phone, 1 memory card, and various electronic records.

“The investigation found that this type of illegal app software initially disguised itself as a legitimate program not associated with video content. It then went through Apple’s App Store verification process before being made available for download,” a police statement reads.

“After installation, users could switch the software to pirated video mode by entering specific keywords or commands. The suspects used a well-known website operated by an individual to publish articles and provide download links, generating advertising revenue through click-through rates.”

Credit: Criminal Police Bureau Operational Diagram
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All three suspects were arrested on suspicion of violating the Copyright Act. The case was transferred to the Tainan and Taichung District Prosecutors’ Offices for further investigation.

Large Audiences

It appears that content generated to support stealth app users can attract a decent sized audience. The two famous but currently unnamed influencers reportedly have over 400,000 followers and used their online presence to direct traffic to the stealth app tutorial website.

The articles on those sites were reportedly viewed 553,551 times. The apps linked in those articles allegedly provided access to a wide range of infringing content, from movies, TV shows, and anime, to live TV broadcasts and documentaries.

The unnamed copyright holder behind the complaint estimates the market value of the content infringed at NT$600 million ($18.5m)