Survey reveals that more than 50% of consumers report encountering subscription traps and undisclosed fees in app purchases.
On Monday, online research firm LocalCircles reported that more than 50% of the surveyed consumers have encountered subscription traps, concealed fees, and other deceptive tactics while making purchases on mobile application stores or other software platforms.
During the survey, LocalCircles came across cases where the consumer opted for a free app or a one-time service, but later switched to a subscription service.
On November 30, the Consumer Protection Agency (CCPA) published a notice banning dark patterns.
The government has identified 13 types of dark patterns, including false urgency, cart creep, confirmation shaming, coercion, subscriptions, UI glitches, bait and switch, drip pricing, covert advertising, nagging, SaaS billing (software as a service), and rogue malware identified in dark patterns, according to the report.
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“67 percent of surveyed consumers who purchased something through app platforms and SAAS platforms said that the one-time software or services sold to them often turned out to be subscription traps,” the research report says.
LocalCircles said the survey, conducted between December 1, 2023 and January 30, 2024, received more than 44,000 responses from users of app or software subscription services in 331 regions of India, but the number of responses to each question varied.
“71 percent of surveyed consumers who purchased something through app platforms and SAAS platforms experienced hidden costs associated with purchases that were not disclosed upfront but only later when they made a payment,” the report states.
According to the study, 50 percent of surveyed consumers who have purchased something through app platforms and SAAS platforms have experienced dark bait-and-switch models, where the app or software delivered to them was different from what they were promised.
About 25 percent of surveyed consumers who downloaded apps through app platforms felt that some apps contained fraudulent malware that stole personal information from their devices or installed unauthorized software, according to the report.
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