A rogue Vietnamese developer called Thuat Nguyen reportedly hacked into iTunes accounts and gamed the Books category in the Apple App Store to artificially inflate the ratings and sales for his book apps. Both The Next Web and Engadget Websites reported Sunday that Nguyen apps accounted for 42 of the top 50 books by revenue in the Books section of the iTunes App Store.

At the site MacRumors one forum contributor complained of seeing multiple unexplained iTunes charges totalling over $500. The suspicious rise in the Vietnamese books' rankings was noticed by two competing iPhone developers, Alex Brie and Patrick Thomson, who were alarmed by their apps slipping in rankings in favour of those from Nguyen.

Two users also indicated in the ratings for Nguyen's apps that their iTunes accounts have been hacked and purchases of those apps were made on their behalf. Up to $200 from these hacked accounts were reportedly used to buy the developer's apps.

More: http://pcworld.com/article/200492/