the No. 2 “Health & Fitness” app on the entire site, beating outand other popular brands. It’s boosted by a rapidly rising count of five-star ratings — the vast majority of which are fake, according to experts who reviewed them at HuffPost’s request.In a series of digital ads, Lunar tells women that it can test if they're pregnant in seconds.ScaNow
“It’s just ludicrous,” said Dr. R. Stan Williams, the chairman of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Florida Health’s reproductive medicine department. “I don’t know of any medical literature stating that a cellphone can capture biometric information like that.” The market rate for 1,000 bot-generated reviews is around $1,000 to $1,500, which can yield a high return on investment for scammers. Lunar, which is free to install but earns revenue through ads and in-app purchases that cost up to $17.99, also entices real people to leave five-star reviews by offering them“My favorite part is the open bribes to get 5 star ratings on the app,” reads a recent review.
The app’s most alarming health claims — including its ability to test women’s pregnancy and blood pressure as well as their blood sugar and ovulation levels with 99% accuracy — have been disseminated through hundreds of ads on Facebook and Instagram., but has been running Lunar’s ads for months.