Fraud alert: Google temporarily suspends publishing, updates of commercial extensions on Chrome Web Store

Google recently confirmed that all commercial extensions on the Chrome Web Store have been temporarily suspended from being updated or published. The suspension comes in the wake of a significant increase in the number of paid extensions engaging in fraudulent transactions. Google said that the fraudulent transactions started early in January.

Google engineers described the fraudulent transactions as happening "at scale." The ban on updating and publishing will impact all paid Chrome extensions, including ones that require a fee before installing, extensions that use in-app purchases to get access to certain features or those that feature a monthly subscription model.

According to a report by ZDNet, Simeon Vincent, Developer Advocate for Chrome Extensions at Google said, "This is a temporary measure meant to stem this influx as we look for long-term solutions to address the broader pattern of abuse."

While existing commercial extensions are still available for download on Google's Chrome Web Store, developers cannot push new updates for those extensions. Developers attempting to push new updates or publish a new commercial Chrome extension are receiving an automated message – "Spam and Placement in the Store."

ZDNet also reported that Dashlane (Password Manager) and Comeet (Meeting Planner) are some of the big-name extensions impacted by the temporary ban. Vincent also said; "We are working to resolve this as quickly as possible, but we do not have a resolution timeline at the moment." And, while he apologised for the inconvenience caused, no timeline for the suspension was provided.