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Crypto scams are sneaking up on Apple and Google app stores.
Blind stolen
Last month, a man named Phillipe Christodoulou picked up his phone, downloaded an app for a digital cryptocurrency wallet from Apple’s App Store, and logged in.
Immediately, the crooks who built the app – which was disguised as a reputable crypto storage company – and sneaked it into the app store stole Christodoulou’s 17.1 bitcoin, which was worth $ 600,000 at the time. The Washington Post reports. It’s an outrageously common scam on the Apple and Google platforms, and unfortunately the platforms can’t seem to do much to stop it from happening.
Bait and switch
Apple goes to great lengths to explain how it checks every app in the store, which is part of the reason Christodoulou said WaPo he blames the business more than he blames the thieves who have managed to make most of his savings.
“They betrayed the trust I had in them,” he said. “Apple doesn’t deserve to get away with this.”
In this case, the thieves submitted their app under the guise of being an encryption service and then, once approved, turned it into a knockoff of crypto hardware wallet developer Trezor, which doesn’t have its own app. Apple reviews apps when they are submitted, but has no way of tracking apps that totally change their face once they go live, according to WaPo.
So long
Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis has confirmed that the stolen crypto from Christodoulou and other victims was sent to a suspicious account.
“There is evidence that this is a substantial scam grossing hundreds of thousands of dollars,” company spokeswoman Madeleine Kennedy said. WaPo.
But there’s little Apple – or Google – can do after the fact other than block the app so others don’t fall prey. But with the emergence of new versions of the scam, unfortunately, they find themselves playing a relentless mole-kick game.
READ MORE: He thought the Apple App Store was safe. Then, a fake app stole his bitcoin savings. [The Washington Post]
Learn more about crypto scams: Man loses half a million dollars in Elon Musk’s response to ‘Crypto Giveaway’ scam
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