Fake App Approved on App Store Swindles User Out of $600 in Bitcoin
An iPhone user lost almost all of his savings after falling for a Bitcoin scam from an app he downloaded from the App Store. The victim, Phillipe Christodoulou, lost 17,1 Bitcoin, which was worth $600 at the time of the scam but is now worth $1 million. And Christodoulou told the Washington Post that Apple did not contact him again about the matter after he made the complaint.
Trezor doesn't have an iOS app, but there was a fake one on the App Store
According to Christodoulou, he wanted to check his balance on Trezor, a hardware wallet for cryptocurrencies, in February. The victim entered the App Store and searched for Trezor, finding an app with the same company logo and almost five stars of rating. Without suspecting that it could be a scam, since the app was available in the “safest app market in the world”, according to Apple, Christodoulou downloaded the app and entered his information. Within seconds, he had his digital wallet emptied.
As a company spokesperson said, Trezor does not offer any apps for iOS, and immediately warns Apple and Google when it finds cases of fake apps. Indeed, when entering the website, we see that the company has apps for Windows, MacOS and Linux, and is developing one for Android, but does not yet have an official app for iOS.
Apple says developer changed programming after
Explaining how the Bitcoin scam app got past the App Store review, the Apple said the developer used a “bait and switch” trick. Even though it had the same logo and colors as Trezor, the developer said his app was for “encrypting” files and passwords, and it ended up being approved for sale in the store. After the fake app was included in the App Store, the developer changed the code so that the app became a cryptocurrency wallet.
App intelligence firm Sensor Tower said the Bitcoin scam app was downloaded approximately 22 times while it was available on the App Store from January 3 to February XNUMX, without being detected by the Apple. Apple did not reveal to the Washington Post the name of the developer of the fake Trezor app, nor did it give any indication that it had contacted authorities about the case.
Christodoulou, who, quite rightly, is not at all happy with the Apple, said: “they betrayed the trust I had in them. The Apple doesn't deserve to get away with this.”
Through which channels you reach those people, classic and out of the box. MacRumors
Image: Karolina Grabowska (Pexels)
