Fake Cryptocurrency Wallets Found on Google and Apple App Stores

An excellent article by Benjamin Powers and Colin Harper for Coindesk reveals that scam cryptocurrency apps are defeating the vetting process for Google and Apple stores and being made available for download by unsuspecting users. They cited the example of an app called “Trezor” that was uploaded to the Apple App Store and which was designed to look like it came from the legitimate trezor.io website, who brand themselves as inventors of “the original cryptocurrency hardware wallet”. SatoshiLabs, the makers of Trezor, do not offer an app. The actual purpose of the bogus app was to harvest data so criminals could gain access to the real cryptocurrency wallets of unwary users.

Powers and Harper provide other examples of fake cryptocurrency wallets and other scams in their article. The rush for quick and easy cryptocurrency profits has obviously attracted the attention of scammers too, resulting in the recent creation of a Reddit group dedicated to identifying and listing fake cryptocurrency wallets. A total of USD2.7bn was lost to cryptocurrency scams during 2020 according to the Chainalysis Crypto Crime Report 2021.

Click here to read Powers’ and Harper’s article on bogus cryptocurrency wallets for Coindesk.

Eric Priezkalns
Eric Priezkalnshttp://revenueprotect.com

Eric is the Editor of Commsrisk. Look here for more about the history of Commsrisk and the role played by Eric.

Eric is also the Chief Executive of the Risk & Assurance Group (RAG), an association of professionals working in risk management and business assurance for communications providers. RAG was founded in 2003 and Eric was appointed CEO in 2016.

Previously Eric was Director of Risk Management for Qatar Telecom and he has worked with Cable & Wireless, T‑Mobile, Sky, Worldcom and other telcos. He was lead author of Revenue Assurance: Expert Opinions for Communications Providers, published by CRC Press.

Related Articles

Get Our Weekly Newsletter by Email