The FBI has officially warned the public about fake cryptocurrency apps that have so far defrauded American investors out of an estimated $42.7 million.
According to a securities and intelligence agency alert released on July 18, hackers have developed apps using the same logos and other identifying details as real cryptocurrency organizations in an effort to scam investors. 244 people had already been duped by these fraudulent apps, according to the FBI.
Cybercriminals persuaded victims in one instance to download an app with the same logo as a legitimate U.S. banking institution, then encouraged them to deposit cryptocurrency into wallets that were ostensibly associated with their accounts.
Victims would be required to pay taxes on any withdrawals they sought to make using the app. However, even if the victims completed the payments, the withdrawals would still be unable to be made, therefore this was merely another scheme to defraud them of additional money.
The FBI reported that 28 victims were scammed of over $3.7 million between December 2021 and May 2022.
Cybercriminals engaged in another similar operation between October 2021 and May 2022, scamming at least four victims of almost $5.5 million while operating under the corporate name “YiBit.”
In a third instance in November 2021, criminals using the alias “Supay” were implicated. They tricked two victims by convincing them to add cryptocurrency to their app wallets, which would later become frozen unless additional money was added.
On crypto Twitter, alerts concerning bogus apps have also circulated.
A user reported that a friend of theirs was recently the target of a scam that originated on the instant messaging app Whatsapp and enticed the victim to download a bogus cryptocurrency app and deposit money into the app’s wallet. The cryptocurrency app disappeared a week later.
Another user claims they were duped by a bogus Ledger Live cryptocurrency wallet program in the Microsoft app store that went by the name “Ledger Live Plus.” The user alleges that he has already lost $20,000 to the bogus program.
Cybersecurity company ESET discovered a “sophisticated strategy” earlier this year that involved disseminating Trojan programs posing as well-known cryptocurrency wallets. Then, these applications would try to steal cryptocurrency from their targets.
One user apparently lost $600,000 in Bitcoin last year due to a fraudulent cryptocurrency program posing as a mobile Trezor app on Apple’s App Store.
According to a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) report released in June 2022, since 2021, scammers have stolen up to $1 billion in cryptocurrency, with roughly half of all crypto-related scams coming from social media platforms.
The FBI has advised cryptocurrency investors to exercise caution when receiving unsolicited offers to download investing applications, confirm the legitimacy of the app (and the company), and view apps with limited or broken functionality “with mistrust.”
