Alphabet, the parent company of Google, has sued two Chinese nationals who used the firm’s platform to distribute and promote fraudulent crypto apps.
Alphabet asserts that scammers uploaded and promoted fake cryptocurrency apps on Google Play and YouTube.
The internet giant claims that the defendants developed a habit of racketeering following hundreds of wire fraud crimes. According to a Bloomberg story from April 4, the complaint was filed on Thursday, April 4, in a federal court in New York.
The scam applications aimed to trick users into depositing money they would never be able to withdraw by making them appear like real digital asset investments.
Many scammers have surpassed Google’s fraud detection systems, even though the company constantly eliminates them. In 2019, the two con artists began uploading the apps that committed racketeering.
Google’s general counsel, Halimah DeLaine Prado, stated that the action is an essential step in protecting the platform’s users:
“This litigation is a critical step in holding these bad actors accountable and sending a clear message that we will aggressively pursue those who seek to take advantage of our users.”
Crypto Phishing Scams increases by 50% in March
An April 2 X post by Scam Sniffer states that phishing criminals stole around $71 million in March from 77,529 victims across all chains. This is a 50% rise from February.
Phishing schemes cost $173 million in digital assets in the first quarter of 2024; 90% of the stolen assets were Ethereum network ERC-20 tokens.
Phishing scams are social engineering frauds in which the attacker persuades the target to install dangerous software or divulge sensitive information voluntarily.
In cryptocurrency, hackers and exploits are becoming a bigger worry, particularly for decentralised finance applications. According to a December 28 analysis by Immunefi, $1.8 billion was lost in 2023 to cryptocurrency hackers and scammers, with 17% of that amount being linked to the North Korean Lazarus Group.
