FBI issues public warning over fake crypto apps

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has publicly warned about a fraudulent crypto app that has deceived US investors from an estimated $ 42.7 million so far.

according to Advisory Published on July 18th by a securities intelligence agency, a cybercriminal created an app to deceive investors using the same logo and identification information as a legitimate crypto company. The FBI said 244 people have already been victims of these fake apps.

In one case, a cybercriminal persuaded the victim to download an app with the same logo as a real US financial institution and urged them to deposit their cryptocurrencies in a wallet allegedly associated with their account.

When the victim tries to withdraw from the app, they will be asked to pay a tax on the withdrawal. But this was another ploy to let go of more money from the victims. Even if the victim makes the payment, the withdrawal will not continue to be available.

According to the FBI, about $ 3.7 million was stolen from 28 victims between December 2021 and May 2022.

In another similar operation, a cybercriminal operated under the company name “YiBit” and scammed at least four victims of approximately $ 5.5 million between October 2021 and May 2022.

The third case involved a criminal operating under the name “Supay” in November 2021. They tricked the two victims by urging them to deposit cryptocurrencies in the app’s wallet. After that, the cryptocurrency will be frozen unless further funds are deposited.

Warnings about fraudulent apps have also gone through encrypted Twitter.

One user said a friend recently became a victim of a scam launched on the online messenger service Whatsapp, urging victims to download fake crypto apps and load funds into the app’s wallet. .. After a week, the crypto app disappeared.

Don’t be scammed.I recently had a friend fall #WhatsApp A scam that made her download a fake #crypto Put money in the app. After about a week, the app is gone and you can find it now. Fortunately, she didn’t follow the “instructions” and didn’t add more.

Sarvasatvananda (Aaron) (@ crypto_or_die) July 17, 2022

Another user said he was the victim of a fake Ledger Live crypto wallet app called “Ledger Live Plus” in the Microsoft app store. Users claim that the malicious app has already stolen $ 20,000.

Earlier this year, cybersecurity company ESET discovered a “sophisticated scheme” to distribute Trojan horse applications disguised as popular cryptocurrency wallets. These applications attempt to steal crypto assets from the victim.

Related: Over $ 4.7 million stolen in Uniswap’s fake token phishing attack

Last year, a fraudulent cryptocurrency app disguised as a mobile Trezor app on Apple’s App Store reportedly lost $ 600,000 in Bitcoin to a single user.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reported in June 2022 that since 2021, $ 1 billion of cryptocurrencies have been lost to fraudsters and nearly half of all cryptocurrency-related frauds come from social media platforms. It is being sent.

The FBI tells crypto investors to download investment apps, verify that the apps (and companies) are legal, and “skeptically” treat apps with limited or broken functionality. We recommend that you pay attention to one-sided requests.