FBI Released Public Warning Over Fake Crypto Apps: Report

FBI released public warning over fake crypto apps that seem to be a part of an ongoing pandemic among app store operators so let’s read more today in our latest cryptocurrency news.

The Federal Burau of Investigation – FBI released public warning about fake crypto apps that swindled US investors out of $42.7 million so far. According to the advisory published on July 18, the agency noted that cybercriminals created apps using the same logo and information as the legitimate crypto companies to defraud investors so the FBI noted that 244 people already fell victim to these fake apps. One case saw cyber criminals convicting victims to download an app that used the same logo as the actual US financial institution and encouraged them to deposit crypto into wallets related to their accounts.

Don’t get scammed. I recently had a friend fall for a #WhatsApp scam where they had her download a fake #crypto app, put some money in, and about a week later the app is gone and is NOWHERE to be found. Luckily she didn’t follow “instructions” and add more.

— Sarvasatvānanda (Aaron) (@crypto_or_die) July 17, 2022

When the victims tried to withdraw from the app, they would have been asked to pay taxes on their withdrawals but this was just another ruse to part funds from victims as even if they made the payments the withdrawals continue to be unavailable. More than $3.7 million was defrauded from 28 victims in one year as the FBI noted. Another similar operation saw cybercriminals operating under the name YiBit and defrauded at least four victims of $5.5 million also in one year, using a similar method.

A third case involved criminals that operate under the name Supay in 2021 and defrauded two victims by encouraging them to deposit crypto into their wallets on the app was then frozen unless more funds were deposited. The warnings about these fake apps made the rounds on Twitter as well. One user said a friend became a victim of a scam that started as the online messenger service Whatsapp and encouraged the victims to download a fake app and loan funds into their wallet so a week later, the app vanished.

Another user said that he became a victim of a fake Ledger live crypto wallet from the Microsoft app store and the user claimed the app has already stolen $20,000 from him. Cybersecurity ESET also uncovered a sophisticated scheme that distributed Trojan applications that were discussed as popular crypto wallets and tried to steal crypto assets from the victims.

Last year, a scam crypto app dressed as a Trezor app on the Apple App store led to oen user losing $600,000 in BTC at the time and a report from the US FTC shows that about a billion has been lost to scammers since 2021 which is half of all crypto-related scams that originate from the social media platforms. The FBI recommended crypto investors should be wary of unsolicited requests to download investment apps and verify whether an app is legitimate.