How iPhone Users are Being Tricked by Scammers With a Fake Logo to Imitate a Crypto Wallet

From booking a cab to ordering food, booking movie tickets, and even finding a date, the digital age has an app for almost every task in everyday life. These applications are available in multiple online stores, but it is advisable to download only approved apps from Apple's App Store or Google Play Store. But in a bizarre incident, a user has been scammed by an app on the Apple App Store. The scam cost him $40,000, and he has resorted to social media platforms to warn other users of the app.

How did the application steal the money?

The app claims to be affiliated with Leather, a popular Bitcoin wallet and even uses its logo to con the users. Few users go through the reviews to check if the app is beneficial or not, and scammers have gone one step ahead to fabricate positive reviews on the Apple App Store for the application, making it a highly rated one. With a rating of 4.9 out of 5, it was supposed to be a perfect application for anyone. The application is supposed to act as a Bitcoin wallet where cryptocurrency investors are supposed to store their cryptocurrency keys. The keys act as passwords and are needed for accessing the cryptocurrency portfolio and doing any transaction.

The scammers had chosen to imitate Leather since the latter doesn’t have any application for the iOS ecosystem and completely operates through the website. When the victims saw the application, they thought that Leather had finally launched a mobile application, and without validating it with Leather’s official website, proceeded with it. The victims who had stored their keys in this app had unknowingly given access to their entire cryptocurrency portfolio to the scammers. Once the fraudster has the key, they transfer the entire cryptocurrency from the victim’s account to theirs.

Response from Apple and Leather

The proactive user took the initiative to expose the app on social media platforms and tagged Apple with the post saying, “There's a fake Leather Wallet app IN THE APPLE APP STORE. Literally made sure to check to see if it had reviews as well. This just cost me at least $40k,” per UNILAD. The post went viral and attracted several comments and likes. Apple took quick action to safeguard its users and removed the application from the app store.

Leather, whose reputation was put at stake, has also responded, saying, “PSA: The Leather Wallet app currently in the IOS store is FAKE.” Leather has advised its users to download and access the cryptocurrency wallet directly from its website and has come back with assurance that it will launch a mobile app and will inform the users. Apple's ecosystem is considered to be more secure and robust than Android but such incidents raise questions about the process Apple has in place to vet the applications. But in this scenario, it ultimately becomes the responsibility of the users to do research and check with the official channels before downloading any banking or cryptocurrency app as the wrong app can completely drain one’s savings.