- Jan 24, 2011
- 9,378
Fake Bitcoin wallet apps are routinely leaking through Apple's App Store vetting process, leaving users' accounts at risk of being compromised and their coins stolen.
That's according to developers of the Breadwallet app, who estimate that fake wallets in the App Store have already lost users of the digital currency up to $20,000.
The suspect apps were first identified by the company in a post on Reddit, warning users that at least eight fake wallets on the App Store were using the same, or very similar, names to existing official mobile wallet apps.
The scam apps appeared to be aping portions of source code, icons, and graphics from legitimate apps to fool users into thinking they were using official wallets.
Breadwallet discovered a fake version of its own app which was added to the App Store on July 29, using the same name and icon as the official version. The company took immediate action and contacted Apple to remove the offending app, after customers inadvertently downloaded the fake and reported stolen funds.
"We talked with one customer who claims to have lost about $10,000, and if we go and look at the coin address where those coins were deposited, last I checked there was $20,000 listed at that address," said Breadwallet co-founder Aaron Voisine, speaking toMotherboard. "So, that's our current estimate for how much customers have lost."
Read more: Apple Removes Fake Bitcoin Wallets From App Store After Users Scammed
That's according to developers of the Breadwallet app, who estimate that fake wallets in the App Store have already lost users of the digital currency up to $20,000.
The suspect apps were first identified by the company in a post on Reddit, warning users that at least eight fake wallets on the App Store were using the same, or very similar, names to existing official mobile wallet apps.
The scam apps appeared to be aping portions of source code, icons, and graphics from legitimate apps to fool users into thinking they were using official wallets.
Breadwallet discovered a fake version of its own app which was added to the App Store on July 29, using the same name and icon as the official version. The company took immediate action and contacted Apple to remove the offending app, after customers inadvertently downloaded the fake and reported stolen funds.
"We talked with one customer who claims to have lost about $10,000, and if we go and look at the coin address where those coins were deposited, last I checked there was $20,000 listed at that address," said Breadwallet co-founder Aaron Voisine, speaking toMotherboard. "So, that's our current estimate for how much customers have lost."
Read more: Apple Removes Fake Bitcoin Wallets From App Store After Users Scammed
