The cryptocurrency industry has often been plagued by malicious applications designed to drain crypto funds. One of the most notorious fake applications is that of Trezor, which seems to reappear even after getting removed multiple times. Now, one user claims he lost $600,000 Bitcoin (BTC) from his iPhone.
Phillipe Christodoulou, a crypto holder, recently fell victim to a fake crypto wallet application, losing nearly all of his savings according to a report from the Washington Post. Christodoulou downloaded a mobile Trezor app to check his Bitcoin balance via phone.
However, he was unaware that he downloaded the fake Trezor application that even had a five-star rating, made to look like it was a legitimate application. After entering his seed phrase, he said a total of 17.1 BTC from his life savings.
Christodoulou notes that Apple, which collects 15% to 30% commissions on sales, must be held responsible for this. “They betrayed the trust that I had in them. Apple doesn’t deserve to get away with this,” he said. According to the report, Christodoulou has filed a report with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
After being notified by Trezor, Apple has removed the fake application multiple times, but it continued to emerge on the App Store. As of now, the crypto community is divided about whether or not Apple is to be blamed. Jameson Lopp, from crypto custody platform Casa, tweeted, “Stop entering seed phrases into software. Only enter seeds into dedicated Bitcoin hardware devices.”
However, this is nothing new for the industry and for the app store. UK-based crypto intelligence firm Coinfirm has reported that five people have previously fallen victim to crypto theft by a fake Trezor app on iOS, with total losses estimated at $1.6 million.
The Hardware wallet manufacturer has also warned its users about fraudulent doppelgänger apps on the Google Play Store.
History repeats itself
As previously reported by The Daily Chain, Back in 2019, similar applications were spotted on Play Store. The apps were spotted by researchers from ESET antivirus. The app imitated Trezor and further investigation found that it had ties to another fake app that was potentially used to scam unsuspecting users out of money.
