Google sues purported Chinese cryptocurrency app scumbags.
Desperate app downloads from Google Play have affected an estimated 100,000 users; however, the precise extent of user funds compromised is unknown.
Alphabet, the parent company of Google, has initiated legal proceedings against two individuals situated in China on the grounds that they utilized the company’s platform to distribute fraudulent cryptocurrency applications that accumulated more than one hundred thousand installations.
Alphabet claims that fraudsters used its platforms, Google Play and YouTube, to distribute and advertise fake cryptocurrency applications.
OneCoin’s legal director received a four-year prison sentence for a $4 billion cryptocurrency scam.
The online behemoth asserts that the defendants committed hundreds of acts of wire fraud as part of a pattern of racketeering. Bloomberg reported on April 4 that a federal court in New York received the lawsuit.
To trick users into depositing money they would never be able to withdraw, scammers meticulously crafted their applications to resemble legitimate digital asset investments.
Although Google consistently removes fraudulent applications, a significant number of them have managed to circumvent its fraud detection systems. The uploading of the racketeering applications by the two con artists commenced in 2019.
The lawsuit is an essential measure for protecting the users of the platform. Google’s general counsel, Halimah DeLaine Prado, wrote:
“By holding these bad actors accountable and sending a clear message that we will aggressively pursue those who seek to exploit our users, this litigation is a crucial step in that direction.”
In March, crypto fraud attacks increased by 50%.
Phishing fraudsters stole an estimated $71 million from 77,529 victims across all chains in March, an increase of 50% compared to February, according to a post on April 2 X by Scam Sniffer.
[1/7] 🚨💸 ScamSniffer's March Phishing Report
— Scam Sniffer | Web3 Anti-Scam (@realScamSniffer) April 2, 2024
Crypto phishing scams hit $71M in March, marking a 50% increase in stolen funds from February.
The first quarter of 2024 has seen a total of $173M lost to phishing scams. 📈🔒 pic.twitter.com/Z40WHJRYv4
Phishing schemes caused the loss of digital assets valued at $173 million during the initial quarter of 2024. Among the compromised assets, ERC-20 tokens operating on the Ethereum network constituted 90% of the total.
The most recent airdrop temporarily qualified a 2022 wormhole bridge infiltrator.
Phishing schemes are a type of social engineering fraud in which perpetrators voluntarily persuade targets to divulge sensitive information or install malicious software.
In the cryptocurrency industry, hacks and exploits have become an increasing concern, particularly for decentralized finance applications. A report by Immunefi on December 28 attributes 17% of the $1.8 billion lost to crypto breaches and fraudsters in 2023 to the North Korean Lazarus Group.
