FBI Issues A Public Warning About Fake Cryptocurrency Apps

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued a public warning about fraudulent cryptocurrency apps that have so far defrauded US investors out of an estimated $42.7 million.

According to an advisory published on July 18 by the securities and intelligence agency, cybercriminals have created apps using the same logos and identifying information as legitimate crypto companies to defraud investors. The FBI reported that 244 people had already been duped by these fake apps.

In one case, cyber criminals persuaded victims to download an app bearing the same logo as a legitimate U.S. financial institution, encouraging them to deposit cryptocurrency into wallets ostensibly linked to their accounts.

Victims who attempted to withdraw from the app were asked to pay taxes on their withdrawals. However, this was just another ruse to steal more money from victims, because even if they made the payments, the withdrawals would remain unavailable.

According to the FBI, approximately $3.7 million was defrauded from 28 victims

Another similar operation saw cybercriminals operating under the company name “YiBit” defraud at least four victims of around $5.5 million using a similar method of deception between October 2021 and May 2022.

In November 2021, criminals operating under the alias “Supay” were involved in a third case. They defrauded two victims by convincing them to deposit cryptocurrency into their app wallets, which were then frozen until more funds were deposited.

Warnings about fraudulent apps have also circulated on cryptocurrency Twitter.

According to one user, a friend was recently the victim of a scam that began on the online messaging service Whatsapp and encouraged the victim to download a fake crypto app and load funds into the app’s wallet.

A scam cryptocurrency app masquerading as a mobile Trezor app on Apple’s App Store last year reportedly resulted in one user losing $600,000 in Bitcoin at the time.

According to a June 2022 report from the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC), as much as $1 billion in cryptocurrency has been lost to scammers since 2021, with social media platforms accounting for nearly half of all crypto-related scams.

The FBI has advised cryptocurrency investors to be wary of unsolicited requests to download investment apps, to verify the legitimacy of an app (and the company), and to treat apps with limited and/or broken functionality “with skepticism.”

DISCLAIMER: The Information on this website is provided as general market commentary and does not constitute investment advice. We encourage you to do your own research before investing.

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