CRYPTO FRAUD: They took $ 350,000 from naive users and did nothing!

Fraudulent Android apps charged users a subscription, and did not mine cryptocurrencies, as promised…

Jul 9, 2021 - 09:45
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CRYPTO FRAUD: They took $ 350,000 from naive users and did nothing!

The value of cryptocurrencies began to stagnate after a large increase in early 2021, which is why many see this as a chance to catch the connection.

That is why it is not unusual that there are more and more scams related to cryptocurrencies, and now 170 Android applications have been found that have scammed more than 93,000 crypto fans.

Lookout Threat Lab's cybersecurity researchers found 26 apps on the Google Play Store that managed to evade Google's protection system because they didn't do anything malicious. The problem is that those apps did absolutely nothing.

The researchers divided these applications into two classes, BitScam and CloudScam, and both claimed they could provide cloud-based cryptocurrency mining services. This alleged mining process would not take place on just one device but would involve multiple users, after which the profit would be divided into equal parts.

Most of these apps were not free and charged extra for subscriptions and upgrades within them, which cost between $ 12.99 and $ 259.99, and interestingly, they accepted Bitcoin and Ethereum as a means of payment. The researchers found that these applications did not mine cryptocurrencies at all.

Users did not know that it was a fraud because they could not withdraw their funds from the account until they reached the "minimum balance". Once they reached the minimum amount that allows you to withdraw funds, users would receive error messages.

It was revealed that the creators of these applications earned $ 300,000 by selling software, as well as an additional $ 50,000 in cryptocurrencies from users who bought additional services and paid for servers. Although Google has deleted some of these applications from its store, a large number of such applications can still be found and there is no information on whether users will be compensated and in what way.

By: Amber V. - Gossip Whispers