Trezor has been stolen 17.1 BTC through a scam app on the App Store – Bits Media

Trezor's wallet user lost 17.1 BTC, There are almost almost now $1 million, After downloading a fake application in the Apple App Store store.

Last month, Philip Khristodul (Phillipe Christodoulou) I decided to check my bitcoins, stored on the hardware wallet Trezor. For this The user downloaded the mobile application in the App Store. However, after loading the application and introduction of accounting data, he discovered, what is him 17.1 BTC stolen. Then they were standing near $600 thousand, Now their cost is close to $1 mln.

The downloaded application turned out to be a fake, Despite an assessment of five stars. Later, Christodulus again went to the App Store, to study reviews more carefully. Before, How the Trezor fake application was removed from the App Store, It had 155 High -grade reviews. However, when Christodula opened written reviews, He saw complaints from other people, who were deceived in the same way. It turns out, that five -star ratings were also false. But the most interesting thing is that the mobile application for Trezor from the developers of the wallet does not exist at all.

He said to Christodul, What is offended by Apple more, than on the scammers themselves. Apple positions App Store as a safe site for buying applications, Each of which is a thorough check. Apple guaranteed safety, reliability, The usefulness and uniqueness of all materials, placed on the App Store. The company also claims, that commissions in the amount of 15% to 30%, levied from all trading transactions in the App Store, used to improve the level of customer service.

“Once I was an Apple regular client, But now I don't admire this company anymore. Apple betrayed my trust, And what happened should not get away with this company ", – Said the injured user.

Apple employee Fred Sinz (Fred Sainz) answered, that user trust lays the basis for business. Numerous studies prove, that App Store is one of the safest applications in the world, And Apple is constantly working on maintaining its standards and strengthening the protection of the App Store. However, in some cases, criminals manage to deceive the company and users. Therefore, Apple takes operational measures against attackers, to prevent such violations in the future.

Apple admits, that other fraudulent applications for working with cryptocurrencies appeared on the App Store. However, the company did not explain, Whether Trezor has previously appeared in the App Store, And will new applications called Trezor be noted as fraudulent. Apple also did not name the name of the Trezor fake application and did not provide its contact information. Unknown, whether the company has transferred these data to law enforcement agencies, And whether a further investigation will be carried out in relation to this developer. Apple also did not report, whether he created other applications, And can this fraudster act under other accounts on the site.

Experts believe, What is actually it is easy for scammers to circumvent the rules of Apple. Attackers can send quite harmless applications for approval, and then make changes to them, necessary for fisching attacks. When Apple finds out about it, The company removes such applications and brings their developers to the "black list". Unfortunately, For people, "Farmers fell", It gets too late. The ability of applications to turn into malicious programs after approval of the App Store, raises many questions about Apple's check performance. Besides, The company does not report, How often such fraudulent "products" appear, And how quickly they are removed. At the same time, it is known, that last year was removed about 6500 applications due to "hidden or undocumented functions".

Executive Director of Coalition for App Fairness Megan Dimuzio (Meghan DiMuzio) considers, Apple can disseminate false information about the confidentiality and safety of users. According to Dimuzio, Apple inconsistently applies its security standards to applications, And only then does it, when it brings Apple.

British company Coinfirm, Investigating cryptocurrency fraud, reported, that since October 2019 I received more years 7000 complaints about the abduction of digital assets. Buried users used fake applications, Bought in Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Coinfirm reported, that five people have already used the Trezor fake application for iOS, And their common losses were $1.6 million. Also, the company received messages from people, who downloaded the malicious Trezor application for Android, Then they lost cryptocurrencies totaling $ 600,000.

Trezor is the first and most famous manufacturer of hardware wallets. However, he does not have a mobile application, Although the company began to work on it. Trezor representative Kristina Mazankova reported, that the company has repeatedly notified Apple and Google about fake applications, Applications appearing in their stores. However, the communication process is complicated by those, that Apple and Google do not maintain contact. Mazankova said, what 1 February Trezor notified Apple about the appearance of a fake application, And Apple removed it only 3 february. However, the application reappeared after a few days.

According to approximate data Sensor Tower, Trezor's fraudulent application was on Apple App Store with 22 January by 3 February and was downloaded about 1000 time. Georgia State Engineer James Fitz (James Fajcz) also reported the theft of crypto assets after downloading a similar application. In December, he bought $14,000 worth of BTC and ETH and decided to store them on the Trezor hardware wallet. He later downloaded the fraudulent app Trezor, which requested a secret phrase (seed). According to the user, the application did not connect to the Trezor wallet, so the engineer decided, that it doesn't work. A few weeks later he bought more ethers, but when I connected to my Trezor I discovered, that there's nothing there.

"Having learned, that the Trezor app doesn't actually exist, my jaw hit the floor. I understand, what did you do. How this vile app got onto the App Store platform, claiming to be the best and most trusted app store? Apple should be held accountable for this.", – the victim said.

Analytical firm Chainalysis found out, that the crypto assets of Faiz and Christodoulou could have been stolen by the same attackers. The company found evidence that, that this is a big scam, bringing in millions of dollars. Christodoulou still has not recovered from what happened and is now forced to take medication and see a psychologist.

Note, that owners of Ledger wallets also often become victims of phishing attacks, having lost more than 1,150,000 XRP.