The American company Google has sued two developers from China and Hong Kong who hosted applications for cryptocurrency investments in the Google Play Store.
Google claims that since 2019, these developers have downloaded 87 programs, deceiving more than 100,000 people who downloaded fraudulent apps. According to user complaints, they lost anywhere from $100 to tens of thousands of dollars each. Google announced that it had already closed these apps in the Play Store as soon as it became clear that they were fraudulent. The company itself also suffered damage-in addition to undermining its reputation, having suffered economic damage of $75,000.
"This trial should draw attention to such malefactors. We make it clear that we will aggressively pursue anyone who tries to profit from our customers," said Halimah DeLaine Prado, Google's general counsel.
Apps for trading cryptocurrencies looked like legal investment projects in the Play Store. The attackers distorted important details, including their location, Google representatives complain. Fake apps were advertised using YouTube videos.
The scammers did not shy away from playing on users 'romantic feelings — potential victims received text messages: "I'm Sofia, do you remember me? " or "I miss you all the time, how are your parents?" After receiving a response, the scammers developed a conversation and eventually convinced the user to download one fraudulent cryptocurrency application and invest money. Developers of fake platforms sent fake screenshots to investors with their balance and profit, motivating them to invest even more money. However, sooner or later users found that they could not withdraw funds.
In the summer of 2023, the Google Play store announced major policy changes, allowing developers to add digital assets, including NFT, to their programs and games in the Play Store.
• Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...s-over-alleged-crypto-app-scams?sref=IIP4JEyu
Google claims that since 2019, these developers have downloaded 87 programs, deceiving more than 100,000 people who downloaded fraudulent apps. According to user complaints, they lost anywhere from $100 to tens of thousands of dollars each. Google announced that it had already closed these apps in the Play Store as soon as it became clear that they were fraudulent. The company itself also suffered damage-in addition to undermining its reputation, having suffered economic damage of $75,000.
"This trial should draw attention to such malefactors. We make it clear that we will aggressively pursue anyone who tries to profit from our customers," said Halimah DeLaine Prado, Google's general counsel.
Apps for trading cryptocurrencies looked like legal investment projects in the Play Store. The attackers distorted important details, including their location, Google representatives complain. Fake apps were advertised using YouTube videos.
The scammers did not shy away from playing on users 'romantic feelings — potential victims received text messages: "I'm Sofia, do you remember me? " or "I miss you all the time, how are your parents?" After receiving a response, the scammers developed a conversation and eventually convinced the user to download one fraudulent cryptocurrency application and invest money. Developers of fake platforms sent fake screenshots to investors with their balance and profit, motivating them to invest even more money. However, sooner or later users found that they could not withdraw funds.
In the summer of 2023, the Google Play store announced major policy changes, allowing developers to add digital assets, including NFT, to their programs and games in the Play Store.
• Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...s-over-alleged-crypto-app-scams?sref=IIP4JEyu
