A fake Mac app designed to look like a real crypto wallet app cost users $9.5 million in cryptocurrency, according to CoinDesk. The app was a fake version of the Ledger Live crypto wallet app.
The fake app tricked more than 50 users into handing over access to their cryptocurrency wallets between April 7 and April 13. Three of the victims lost seven-figure sums.
While Ledger does offer a Mac app, the company distributes it as a download though its own website, not through the Mac App Store. The fake app asked users to enter their seed phrases. The genuine app doesn’t do so, nor do other legitimate cryptocurrency apps.
Bad actors routed the stolen crypto coin was routed through the KuCoin crypto exchange, and used a service known as AudiA6 to launder the cryptocurrency. The service charges large fees to launder cryptocurrency.
ZachXBT, who investigated the scam and shared the info on Telegram, indicated Apple could see a class-action lawsuit in the future, thanks to the large amount of money lost by victims.
While Apple removed the fake Ledger Live app from the Mac App Store, it was available in the store for around two weeks. So far, Apple hasn’t commented on the scam, or explained how the counterfeit app passed Apple’s usually stringent app review process.
