Surprising as it may be, Google fell victim to a scam today when two individuals successfully deceived the company into allowing 87 fake cryptocurrency apps to be hosted on the Play Store. Such an occurrence is rare for a reputable company like Google.
“Fake Cryptocurrency Apps on Google Play Store Scam Users Out of Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars”
Despite being considered one of the more secure app stores, Play Store has faced a security breach, causing Google to take immediate action. While Google has implemented various measures to prevent such incidents, the scammers in question were still able to exploit the system, resulting in legal action being taken against them by the Mountain View company.
The report states that Google has taken legal action against two app developers, accusing them of being crypto scammers who misled the company into hosting fraudulent apps in the app store. One of the scammers is from Shenzen, China, while the other is from Hong Kong. The company claims that the individuals were able to create seemingly legitimate crypto exchanges and investment apps.
Despite using various advertisements to persuade the victims, these two men refused to grant access to the investors’ money, even if they were successful in making a profit.
Google has filed a lawsuit stating that these fraudsters have targeted more than 100,000 individuals globally, swindling them out of sums ranging from $100 to $100,000+. The company also mentions its efforts to locate and shut down the implicated applications, but their actions proved futile as new apps would pop up in place of the shut-down ones.
According to Google, the scammers responsible for these 87 apps tricked the company by falsifying their identities, locations, and motives in order to have their apps hosted on the Play Store. The company further asserts that it has devoted over $75,000 to investigating these fraudulent activities, but emphasizes that its main priority is protecting the reputation of the Play Store rather than recouping the financial losses.
As an Android user, I constantly come across numerous cryptocurrency apps on the Google Play Store. If I wasn’t aware, I could easily be tempted to spend money on them. Therefore, it is crucial to thoroughly research the developer before investing in any app to ensure the safety of your money. This can be done by either knowing the developer or conducting a quick search to verify their credibility.
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