BTC Investor Losses 7,4 BTC with Fake Sparrow Wallet Mobile App

[SilverCryptoBullet]

Unfortunately, that's exactly how some people will look at this case. It's easier for them to associate Bitcoin with something dangerous that can cause you to lose money than spend some time to investigate what exactly happened and why. Even Jimmy said he was thinking of suing Apple for allowing the fake app to be hosted on the App Store. I doubt it will amount to anything, though. In the end, the responsibility of what happened lies with him. The sooner he accepts that, the easier he can recover from his loss and start over. But this time, thinking before acting.

They must learn to become more knowledgeable and must practice more to become more skillful in order to have more insights on how they can manage their fund and bitcoin safely.

Bank accounts, exchanges accounts, custodial wallets are not safe for their finance and fund so when they start to realize it, they will see importance of migration from banks to Bitcoin blockchain, and from centralized exchanges with custodial wallets to non custodial wallets. Better they will realize helpfulness of open source wallets.

Events made you scare about custodial wallets, centralized exchanges.

[Alone055]

Unfortunately, that's exactly how some people will look at this case. It's easier for them to associate Bitcoin with something dangerous that can cause you to lose money than spend some time to investigate what exactly happened and why. Even Jimmy said he was thinking of suing Apple for allowing the fake app to be hosted on the App Store. I doubt it will amount to anything, though. In the end, the responsibility of what happened lies with him. The sooner he accepts that, the easier he can recover from his loss and start over. But this time, thinking before acting.

Exactly. Such idiots are the reason why, to this day, Bitcoin is still considered something negative by a large group of people around the world, because some idiot somewhere in the world downloads an app without confirming its authenticity, inserts his seed phrase, and loses his life savings, and then starts begging around and spreading the news which then makes newbies or bitcoin-illiterates think that Bitcoin is the reason why they lost their money.

Just like this girl/woman, every person who interviews this guy or any other person should clarify during the interview that such incidents and tragedies happens only because of the foolishness of people and not because of Bitcoin or its network. If you don't know anything about security, you won't be safe even if you are using fiat, but people need to be told this.

About him suing Apple, I'm pretty sure he would've lost the case if he had ever decided to do that, because he was the one who was stupid enough not to know that a wallet that he has been using for so long doesn't have an iOS or mobile version, and it's not that he downloaded a malware from Apple Store that got into his already-existing wallet and drained it.

[Dhearnielt]

Unfortunately. This could have happened to anyone else let’s all take heed and learn from Jimmy story.
This reminds us of how important knowledge is if Jimmy had knowledge that sparrow only exist on desktop he would had easily prevented this.
This also reminds us that not every source, site or links can be trusted one link and you are gone. I advise we all should be on the watch.

What can you learn from this story?

[Patikno]

This unfortunate incident could easily have been prevented. What could Bitcoin Jimmy have done better, and what can you do to protect yourself?

Even experienced user can fall into scammer trap, let alone beginners. This is why it is important to keep this information public, so people are always aware and vigilant against various types of fraud. We may have heard the warning to verify from trusted sources too often, but it is crucial to heed and remember this, as we could end up in a situation like Jimmy, who lost his Bitcoin assets, and I hope we don't experience the same thing.

Furthermore, I often recommend differentiating between storage wallets and daily wallets. Storage wallets should never be connected to the internet at all (let alone trying to import them into various wallets), and the daily wallets should not hold large amounts of crypto assets or assets that can't afford to be lost, so that if something untoward happens, we won't face significant risk. Personally, I really appreciate people who always remind us in a positive way, especially when discussing matters like this. By the way, my other suggestion is that if we find something suspicious, then it is best to verify it immediately, and if it is not reliable, then immediately report it to the relevant parties, so that people can know about this.

[Popkon6]

That’s also what I thought at first when I read about this story. I even thought this might be a scam attempt since he posted a bitcoin address and asked for donations.
But after reading his replies, I found that he shared a copy of the report he filed with IC3 which contains the transaction ID and the scammer’s address. You can also watch this interview on youtube in which he and his wife talk about what happened: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3PZKrCMkxs
They also organized a fundraising campaign on GoFundMe and they managed to raise ~$7k so far.
So, I believe this story is genuine and he did, indeed, get scammed.

Even though what happened is tragic, and I can understand how they must feel, one just can't help but wonder how a person can be in the industry for so long and still behave like a total newbie. I watched the initial few minutes of the interview, he says that he realized that the mobile app is not associated with the desktop app, which means they don't have a mobile wallet, but he came to know abou that after the case, which is so naive for him not to confirm this before importing a wallet containing almost $1m worth of Bitcoin.

Losing money is very bad, but that person lost the best asset of the present time, Bitcoin. It is natural for him to feel bad. Many may call the story a lie, but I will definitely tell the story. I lost a small amount of money a few days ago. I have been worried for the last two months until now, that is why I believe that choosing a wallet is the most important. Where you will store the most valuable Bitcoin of the present time for a long time, this wallet should be strong and sturdy so that security is not lost.

[Pmalek]

Many may call the story a lie, but I will definitely tell the story. I lost a small amount of money a few days ago.

Create a thread on Bitcointalk and tell your story. Explain how you lost the money and what caused it. First-hand experience is always more believable than when people read a story of some person somewhere who lost money. Sharing what happened to you can help others on the forum who may commit the same mistake(s) that you did. Additionally, everyone learns how to better protect themselves by understanding what they shouldn't do.

[Peanutswar]

Imagine the stress came from the market volatility from the previous years and not only that the FOMO and the all of the happenings in the crypto space and just a blink of an eye, a mistake that we dont want ever to get happen is just vanished all of the hard earned money we have, this is the reason why always double check these applications or software we are using with just to put our funds in because just one mistake can make our money get through away easily feels sad to this investor but its a charge to experience we're in crypto space any transaction commited is already declared. By that I usually recommend to seperate the funds you are using with and those funds you are just doing for daily transaction at least have a different wallet to make your money feel more safe so if others get compromised it didnt affect a hundred percent in the basket

[Alone055]

Losing money is very bad, but that person lost the best asset of the present time, Bitcoin. It is natural for him to feel bad. Many may call the story a lie, but I will definitely tell the story. I lost a small amount of money a few days ago. I have been worried for the last two months until now, that is why I believe that choosing a wallet is the most important. Where you will store the most valuable Bitcoin of the present time for a long time, this wallet should be strong and sturdy so that security is not lost.

You're right, and I know that he has the right to feel bad for what happened. Still, you also need to understand that we are not talking about a wallet's security being flawed here; we are talking about a person who has invested so much money into Bitcoin, has been around for so many years, which means they have had good enough experience with things. Still, they made a very stupid mistake by not even confirming whether the wallet he is using has an iOS version or not. I mean, I just can't imagine how someone who isn't a newbie makes such a mistake.

You lost some money and couldn't sleep properly for two months, and stayed restless, right? He lost all his money, all the money that he probably had, but all because of his own stupidity or negligence.

This guy is a practical example for newbies about why it's important for them to gain enough knowledge before getting financially involved with cryptocurrencies, so that you can stay mentally aware of everything and don't make such mistakes.

[JiiBs]

- Coldcard is an airgapped hardware wallet. Your seed is offline with it. He should never have imported it into a hot wallet, regardless of which one.
- Bitcoin Jimmy should have done due diligence and checked personally if the Sparrow Wallet on the App Store was a legitimate software mentioned on Sparrow's website.
- His Coldcard + Sparrow Wallet (desktop) setup was already working. He shouldn't have substituted security for convenience by trying to set up a mobile wallet in such a bad way.
- Bitcoin Jimmy should have learned how to set up a companion app for his cold storage properly. It makes me wonder how he did it originally with his Sparrow Wallet.
- Jimmy should have asked questions before acting and downloading fake software.

It’s unfortunate for Bitcoin Jimmy but, he indeed substitute security for convince and it did prove costly.

Something that most of us don’t persons that are either new to cryptocurrency or just don’t think they could be a victim though is, putting too much trust on what apps we find on playstore or AppStore. For the most part, we become too trusting of android and apple for what they put out their and allow unsuspecting users to download.
I learnt on the forum that the proper place is, through the webpage of the app and should you get redirected, to AppStore or playstore, it’s okay.

Don’t know if their were reviews but, he ought to have read that too before downloading just to find a little bit of something that could be off.

[Pmalek]

Don’t know if their were reviews but, he ought to have read that too before downloading just to find a little bit of something that could be off.

Even if there were reviews, there couldn't have been many. The more important data is the number of downloads. A popular software wallet has a few hundred thousand and even more downloads from the Play Store or App Store in addition to hundreds of reviews and a good rating. Bitcoin Jimmy surely didn't look at any of that. He just searched for the wallet from the App Store and installed the first thing he found.

[KiaKia]

Sparrow is only available on desktops and not mobile phone.

This Jimmy believed he was downloading a genuine version of a Sparrow Wallet app for his iPhone from the App Store.

Scammers have known already that we mostly use Android on this forum and that we do always report them. Apple app store was not mostly used before but Android Play store. But after many reports and taking down of their scam apps, they moved to App store for Apple. This is the reason App store scam wallets are many now.

As lame as it sounds that the person download the wrong app on their phone it's possible that many people will still fall for the same scam trick because this days people want the easiest way to access their digital assets.

They will never stop looking for easy ways to do so, android and iPhone is in the hands of billions of people in the world, more accessible than laptops and PC, so sparrow wallet is only available for computers but not everyone has a computer.

This is what will triggers many people to fall for any fake sparrow wallets they find on appstore, I was a victim of this scam but I lost small amount of Bitcoin that costs around $300.

I thought I knew it all but I was thought a new lesson, if a well popular crypto wallet company doesn't announced a mobile wallet it's wrong to go looking for one and if they announced one make sure you download from the official website.

[_act_]

This is what will triggers many people to fall for any fake sparrow wallets they find on appstore, I was a victim of this scam but I lost small amount of Bitcoin that costs around $300.

I thought I knew it all but I was thought a new lesson, if a well popular crypto wallet company doesn't announced a mobile wallet it's wrong to go looking for one and if they announced one make sure you download from the official website.

Sorry for the loss of money. This is one of the reason I prefer to download the application directly on their official website. Also there are other mobile wallets that is for bitcoin that you can use instead. Examples are Electrum, Bluewallet, Cake, Blockstream Green and many other ones which are open source and good.

[ThemePen]

Imagine the stress came from the market volatility from the previous years and not only that the FOMO and the all of the happenings in the crypto space and just a blink of an eye, a mistake that we dont want ever to get happen is just vanished all of the hard earned money we have, this is the reason why always double check these applications or software we are using with just to put our funds in because just one mistake can make our money get through away easily feels sad to this investor but its a charge to experience we're in crypto space any transaction commited is already declared. By that I usually recommend to seperate the funds you are using with and those funds you are just doing for daily transaction at least have a different wallet to make your money feel more safe so if others get compromised it didnt affect a hundred percent in the basket

That is very stressful part of crypto world. Single mistake can cause you to lose all your money and because crypto transactions are permanent there is no way to get it back. Your advice to use separate wallets is very good and golden rule for staying safe. With keeping small amount in one wallet for daily use and your main savings in different more secure one you make sure that if one wallet is hacked all of your money is not at risk. It is simple and smart way to protect yourself.

[Pmalek]

As lame as it sounds that the person download the wrong app on their phone it's possible that many people will still fall for the same scam trick because this days people want the easiest way to access their digital assets.

They will never stop looking for easy ways to do so, android and iPhone is in the hands of billions of people in the world, more accessible than laptops and PC, so sparrow wallet is only available for computers but not everyone has a computer.

This is what will triggers many people to fall for any fake sparrow wallets they find on appstore...

As you realized from your own example, that can be a very dangerous way to approach things. Just because you wish there was a mobile app for a service you use and like, doesn't mean there is one or that you can make it available on your wish alone.

I wonder if people do the same thing in traditional finance. For example, going to the Play Store or App Store to find a mobile app for their debit card. This is something you set up with your bank, not on your own. You don't find an app that looks good on an app store, download it, and enter your card details.

People should be even more careful with their bitcoin because there is no second chance. Banks have chargebacks and ways to recover stolen fiat. Bitcoin doesn't on a protocol level.

[ultrloa]

As lame as it sounds that the person download the wrong app on their phone it's possible that many people will still fall for the same scam trick because this days people want the easiest way to access their digital assets.

They will never stop looking for easy ways to do so, android and iPhone is in the hands of billions of people in the world, more accessible than laptops and PC, so sparrow wallet is only available for computers but not everyone has a computer.

This is what will triggers many people to fall for any fake sparrow wallets they find on appstore...

As you realized from your own example, that can be a very dangerous way to approach things. Just because you wish there was a mobile app for a service you use and like, doesn't mean there is one or that you can make it available on your wish alone.

I wonder if people do the same thing in traditional finance. For example, going to the Play Store or App Store to find a mobile app for their debit card. This is something you set up with your bank, not on your own. You don't find an app that looks good on an app store, download it, and enter your card details.

People should be even more careful with their bitcoin because there is no second chance. Banks have chargebacks and ways to recover stolen fiat. Bitcoin doesn't on a protocol level.

The problem with people is they are late to realize that they made mistake. They wait that they get compromised before they do those proper verification to know that the app they are using is real and not the clone ones.

I'm not really comfortable putting up my card details on app store on Play Store since I think there's huge risk for doing this that's why I usually choose the other option which I think safer.

People really need to exert lots of precautionary measure to make sure that they are safe since its so bad for them to do it when they already lose some money. We should learn from bad experiences happened to some people since everything is avoidable if we just exert effort to research somethings before proceeding for taking critical decisions.

[HajiBagi]

What a great loss due to ignorance and not putting the safety of his bitcoin wallet as his priority with such huge amounts of money in it. This is why newbies should learn how to keep their wallet safe because the been in self custody of your coin comes with a lot of responsibility so that your wallet wouldn't be compromised in whatever way. He should have just continue yo use sparrow desktop wallet and his hardware wallet. Does sparrow wallet have a desktop version currently? Or am I missing something.

IPhone users should be very careful and make sure that they verify the signature of a wallet is authentic before using it.

Every investor should be careful when it comes to cryptocurrency because any small mistake can cause us to lose our assets and become zero. We should be careful with some apps we download without knowing anything about them because scammers have many methods to scam people and if we are not careful, we will lose all of our investment. I never trust anyone when it comes to cryptocurrency and I never download any app that I don't know anything about on my phone because some apps are not ordinary apps.

The reason I said everyone should be careful is that scammers do not only scam people who use iPhones, even people who use Android phones and other devices can be scammed if they do something that causes them to be scammed, they scam people who have bitcoin and valuable things in the hopes of making money from it; we should be careful, especially when we are holding bitcoin for a long term.

[Localhostspeed]

]
The problem with people is they are late to realize that they made mistake. They wait that they get compromised before they do those proper verification to know that the app they are using is real and not the clone ones.

I'm not really comfortable putting up my card details on app store on Play Store since I think there's huge risk for doing this that's why I usually choose the other option which I think safer.

I think that the main problem is people don't do proper investigations and research. They are post active kind of people instead been a pre active people. Before buying Bitcoin, make sure to know the safe wallet, how to back up the seed and how to properly used the wallet, the exchange to buy coin and how to send them to your wallet.

[DYING_S0UL]

That's really unfortunate that he lost all of those 7.4 BTC. But one thing I fail to understand, why would Apple allow such a malicious app in their App Store in the first place? Don't they have any kind of strict security measures to prevent incidents like this, like verifying the developers, the source? This is really alarming. Downloading and installing random apps off Google and getting scammed is one thing, but this, getting hacked from an app installed from the AppStore, a  supposedly trusted source, is a completely different kind of tragedy... sadness

[Pmalek]

That's really unfortunate that he lost all of those 7.4 BTC. But one thing I fail to understand, why would Apple allow such a malicious app in their App Store in the first place? Don't they have any kind of strict security measures to prevent incidents like this, like verifying the developers, the source? This is really alarming. Downloading and installing random apps off Google and getting scammed is one thing, but this, getting hacked from an app installed from the AppStore, a  supposedly trusted source, is a completely different kind of tragedy... sadness

Generally, Apple does a better job than Google when it comes to the apps that appear on their stores. But mistakes can always happen and will continue to happen in the future. One of their staff somewhere didn't perform the necessary research and the fake app got its permission to be listed. It's wrong to consider an app store as a trusted source. Regardless if it's the Play Store or App Store. You are already setting yourself up to possibly fail. Rely only on your own knowledge and research, and not what an app store tells you should be trusted.

[Cookdata]

Losing money is very bad, but that person lost the best asset of the present time, Bitcoin. It is natural for him to feel bad. Many may call the story a lie, but I will definitely tell the story. I lost a small amount of money a few days ago. I have been worried for the last two months until now, that is why I believe that choosing a wallet is the most important. Where you will store the most valuable Bitcoin of the present time for a long time, this wallet should be strong and sturdy so that security is not lost.

Regardless of the amount Bitcoin is worth, if the wallet is worth $100k and that's what the person has a saving, all their minds will b there. What do you think is going to happen to a person 7+ Bitcoin? That's roughly half a million, If I have that today I don't think I will celebrate like a I have a fortune but that amount can change life, no person that is average living will ever reject such amount if money not to consider how precious is Bitcoin and the future price.

No matter how bad tough you are with money, losing that amount of money is going to distablize you for a while, if you have gotten them when they are cheap, you're likely not to get more than 1 Bitcoin again unless you do dollar cost average and that depends on how much you are earning outside your investment. I don't know you are going to do it but you will face a lot of challenges but if you are earn well outside Bitcoin, then it's safe to say it's going to be a little project.