Another person losses $20k to Fake Uniswap on Google Play

[Yaunfitda]

https://twitter.com/AlexSaundersAU/status/1329561975471259649

Code:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dexuni.simpletwo

Archived: https://archive.is/5WB1P

I guess we needed the community's help again to report this fake apps in Google so that it will be taken down ASAP so that it won't dupe any unsuspecting victims.

You can report it here: https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/contact/takedown

[Baofeng]

Ouch!!, that is a huge one, another expensive lessons to learn in crypto space. Google's policy is really relax and allow this criminals to used their platform. Reported it as well, the only thing we do is wait for Google to remove it asap. As based on my experience reporting malicious apps, it takes weeks or even months before they finally take it out from their playstore.

[Rikafip]

Damn that must have hurt, to loose so much money that way. Then again, things like that are bound to happen considering how easy is to get an app on Google playstore and how long it takes them to remove the fake app.

Last month one user reported fake Atomic wallet on playstore, and  if I remember correctly it took Google three weeks to finally remove that fake app. God knows how many people fell for that.

Reported it too, hopefully it gets removed fast and before someone else gets scammed the same way but based on previous experience I'm not so optimistic.

[Coyster]

Google ads and their apps on playstore are not properly filtered to remove scam ads/apps, users run a risk of losing their funds if they download anything from playstore that they have to input their seed phrases into, that's were responsibility in crypto comes in, users should verify and go through only the official source. Having said that, $20k is a pretty large sum of money, if one decides to get crypto ads like this one from playstore, to be sure it's legit, they could first import a wallet with a very small amount.

[The Cryptovator]

I can't recall the thread, but I have seen a similar thread a few days back. The sad thing is peoples not learning from other's mistakes. It's a cryptocurrency, we should be very careful when we are dealing with it. We are always reminded that we shouldn't download any cryptocurrency-related apps from untrusted sources except original sources. We can't trust Google due to fake reviews and this thread is another costly lesson for us. We have nothing to do except say sorry. Just we need to take a lesson from other's mistakes.

[ScamViruS]

This is bad news for everyone. Here a good amount of money went to the scammers, they used the system to scam that crypto user. Google has never been 100% trustworthy, many fake apps get approval in the play store with the help of their policy. So there is no other way but to be careful enough.

Scammers are constantly using Google ads to promote their scams. So before downloading anything from Google, everyone should do a lot of verification.

[BrewMaster]

Google's policy is really relax and allow this criminals to used their platform.

i don't think Google can do anything about this type of scam applications on their platform because the apps aren't manually audited and there is nothing obvious about the scam that could be automatically detected so their system can't catch them.
like many other things it is up to the user to spend 5 seconds and do some research to figure out whether the app is malicious or not.

[boyptc]

What happens is that scammers can freely create and publish their app on Google Play. They'll only be stopped if Google receives several reports for that app.

$20k is a lot of money considering that we're seeing a jump in price. 

[Findingnemo]

I think its time to add list of fake wallets available of Google Play Store because with the increase of Bitcoin's and all other cryptocurrencies prices we can expect lot more fake wallets as clone or completely fake team to get the advantage of the people's urge to buy and Store cryptos.

[Insanerman]

Archived: https://archive.is/5WB1P

I guess the victim never done any research before downloading nor engaging in the scam app. Uniswap doesn't make any mobile platofrms as they prefer trading of the users with metamask to be much secured in crypto space. Sadly, despite his money being too huge, his lack of awareness with crypto scams surpasses his wealth. Furthermore, the Uniswap app seems to be really just wasn't convincing, especially if it doesn't have any trust mark that it is popular app, nor have anu editor's choice badge in the said play store.

[Rikafip]

i don't think Google can do anything about this type of scam applications on their platform because the apps aren't manually audited and there is nothing obvious about the scam that could be automatically detected so their system can't catch them.

According to this, Google is manually reviewing apps since 2015. Not all of them, but at least some.

Developers no longer have free rein to immediately publish apps onto Google Play without any oversight. Google has announced that apps distributed through its store are now manually tested and reviewed to uncover app violations and malware. And much like Apple, sometimes it's real people handling that job. "This new process involves a team of experts who are responsible for identifying violations of our developer policies earlier in the app lifecycle," Google wrote in a blog post.

The new system has actually been in place for a couple months, and according to TechCrunch, Google hasn't received any complaints from developers about delays. It seems no one's even noticed the change. That's got a lot to do with Google's approach; not everything here is being done by hand. The company is combining the use of automated tools — which scan apps for viruses and other obvious Google Play no-nos — with human reviewers who jump in when the system flags something unusual. "Whatever the machines can catch today, the machines do. And whatever we need humans to weigh in on, humans do," Purnima Kochikar, Play's director of business development, told TechCrunch.

Source

So, if Google is manually reviewing some apps before they are available on PlayStore, they should at least prioritize those developers that are submitting the app for the first time. First time submitting an app? Manual review. As simple as that, especially something as specific as crypto wallet. Many scammers would have been caught in that case since those would be the ones attempting something like that.

But let's say that Google can't stop all of them, which is probably true, then why at least they can't react faster when removing an obvious fake app? In this case last month it took Google more than one month to remove fake Atomic wallet, despite bunch of reviews saying that app is scam, people reporting loosing their money etc. In that case fake wallet had exactly the same logo and very similar name, so I am not surprised that some fell for that scam.

like many other things it is up to the user to spend 5 seconds and do some research to figure out whether the app is malicious or not.

That's true, in the end its our own responsibility to take care of our security, but it still sucks to see cases like this, which could have been avoided.

[TravelMug]

Google's policy is really relax and allow this criminals to used their platform.

i don't think Google can do anything about this type of scam applications on their platform because the apps aren't manually audited and there is nothing obvious about the scam that could be automatically detected so their system can't catch them.

Well if they want to, then they can do manual audits before allowing such apps to be available in their play store. And this what separate Apple or IOS from them, also very close, it is secure from this kind of attacks.

like many other things it is up to the user to spend 5 seconds and do some research to figure out whether the app is malicious or not.

Exactly, but people tend to be relax and will simply download anything without doing any further research. Big big lost for the user, but we can't do anything but to report this malicious apps and let Google deal with it very quick.

[pakhitheboss]

It is a big loss!

Why don't people understand that there is only one UNISWAP and everything else is fake.

Google should be held liable for such losses. Removal of spam from their platform is Google's responsibility and if any user should lose money they should be held responsible.

The user should take Google to court and demand a compensation from them.

I have already reported and the app is still live in Play store.
.

[Asuspawer09]

I mean the UNISWAP was popular for a lot of users and I guess for beginners the application was really convincing.

When you just search the application in the play store and this application pop up you would just download it anyway plus the positive reviews would make it convincing as well.

It's better to just report the application so that there will be victims of this scam, people just need to be careful when it comes to downloading applications especially on Google play store.

[cryptoaddictchie]

It is a big loss!
Why don't people understand that there is only one UNISWAP and everything else is fake.

An app for dex is good. But having own mobile version when a dapp like uniswap can be imported to third party app like trust wallet already proficient enough to use it. Let say the idea of having an own app is accessible, still what happened is purely fault of the victim. He should have been doing some diligence if the app is really created by the Uniswap team.

The user should take Google to court and demand a compensation from them.

I have already reported and the app is still live in Play store.

This isn't the first one that a scam or fake app victimized people. I couldn't say Google should be liable but they should be restricting of have a tight screening for the app developers that wanted to use their service to avoid this kind of scenario.

[akirasendo17]

Google play check files that are uploaded to them against malware/virus but I think they never check if its a scam or pretending to be a legit application
i think I have read somewhere that they only scan, this application for any encrypted virus, if it's clear they are then permitted, but again this is on the hand of the user, why he had not double-checked if it's really the application.
I think we might learn another lesson here to double-check everything since we are talking about money
just be careful guys remember this always happens every time bitcoin is nearing All-time high scammers will always be around, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

[OcTradism]

I am sorry for the big loss and also sorry to say the person deserved the loss.

Crypto market and Internet space are not a heaven where you are safe from threats, bad people, and many bad things. They must prepare enough knowledge on security and obey vital rules to keep them and their crypto safe.

Officially visit websites & download apps, not fake ones.

[Krislaw]

Google play check files that are uploaded to them against malware/virus but I think they never check if its a scam or pretending to be a legit application
i think I have read somewhere that they only scan, this application for any encrypted virus,

This could be true and it hurting it's user. Apps that involves Finance or funds should be well scanned, check for clones and not only viruses. Scams like this are more dangerous than installing a virus on device. iOS app store does their best to make sure they don't have clones and also app are safe and well optimised.

[cheezcarls]

https://twitter.com/AlexSaundersAU/status/1329561975471259649

Code:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dexuni.simpletwo

Archived: https://archive.is/5WB1P

I guess we needed the community's help again to report this fake apps in Google so that it will be taken down ASAP so that it won't dupe any unsuspecting victims.

You can report it here: https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/contact/takedown

Dang I know how it really feels to lose such huge amount of money for that fake Uniswap app. Take note that the real Uniswap doesn’t have an app yet. They are still under the web version. If I were on his shoes, it’s really hard for me to move on despite the advice they would say that “it’s just money and we can earn that amount again anytime”, etc. I bet that guy didn’t took time research or seek consultation to the “much-experienced” crypto friends or colleagues that he have. There’s nothing we can do about it to help as blockchain cannot be controlled. Lessons learned.

[robelneo]

Scammers are constantly using Google ads to promote their scams. So before downloading anything from Google, everyone should do a lot of verification.

Part of the verification is asking the community if the application that he wants to download is legit and play protect verified, I do not trust Google play because it's easy to create hundreds of fake reviews and there are so many fake and imitation of application if you are not sure do a test with empty wallets and do not store a big amount of coins on new or unknown wallets.