Fake electrum

[Serious475]

I saw a lot of threads giving a fake wallet now I found out the same with them I saw this fake bitcoin wallet.



So far right now they have 7 reviews on their application

Google play : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fatalkoes.poalkoe

[clifjw]

It's absolutely crazy that these fake wallets can get away with releasing it on the mobile marketplaces. You'd think either the main wallet company would be bashing on the appstores doors, or the appstore would be more vigilant about what they allow. Especially considering they are finance.

[BrewMaster]

It's absolutely crazy that these fake wallets can get away with releasing it on the mobile marketplaces. You'd think either the main wallet company would be bashing on the appstores doors, or the appstore would be more vigilant about what they allow. Especially considering they are finance.

there isn't exactly any "wallet company" when it comes to open source wallets such as Electrum that are also released under the MIT license. legally speaking they can't even claim the name, anybody else can copy the code and the name and release their own version of Electrum even if they close source their release and sell it to people it still is allowed by the license that was chosen.

[mk4]

You know a review is totally fake when you see overly-dramatic reviews as this one lol:



Anyway, do the community a favor and report the app.

[tranthidung]

With Electrum for Android, you can check the info.

• About (click)
• Version: 4.0.5
• Licence: MIT Licence
• Home page: https://electrum.org
• Developers: Thomas Voegtlin SomberNight
• Distributed by Electrum Techonologies GmH

People get fake app as they search in Google Play.
Only download Electrum for Android from that page https://electrum.org/#download.

[bL4nkcode]

Please flag as inappropriate->copycat the app, even this is an obvious fake for us who really knows the wallet, chances are newbies still fall for this.

[The Cryptovator]

So far right now they have 7 reviews on their application.

Since you can buy thousands of fake Google reviews, it means they faking their reviews by themselves. It doesn't matter many positive reviews are there, you have to verify the download source. I never download any Bitcoin-related apps from any untrusted source. I have remembered when I downloaded Electrum wallets apps from the official source. Their apps link that will be redirected to the Google apps. Whoever is in crypto, should be very careful with the wallet software. Otherwise, scam or hack might happen at any time. Just don't download any apps bases on Google review only. Must need to verify the source.

Reported by the way, let's see how Google handle it.

[Peanutswar]

Previously I made a thread with the same issue a fake electrum.
You can check this too to spread awareness.

[WARNING]FAKE ELECTRUM WALLET

With Electrum for Android, you can check the info.

• About (click)
• Version: 4.0.5
• Licence: MIT Licence
• Home page: https://electrum.org
• Developers: Thomas Voegtlin SomberNight
• Distributed by Electrum Techonologies GmH

People get fake app as they search in Google Play.
Only download Electrum for Android from that page https://electrum.org/#download.

I would like to support this statement as ShowOff given by sharing the true electrum wallet application.

Code:

The real Electrum.

[Coyster]

So far right now they have 7 reviews on their application

It is still quite a small number of reviews they have, at least with that alone some people will be able to doubt it's legitimacy, the warning has being repeated incessantly, yet it's a pity people still go to Google playstore to get their wallets or to download cryptocurrecy exchanges, the only source should be the official website.

Reported by the way, let's see how Google handle it.

I've reported this too, like I do when I find fake apps on playstore, the thing is how long it takes before Google takes it down, I'm sure it wouldn't be ASAP.

[sheenshane]

Upon searching on the Google playstore just because I want to report "Flag as inappropriate", I saw that there are two of them that surely they are both fake app of Electrum wallet.  There are countless reviews but for sure that the review isn't real and obviously manipulated.

Here is those FAKE electrum Google playstore links, it seems they had similar and almost the same app logo.

Code:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fatbs.lokene

Code:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fatalkoes.poalkoe

(last one is given by OP).

I've done my part flagging on it and choose "Flag as inappropriate > Copycat or impersonation".  We hope that Google will take action quickly as we reported to them regarding these fake apps of Electrum.

[Upgrade00]

We hope that Google will take action quickly as we reported to them regarding these fake apps of Electrum.

More importantly, users should come to the realization that Google services are unreliable and if they want to ensure their security they would have to take responsibility. There has been so many reports of fake/phishing apps being advertised on Google play stores and it sometimes takes weeks before they are eventually pulled down despite reports, this doesn't seem to be a situation that is getting solved soon.

Anyone downloading sensitive apps should research on the right source and also learn how to verify that they are on the right app.

[ScamViruS]

You know a review is totally fake when you see overly-dramatic reviews as this one lol:

Anyway, do the community a favor and report the app.

This is really a bad thing about Google, scammers have been using Google for a long time to scam. There are many service providers providing fake reviews of apps in the Google Play Store. So scammers buy these kinds of reviews, so that crypto users download their app as if it were a real app! Such service providers used to promote their services on bitcointalk, community members have tagged those service providers.

[Asuspawer09]

~

I guess this is already the job of a lot of scammers online making a scam Android application that they can publish in the google play store.

Since it's easy to upload your application in the Google Play store I think scammer is taking advantage of that creating of scam Application that is a mobile copy of a legitimate bitcoin or cryptocurrency wallet.

Even though some of the wallets do not have its mobile version they develop a sloppy one to fool people in order to scam people's Electrum wallet putting their private key and password in the App.

[Stedsm]

The only wallet by "Electrum Technologies GmbH" is the one that's the original Electrum wallet. All others are fake. People should take time and carefully check all the details instead of simply going to play store in a hurry and mess up with their capital by downloading a fake or corrupt version of any wallet. It's for their own safety to act responsibly, so not to complain later.

[o_e_l_e_o]

People need to stop using Google products. I've long been anti-Google since it invades every inch of your privacy, tracks literally everything you do, builds a massive profile on you, and sells that data to third parties, advertisers, governments, etc. However, as time goes on, it becomes more and more clear that using Google isn't just a massive privacy risk, but a massive security risk too. They put ads to scams and phishing sites at the top of their search results, they do zero due diligence in to what shows up on the Play Store and frequently host and promote scam apps like this one, they leak data, their cloud storage is hacked repeatedly, they store passwords in plain text, the list goes on. If you care at all about either your privacy or your security, stop using all Google products.

https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/wiki/de-google
https://prism-break.org/en/

Further, even if you are sure you are on the right app on the Play Store, you still shouldn't download it from there, since your phone will install it automatically and verifying PGP signatures on Android is less than straightforward. Accounts which are used to upload updates can be compromised. GitHub accounts can be compromised. The only way to ensure you are safe is to verify the signature before installing.

You should download the .apk file from Electrum.org, download the associated signature file, follow these steps to verify the file (https://bitcoinelectrum.com/how-to-verify-your-electrum-download/), and then transfer the .apk on to your phone and install it from there.

[jossiel]

This is why I don't bother anymore downloading wallet apps on Google Play alone. I'm looking for the official releases from the developers on their very own website. It's best to check it from the natural source and official than to search it alone without any idea if it's from the official source.

Most likely, the target of these fake electrum apps and other wallet apps are the newbies. They have no idea if it's an official release. I'm still hoping that someday Google Play will be stricter for product/app listing of people that has no history on their platform.

Those reviews are obviously fake and likely from the owner himself.

[Stedsm]

--snip--

You're right, I hate Google for what they do - selling data, breaching their own privacy policy, etc. But the search engine has made everyone its slave - tbh, highly dependent on Google that now, every time you try to search anything, your parents will simply ask you to Google it. Google even allowed some shitty lending apps which have rendered money to people on ridiculous percentages, like if you're taking a loan of $40, you'll get disbursed $30 and you'll need to repay $50 in a 1 week time. If you don't repay during that timeline, you'll be charged a penalty of around $3 on a daily basis. Isn't that ridiculous? Still such apps are there on Google Play store. What's shocking here is that, the money these apps are getting, it's from China. China is trying to first lend us money and then they are sucking every drop of blood from the borrower. I mean, they've even got people working for them here in India who simply call our contacts (yes, these apps even fetch and hack your complete contact list and if you don't repay, these motherfuckers start calling them over phone and abuse them).

Anyways, the most alarming bell that rang in my head was when I saw the images in OP's image, where the images on the play store are showing "Myclelium" which was misspelled and is actually "Mycelium" - a Bitcoin wallet itself.

[Alucard1]

This is really not a good thing for the crypto community, it seems like there are already many scammers who are trying to create fake software just to scam and steal money from other people. Before we download the specific application, let us check first the reviews and how many people already downloaded it, if it seems doubtful then never use or install it or better try to ask some expert about it.

[libert19]

You know a review is totally fake when you see overly-dramatic reviews as this one lol:

Anyway, do the community a favor and report the app.

This is really a bad thing about Google, scammers have been using Google for a long time to scam. There are many service providers providing fake reviews of apps in the Google Play Store. So scammers buy these kinds of reviews, so that crypto users download their app as if it were a real app! Such service providers used to promote their services on bitcointalk, community members have tagged those service providers.

They can 'buy' reviews but they can never buy the genuineness that real reviews tend to have.

[Brindez_kromo]

Is there no supervision in the launch of applications on the AppStore?
Can we report the fake wallet to appstore developers to block their site?
It's a pity they can easily put fake wallets in the AppStore,,, I'm so worried about fraudsters I don't know how many people are harming them but they are like viruses that are always updating ways be able to scamm

People need to stop using Google products. I've long been anti-Google since it invades every inch of your privacy, tracks literally everything you do, builds a massive profile on you, and sells that data to third parties, advertisers, governments, etc. However, as time goes on, it becomes more and more clear that using Google isn't just a massive privacy risk, but a massive security risk too. They put ads to scams and phishing sites at the top of their search results, they do zero due diligence in to what shows up on the Play Store and frequently host and promote scam apps like this one, they leak data, their cloud storage is hacked repeatedly, they store passwords in plain text, the list goes on. If you care at all about either your privacy or your security, stop using all Google products.

https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/wiki/de-google
https://prism-break.org/en/

Further, even if you are sure you are on the right app on the Play Store, you still shouldn't download it from there, since your phone will install it automatically and verifying PGP signatures on Android is less than straightforward. Accounts which are used to upload updates can be compromised. GitHub accounts can be compromised. The only way to ensure you are safe is to verify the signature before installing.

You should download the .apk file from Electrum.org, download the associated signature file, follow these steps to verify the file (https://bitcoinelectrum.com/how-to-verify-your-electrum-download/), and then transfer the .apk on to your phone and install it from there.

Not everyone knows the thread they newbie only understand about the big name Electrum so it's very easy to trick newbie