Apple Sued After Fake iPhone Wallet App Drained $1.8M in Bitcoin

[henmark]

The only thing that can make the case for Apple weak is the fact that they claim their store is free of such stuff, no one can add fake apps and stuff in their store and it is completely secure; otherwise, it's a clear mistake from those who got robbed out of their funds, because if you look at the official website of Sparrow wallet, they don't even have any mobile apps that users can use, but these users still went ahead and downloaded a fake app on their phones, and then inserted their details without even confirming if the fake is real or fake. I mean, how dumb can someone be when playing around with so much money? If you have been using their desktop wallet, and suddenly decided to switch to mobile, you should at least look at their official website for a link or something.

I'm not sure about others, but I remember reading the story of one person who downloaded the app from App store and added his seed phrase and password without even verifying whether the wallet is official or not, and then he was giving an interview about it and saying it was his life-savings and he now is left with nothing. If you can't manage your funds properly, you will surely be deprived of them because scammers and attackers won't leave an opportunity if you give them one.

[JiiBs]

This is an avoidable mistake, but I think Apple and Google need to take the responsibility of their users not to download fake apps on their stores. There are many bitcoin users that do not even know what verifying of wallet signature is before using a wallet. But if they do not know that, they should know that they should make investigation before making use of a wallet. If Sparrow is now on App store, it would be seen online through search and also seen on their office website.

It’s an avoidable mistake for those who know how, are cautious and curious about these things. There are a lot of forks out there that haven’t got a clue on how to verify or the need to verify these wallets before download. These are the ones that depend on Playstore and AppStore to have down this for them, given the huge company name and what could be gotten out of them. They directly occupy a position of trust for most of their users and this trust is being bridged due to the poor verification or promptness to take action when these apps are being reported.

I am of the note that we are our first line of security but, these companies need to do better, at least when these apps are reported through the proper channels and with evidence.

[Franklyn-wood]

This is an avoidable mistake, but I think Apple and Google need to take the responsibility of their users not to download fake apps on their stores. There are many bitcoin users that do not even know what verifying of wallet signature is before using a wallet. But if they do not know that, they should know that they should make investigation before making use of a wallet. If Sparrow is now on App store, it would be seen online through search and also seen on their office website.

Sparrow bitcoin wallet official website: https://sparrowwallet.com/
https://sparrowwallet.com/download/

I don't know much about the subject, but I think  Apple has more responsibility of what goes inside their store than google.

Apple charges a fee for the money developers make  in the app listed. So they have some responsibility of what goes in there.

I am always impressed by the amount of people that put millions of dollars in a mobile wallet 

So many people believes that apple is more secured and can't fail, but for getting that it is a brand that has other partner brands attached to it who sells under that in other to get more sells because of the speculation and the good name apple has already.
That money is much to over look consider the hiy profile of apple as a big name in the worl. Some other law suites are file against apple some other things, dont know how true it is.

[Ashawowo(OS)]

Apple charges a fee for the money developers make  in the app listed. So they have some responsibility of what goes in there.

If this is the case, then the lawsuit is in order. They've a duty to screen what exists in their stores since they're in partnership with the developers.

I am always impressed by the amount of people that put millions of dollars in a mobile wallet  

Some people are so uninformed that they only know about hot wallets, I've seen people like that and when I recommend a hardware wallet at least, they're surprised about it's existence. Ignorance is a major factor that keeps people vulnerable, the scammer always has his way easily with them.

[joniboini]

I've seen people like that and when I recommend a hardware wallet at least, they're surprised about it's existence. Ignorance is a major factor that keeps people vulnerable, the scammer always has his way easily with them.

I feel like they belong to different group of people. I find it hard to believe someone who use an Apple device to not know a single thing about hardware wallet, or other alternatives in general. Especially when they store millions of dollars in there. That doesn't mean they'll always have a good awareness though. In my case I see people trusting exchange as a main or secondary "wallet" more of then than iPhone users not knowing what Trezor or Electrum is.

[Darker45]

I've seen people like that and when I recommend a hardware wallet at least, they're surprised about it's existence. Ignorance is a major factor that keeps people vulnerable, the scammer always has his way easily with them.

I feel like they belong to different group of people. I find it hard to believe someone who use an Apple device to not know a single thing about hardware wallet, or other alternatives in general. Especially when they store millions of dollars in there. That doesn't mean they'll always have a good awareness though. In my case I see people trusting exchange as a main or secondary "wallet" more of then than iPhone users not knowing what Trezor or Electrum is.

I don't quite agree with the logic. Using an Apple device doesn't necessarily equate to being techy or being well-informed about proper Bitcoin safekeeping. Apple devices are mainstream, user-friendly, and accessible to everybody. It's not something that only highly technical Bitcoin supporters can make use of. It's just a phone, a globally popular brand at that. So, it won't be surprising if an Apple user hasn't heard of Trezor.

What surprised me is that despite having hundreds of thousands of dollars in Bitcoin, they chose a hot wallet as their choice of storage. Worse, they were extremely negligent and lazy in handling it.

[FinneysTrueVision]

I can’t imagine what would make someone believe that storing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of Bitcoin in a mobile phone wallet was a good idea. Sparrow is a reputable name that people trust, but at least they should have checked on their website to see if they actually have a mobile application.

User error aside, Apple has been extremely negligent in allowing fake crypto wallet apps in their store. There has also been stories about fake Electrum wallets that got people drained of their funds. Currently, I can find a fake Wasabi Wallet app in the Apple App Store and also something called Safe3, that is probably trying to trick users into believing they are related to Trezor. One of that wallet’s reviews is from a user who claims their funds were stolen.

[Dex_master25]

I can’t imagine what would make someone believe that storing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of Bitcoin in a mobile phone wallet was a good idea. Sparrow is a reputable name that people trust, but at least they should have checked on their website to see if they actually have a mobile application.

User error aside, Apple has been extremely negligent in allowing fake crypto wallet apps in their store. There has also been stories about fake Electrum wallets that got people drained of their funds. Currently, I can find a fake Wasabi Wallet app in the Apple App Store and also something called Safe3, that is probably trying to trick users into believing they are related to Trezor. One of that wallet’s reviews is from a user who claims their funds were stolen.

All this fake wallets and apps that could even be downloaded from Apple store or play store makes me doubt the efficacy of using a hardware wallet that is downloaded and installed on a device. Perhaps they paid some amount of money to market these fake sites on the apple or play store and these companies don't do due diligence test to know the originality of the source before allowing users download it.
If there's a way for Bitcoin users to use cold wallets hardware that's airgapped, I think it would be a better option than the wallets that can be downloaded from any store because hackers are also developers than build sites to decieve the unsuspecting and those who aren't as much tech savvy and have such huge holdings in one place always fall victims no matter how careful they are.
I would advice anyone including myself to never store my Bitcoin investment and holdings in one wallet as a way to not lose all I have accumulated overtime due to such kind of hacks and fake wallet apps.

[Ashawowo(OS)]

~

I feel like they belong to different group of people. I find it hard to believe someone who use an Apple device to not know a single thing about hardware wallet, or other alternatives in general. Especially when they store millions of dollars in there. That doesn't mean they'll always have a good awareness though. In my case I see people trusting exchange as a main or secondary "wallet" more of then than iPhone users not knowing what Trezor or Electrum is.

I don't quite agree with the logic. Using an Apple device doesn't necessarily equate to being techy or being well-informed about proper Bitcoin safekeeping. Apple devices are mainstream, user-friendly, and accessible to everybody. It's not something that only highly technical Bitcoin supporters can make use of. It's just a phone, a globally popular brand at that. So, it won't be surprising if an Apple user hasn't heard of Trezor.

He has forgotten that people are actually gifted Iphones and most people who use the products go for it basically because of its good cameras and use it basically for content creating and to measure up with their peers. Being tech savvy is an intentional thing and not dependent on the product you use. Knowing the correct bitcoin wallet for accurate preservation of your coins doesn't come-by easily and is not an info you get by random social media or internet exposure, you only get such from legitimate discussion forums like this. All over the media, Ledger and trust wallet are portrayed as a good option. I only came to know about Trezor, Electrum, Blue wallet and other open-source, noncustodial alternatives as well as offline storing of seed phrases when I joined this forum.
Just to mention, I've used apple devices for almost 4 years before joining the forum