- A bitcoin holder has lost his life savings after downloading a fake Trezor app from the Apple App Store
- Phillipe Christodoulou lost ₿17.1 to scammers
- Always follow links provided by manufacturers rather than relying on the app store and your own judgement
A fake Trezor app in the Apple App Store has cost a bitcoin holder lost his entire life savings of ₿17.1, worth over $600,000 at the time. Phillipe Christodoulou downloaded what looked like the legitimate Trezor app, but it turned out to be fraudulent, leading to his entire bitcoin holding being swept into the hands of presumably jubilant scammers. Christodoulou says he is angrier with Apple than with the scammers as the App Store prides itself on being secure and safe, and may even take legal action against the company.
Fake Trezor App Swiped Holder’s Life Savings
Christodoulou told The Washington Post that he wanted to download the Trezor app in order to easily check the balance of the bitcoin on his Trezor hardware wallet, and searched for it in the Apple App store. Finding a ‘Trezor’ app with almost five-star reviews he downloaded it and loaded his Trezor details onto it. However, the app was a clever fake designed to replicate the real thing, and Christodoulou’s bitcoin left his wallet and went instead to the app designers, who presumably couldn’t believe their luck at the windfall, worth over $1 million today.
Christodoulou has laid the blame squarely at the feet of Apple, saying that they promote their app store as a safe place where each app is tested before it is allowed in the store. Suggesting that he could take the matter down legal channels he added that “Apple doesn’t deserve to get away with this.”
Apple defended itself, telling The Washington Post that “the App Store is the most secure app marketplace in the world” and that they take “swift action” to remove bad actors in the “limited instances” when they break through.
Don’t Rely on the App Store
Christodoulou’s experience with the fake Trezor app is a reminder that even when something looks like a duck and quacks like a duck it might still not be a duck, and that app stores alone can’t be trusted. We would always recommend that you follow links provided by the manufacturer rather than looking for the app yourself, especially when your life savings depend on it.
