Crypto Users Lost $588,000 in Bitcoin After Downloading Fake Ledger Wallet
ZachXBT is a cryptocurrency investigator and researcher who recently reported an incident revolving fake Ledger application. The application was added to the Microsoft Application Store.
Users Lost 16 Bitcoin So Far
Users who downloaded the application ended up losing 16 Bitcoins which are translated into $588,000 at the current price. As per the information from ZachXBT, there are other users who have lost their cryptocurrency reserves by downloading a fake application on their phones.
The Ledger Live Web3 was emulating the authentic application from the company called the Ledger Live. Ledger is a hardware wallet services provider that also develops the UI for their products.
As per the blockchain sleuth, thus far around 16.8 Bitcoins have been stolen on the application that was created by the scammers. Ledger is one of the most popular hardware wallet and custodial services providers known for its robust security and P2P trading features.
Scammers are Using Fake Applications to Trap Crypto Investors
The research on the matter has revealed that the first transaction on the scammer account was noticed on 14th October valued at $5,210. The account continued more transactions and on 2nd November, 2023 processed large volume transactions.
On 4th November, the transaction processed by the scammer’s wallet was valued at $81,200. Blockchain.com data has suggested that the scammer wallets have processed 38 transactions thus far.
These transactions contained two simultaneous records with a value of $115,200 worth of cryptocurrencies sent to another wallet address. At press time, the wallet in question holds around $473,800 or 13.5 BTC units.
The fake application first made an appearance at the Microsoft Application Store in the middle of October. However, following the reports from the users, Microsoft officials removed the application from the store as per the latest information shared by ZachXBT on social media.
Fake Live Ledger Application
This is not the first incident in which Ledger users have faced issues with a fake application. Back in December 2022 and March 2023, another fake Ledger Live application was listed on the Microsoft application store.
On this account, Ledger has informed the users in a recent notification that the best place to download the app is their official website. Furthermore, the users are also warned against using fake Ledger applications.
The notification informed the investors that the company would never ask the account holders for a 24-word recovery phrase. The official account of Ledger posted the notification for informing their account holders on X on 26th December last year.
A recent update on the matter has revealed that the scammers received around $180,000 from an ETH/BSC address to the fake Ledger Live application. As per the update from ZachXBT, the total losses for investors on the fake app have now reached $768,000.
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