Uniswap Fake Google Play Application

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Uniswap

A fake Uniswap application showed up in the Google Play application. This application managed to trick at least one user into giving over their seed phrase, costing them roughly $20,000 worth of cryptocurrency. There is no evidence that any funds were recovered.

This is a global/international case not involving a specific country.

About Uniswap

"Uniswap is an Ethereum exchange, built using smart contracts and liquidity pools, as opposed to the order book of a traditional centralized exchange (CEX), such as Binance. With any Ethereum wallet, users can simply connect to the Uniswap application and effortlessly exchange ERC20 tokens without first sending them to the exchange platform account."

"[T]he development of Uniswap was facilitated by Vitalik Buterin’s idea for a decentralized exchange (DEX), which would involve an automated market maker. Actually, the protocol developer himself, Hayden Adams, at first tried to just practice development on Solidity, and later this hobby brought him several grants and $100 000 from the Ethereum Foundation. Now the project went far beyond just entertainment and became one of the most important components of the entire DeFi industry."

"At the end of November 2020," "[i]t seems that someone copied Uniswap’s application (UniDEX) and placed it for downloads on the Google Play Store – the online store for applications, music, movies, games, and more for Android users."

"The copycat app has received 100 “fake positive reviews,” which seemed sufficient for the victim to input his private key backup phrase. However, a simple search showcases that while the UniDEX application has over 50,000 downloads and 4,000 reviews, the fake app has only 100 downloads and the aforementioned 100 reviews."

"The fake application pretends to be the Uniswap's decentralized exchange platform and copies the original web protocol template." "[The] fake application of the decentralized exchange Uniswap appeared on Google Play, [and] stole cryptocurrencies from users." "A fraudulent mobile application claiming to be the Uniswap exchange has reportedly stolen money from an investor." "One of them lost $20,000."

"Alex Saunders, founder and CEO of the Australia-based Nuggets News, recently reported that one of his members lost $20,000 to a fake Uniswap mobile application that was listed on the Google Play Store. The app, called “Uniswap DEX,” was published Nov. 10 by a person or entity called Uniswap Inc."

"Just had a member of ours lose $20k to a fake @UniswapProtocol mobile App on @GooglePlay store as it has 100 fake positive reviews so he trusted to input private key backup phrase."

"The user reportedly entered in their private key backup phrase, thinking they were accessing the Uniswap decentralized exchange, when the theft occurred."

"Google Play Store has over a hundred fake reviews giving the malware a 4.5-star rating." "At press time, the app had 123 (likely fake) positive reviews on Google Play Store and was still available for download. More than 100 people have downloaded the app so far." "It has been downloaded over a hundred times and was uploaded by a spurious developer email account called hello@unidex.com." "Reading the reviews, most new comments informed that the application is a scam, with some people claiming to have lost some of their cryptocurrency in the applications."

"When trying to report the dodgy app and flag it as inappropriate, Google redirects users into a rabbit warren of pages that fail to accomplish the task of warning the company about the dubious applications on its app store."

This is a global/international case not involving a specific country.

The background of the exchange platform, service, or individuals involved, as it would have been seen or understood at the time of the events.

Include:

• Known history of when and how the service was started.
• What problems does the company or service claim to solve?
• What marketing materials were used by the firm or business?
• Audits performed, and excerpts that may have been included.
• Business registration documents shown (fake or legitimate).
• How were people recruited to participate?
• Public warnings and announcements prior to the event.

Don't Include:

• Any wording which directly states or implies that the business is/was illegitimate, or that a vulnerability existed.
• Anything that wasn't reasonably knowable at the time of the event.

There could be more than one section here. If the same platform is involved with multiple incidents, then it can be linked to a main article page.

The Reality

This sections is included if a case involved deception or information that was unknown at the time. Examples include:

• When the service was actually started (if different than the "official story").
• Who actually ran a service and their own personal history.
• How the service was structured behind the scenes. (For example, there was no "trading bot".)
• Details of what audits reported and how vulnerabilities were missed during auditing.

What Happened

The specific events of the loss and how it came about. What actually happened to cause the loss and some of the events leading up to it.

Key Event Timeline - Uniswap Fake Google Play Application

Date	Event	Description
November 19th, 2020 4:07:00 PM MST	Main Event	Expand this into a brief description of what happened and the impact. If multiple lines are necessary, add them here.

Technical Details

This section includes specific detailed technical analysis of any security breaches which happened. What specific software vulnerabilities contributed to the problem and how were they exploited?

Total Amount Lost

The total amount lost has been estimated at $20,000 USD.

How much was lost and how was it calculated? If there are conflicting reports, which are accurate and where does the discrepancy lie?

Immediate Reactions

How did the various parties involved (firm, platform, management, and/or affected individual(s)) deal with the events? Were services shut down? Were announcements made? Were groups formed?

Ultimate Outcome

What was the end result? Was any investigation done? Were any individuals prosecuted? Was there a lawsuit? Was any tracing done?

Total Amount Recovered

There do not appear to have been any funds recovered in this case.

What funds were recovered? What funds were reimbursed for those affected users?

Ongoing Developments

What parts of this case are still remaining to be concluded?

General Prevention Policies

Always check and visit the official website of a service. The majority of funds should be stored offline and not on a live wallet application. When setting up a new wallet or upgrading wallet software, never enter your pass phrase or send any funds without first transferring a smaller amount.

Individual Prevention Policies

No specific policies for individual prevention have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as an individual, check our Prevention Policies for Individuals guide.

Platform Prevention Policies

Policies for platforms to take to prevent this situation have not yet been selected in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as a financial service, check our Prevention Policies for Platforms guide.

Regulatory Prevention Policies

No specific regulatory policies have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of regulatory policies that can prevent loss, check our Prevention Policies for Regulators guide.