Ledger Fake Live App on Play Store

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Ledger

Another fake Ledger application appeared on the Google Play store in August 2018. The application requested the seed phrase of the end user, which was then sent to the attacker. There are reports that at least one person had their funds stolen through this application, though the amount lost is unknown.

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

About Ledger

"Based in France, Ledger is the largest cryptocurrency hardware wallet company." "Ledger is a hardware cryptocurrency wallet that is used to store, manage, and sell cryptocurrency. The funds held in these wallets are secured using a 24-word recovery phrase and an optional secret passphrase that only the owner knows."

"Ledger offers two products, the Nano S and Nano X, that can store the digital keys used to secure crypto wallets. The devices can be used with a variety of cryptocurrencies, are compatible with numerous apps, and are supposed to offer a safe way to manage crypto without compromising too much on convenience. Ledger says on its website that it has sold 1.5 million products to customers in 165 countries to date."

"Here we go again with the fake apps on Play Store... First, it was MEW and now it's Ledger."

"For only $25, you can create a merchant account and post your app (legit or not) on the Play Store."

"This is potentially dangerous for those who do not know how hardware wallets working, and in this case it is asking from users to enter their seed which is a sufficient sign that this is not a legal application. We can only try to take it down ASAP, but unfortunately policy of Google Play does not work in our favor. I did not really know that is so easy for scammers to upload fake software on store, same as it was easy to use Google AdWords to scam thousands of users with fake crypto wallets."

"Please be careful and help us having the app removed by reporting it."

"Lets push that scammer app down. Why it is so easy for them to allow such copy cat apps to exist and register on their platform? Aren't they reviewing it and do some verifications before approving it? Download only directly to the legit ledger site."

"It was a fake app, i don't think scammers would build an app that would have Ledger device recognising function, it would be a simple app that asks one to "import seeds" as mjglqw said. Ledger still has not addressed this, which worries me a lot, people can lose their money. they should warn the users or just release the app on all platforms."

"[Preventing this] seems simple, but it's not in reality. In order to have people manually verify each application, they need to have enough knowledge to fundamentally break down code, have enough knowledge when it comes to the crypto space, and have enough knowledge when it comes to the various wallet clients that we have. If all that isn't in place, the fake ledger app would even have been approved by a human."

"Ledger oddly didn't post anything about this (they made a warning when there was a fake Chrome extension around). Like mjglqw said, all the app did was ask for your wallet seed. Unfortunately, I've seen a user saying that his friend thought the app was legit and got scammed, so at least a few users were affected..."

"[T]he app got removed. Thanks, everyone!"

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 - Ledger Fake Live App on Play Store

Date	Event	Description
August 18th, 2018 12:34:53 PM MDT	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 is unknown.

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

Never enter the seed phrase anywhere except the Ledger hardware wallet.

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.