How Bitcoin and crypto are endangering iPhones and Androids worldwide

How Bitcoin and crypto are endangering iPhones and Androids worldwide

People who set up all sorts of Bitcoin and cryptoscams have found ways to still aim their arrows at iPhone and Android users. Namely, they get past the defenses present within the App Store and Google Play. As a result, those scams still reach people.

Such practices are called pig butchering in English. They have been around for years and occur on websites, in rogue ads and social manipulation. With fraudulent apps in the arsenal, scammers can more easily gain the trust of potential victims.

Bitcoin and crypto as part of scam

That’s according to research by cyber security firm Sophos (via Bleeping Computer). Scammers from China are trying to persuade people on Facebook and Tinder to invest in assets believed to be real. Mainly men are the victims, who are approached by fake female profiles.

The profiles of women had photos taken from the Internet. In the photos it was clear that those women lead lavish lives. This is possible because they have a lot of money. They arranged that through an uncle, who works at a financial consulting firm. And of course, you can fix that, too, by downloading a specific app on your iPhone or Android.

Downloading a fake app on iPhone or Android

We don’t have to tell you that that app is fake. And that it is designed to take money from victims who are actually busy with other things. What’s even worse is that the scammers help people transfer money on a legitimate financial platform, such as Binance. Then the money goes to the fake app.

The apps used in this scam include Ace Pro and MBM_BitScan (on iPhone) and Bitscan (on Android). How do the scammers get these apps into stores? By first doing everything perfectly legal, and then later modifying parts that change the app’s behavior tremendously.

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