Pierluigi Paganini December 26, 2017

Researchers from the mobile security firm Lookout have discovered three fake Bitcoin wallet apps in the official Play store, Google promptly removed them.

Experts from mobile security firm Lookout have discovered three fake Bitcoin wallet apps in the official Play store. The fake Bitcoin wallet apps were removed by Google Play after security researchers reported their discovery to the tech giant.

The spike in Bitcoin prices is attracting crooks as never before, the number of attacks involving the cryptocurrency continues to increase.

The three fake applications tracked as PickBitPocket were developed to provide the attacker’s Bitcoin address instead of the seller’s one. The fake apps accounted for a total of up to 20,000 downloads before Google removed them from the Play store.

“Lookout has identified three Android apps disguised as bitcoin wallet apps, previously in the Google Play Store, that trick victims into sending bitcoin payments to attacker-specified bitcoin addresses.” reads the analysis published by Lookout.

“Google removed the apps immediately after Lookout notified the company. The apps collectively had up to 20,000 downloads at time of removal.”

The researchers explained that when users that installed the fake apps attempt to buy goods or services their payments are hijacked to the attacker’s wallet.

The three fake Bitcoin wallet apps discovered by Lookout are:

• Bitcoin mining, which had between 1,000 and 5,000 installs at the time it was removed;
• Blockchain Bitcoin Wallet – Fingerprint, which had between 5,000 and 10,000 installs;
• Fast Bitcoin Wallet, which has between 1,000 and 5,000 installs.

“As Bitcoin captures broader interest, this means more people may be purchasing the cryptocurrency, or looking for mobile wallets to store their coins. Individuals should be vigilant in choosing a secure wallet and should also have a security solution in place to identify malicious activity on their device,” concluded Lookout.

Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs – fake Bitcoin wallet apps, mobile)

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