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Topic: Beware of new SCAM on google play! SoBit: Bitcoin wallet (Read 220 times)

hero member
Activity: 952
Merit: 662
To avoid this kind problem in the future, you need to follow this few tips:

1. Never rely on any reviews e.g. playstore, trustpilot, and any other sites. Directly download from the official website and check the WHOIS first.
2. For wallet, you need to install non custodial wallet and make sure you verify the signature first.
3. Don't click any random links or messages on your email.

For Bitcoin starter pack you're better to own hardware wallet e.g. trezor or ledger and just use decentralized exchange e.g. bisq
hero member
Activity: 2520
Merit: 783
just lost btc through a scam wallet on google play market. if you type in 'bitcoin wallet'. you'll see SoBit: Bitcoin Wallet. it has 5 star rating & it would be first or second on the list. beware. once you send funds to it, it sends out btc somewhere else after confirmation. i couldnt believe it at first but then after going through 1 star reviews i realised i wasnt the only one. makes me wonder how can google allow this scam to be on top?



To many fake apps uploaded on Google Playstore that's why I avoid to search any keyword related to cryptocurrency since you will just see a tons of apps which we can't assure that it safe. This is why I usually go to the legit website of wallet provider then grab the link there so that I can avoid to get victimized by the same app victimized you nor those phising app installed by fraud heads.
legendary
Activity: 2758
Merit: 1004
Buzz App - Spin wheel, farm rewards
just lost btc through a scam wallet on google play market. if you type in 'bitcoin wallet'. you'll see SoBit: Bitcoin Wallet. it has 5 star rating & it would be first or second on the list. beware. once you send funds to it, it sends out btc somewhere else after confirmation. i couldnt believe it at first but then after going through 1 star reviews i realised i wasnt the only one. makes me wonder how can google allow this scam to be on top?

Never trust ratings on google play when you see apps related to money. Ratings on Google Play are very easy to manipulate. there are quite a number of services that can make an application's rating very good on google play. I've seen several apps whose ratings were manipulated on Google Play. Some of the signs you can see when an application is being manipulated are
  • The comments do not match the use of the application, in this case they are doing their job just giving 5 stars, and giving "good" comments or other things, and sometimes the comments are not related to the application.
  • The app is suspicious
  • Not many people have the app installed.
However, to avoid that, you can actually ask the opinion of the people who use the wallet on this forum, or at least ask about the application here. There will be a lot of people who will give you information about the app, or give you advice. For the record, use a wallet that is only used frequently and is trusted, such as a Trust Wallet. It is better.
legendary
Activity: 3248
Merit: 1402
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just lost btc through a scam wallet on google play market. if you type in 'bitcoin wallet'. you'll see SoBit: Bitcoin Wallet. it has 5 star rating & it would be first or second on the list. beware. once you send funds to it, it sends out btc somewhere else after confirmation. i couldnt believe it at first but then after going through 1 star reviews i realised i wasnt the only one. makes me wonder how can google allow this scam to be on top?


I am really sorry for your loss. It's very important to do some basic research before choosing a Bitcoin wallet and to choose a non-custodial wallet (the one where you can't be scammed because you're the only one who has access to the money because you are the holder of the private keys). I can see that this wallet indeed has good overall rating, but with enough effort and funding, it's possible to hire a bot farm to load the app and make reviews. It's also weird that if one googles whether SoBit is a scam, the top results won't tell you that it is. I guess a lot of funds were invested into bumping the relevant articles to the top, making tons of fake reviews etc... But if one googles the best Bitcoin wallets, SoBit is, of course, not there.
sr. member
Activity: 1498
Merit: 374
Leading Crypto Sports Betting & Casino Platform
The reason why it's at the top is because the scammer that's operating this website is paying a lot of money to be on the front page of Google, it's smart that it put itself on second so it looks less suspicious. You did something wrong with your background check on the website too, you checked for the 5 star rating when what really matters are those at the lowest ratings, they tell stories there that you might or might not encounter.
hero member
Activity: 630
Merit: 611
I just checked it on the google play store. is the logo of the apk wallet yellow? but I don't see any reviews on the apk. maybe it's been deleted or i saw the apk wrong. but the name is the same, namely Sobit: Bitcoin Wallet.

although I am a beginner but I am very careful when it comes to bitcoin wallets. because that is where our bitcoin assets are stored. so using a wallet that is trusted and gets lots of advice from various sources is a good one to use.

It's not just a matter of wallets that we have to be careful with, but also the exchange market we have to be careful with. it is better to use the most famous exchanges than to use new exchanges which are very risky. except just to swap a little.

I hope Google can be more selective in passing an application. especially if it's a matter of application that involves an asset storage.
legendary
Activity: 1202
Merit: 1015
....makes me wonder how can google allow this scam to be on top?
It's not the first scam app that slipped through Google Play's "security".

It seems the app is still active there with over 10K downloads. Have you tried asking the support to take down the app? You could help others from experiencing the same scam if you could report what happened to you.

yeah i did. i think it was running fine until latest update one week ago.
full member
Activity: 1302
Merit: 129
Vaccinized.. immunity level is full.
My condolences to you, but I wonder how you could randomly use such an uncommon wallet. Before downloading and using any wallet, we should at least find out first because there are many websites that review bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Scam apps on Google Play are not new as we all know their censorship process is very poor and far behind what Apple is doing.
You should provide an image of the application, link to the app, those who use android can report it to google so that they can quickly remove it to avoid others being trapped.
legendary
Activity: 3318
Merit: 1133
Leading Crypto Sports Betting & Casino Platform
We have the wallet boards. Should've stayed there.

When it comes to google play apps that have something to do with Bitcoin earnings, wallets, and games that pay, it would be best if you ignore those.
Most of them are scam attempts or if not you are working for them and they will do everything so you won't reach the payout threshold.
Before I even installed Mycelium on my phone I did a deep research about it in this forum and outside.
You got to keep yourself safe and not trust the ratings given anywhere.
Thanks for the heads up though.
hero member
Activity: 1778
Merit: 709
[Nope]No hype delivers more than hope
It's like a typical PK sharing scam, I saw that the user got access to the seed phrase and of course it was actually noted by the developer.

makes me wonder how can google allow this scam to be on top?
It's not at the top (on my side), unless you type it specifically or your cache affects search results. Google only acts based on reports, whereas this app doesn't even have a single review. It's very strange if you just believe it.
hero member
Activity: 3038
Merit: 617

When a wallet is not being vouched by some users in this forum, it would be unusual. Any action that can potentially lose funds, you may really need to research or ask in a thread. There are many more of these unknown wallets in google play if you search it.

You just can't tell any more which one is a scam or not if you don't research and see what others are saying about the wallet. They do have a good-looking website, done professionally. 
legendary
Activity: 3500
Merit: 6320
Crypto Swap Exchange
from google play when you click on contact developer you get:



so yeah, that looks funky. I don't see any other reviews or mentions of it while poking around so it looks like a scam to me.
I would make a post in the scam accucsation board too so people looking there will see it too.

-Dave
member
Activity: 1218
Merit: 49
Binance #Smart World Global Token


I am sure that the same thing happened in the past with apps published in Google Play all because somehow scammers are able to penetrate the vetting process of the said platform...and talking on crypto-related app there is more chances that there can be scams in there. Sad to see that you are victimized by this scam app. Let's hope that something can be done against SoBit if this accusation is really true...it should be deleted from GP so no one else can be a victim.
legendary
Activity: 1932
Merit: 1273
Scam applications being listed on the Play Store aren't quite new, especially for a cryptocurrency application or wallet. It should be noted in the first hand that randomly installing or using an unknown or shady app is a bad security practice. And Google doing filtering of any submission of an app is not doing any better, so we should not solely expect Google will do our favour, it includes installing any app within the Play Store.

If it is indeed that this particular app is scam, the only way to stop the app is to report it by all of us: https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/2853570
sr. member
Activity: 1316
Merit: 379
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I just wonder at this your stage downloading a wrong wallet Cry. My question is how come about it no one is above mistake but i will know does the address you copy still the same to the previous address you sent your btc or does it changed over time?
besides any wallet that is not famous or regularly mentioned by people i don't use it rather sometimes leaving my assets on CEX and Trustapp, anyway sorry for the mistakes, secondly the app sound new to my earing.
if you don't mind share screenshots.
sr. member
Activity: 1554
Merit: 413
....makes me wonder how can google allow this scam to be on top?
It's not the first scam app that slipped through Google Play's "security".

It seems the app is still active there with over 10K downloads. Have you tried asking the support to take down the app? You could help others from experiencing the same scam if you could report what happened to you.
legendary
Activity: 2576
Merit: 1655
just lost btc through a scam wallet on google play market. if you type in 'bitcoin wallet'. you'll see SoBit: Bitcoin Wallet. it has 5 star rating & it would be first or second on the list. beware. once you send funds to it, it sends out btc somewhere else after confirmation. i couldnt believe it at first but then after going through 1 star reviews i realised i wasnt the only one. makes me wonder how can google allow this scam to be on top?

I'm not sure if this is the wallet that you are referencing:

Code:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.btcw.bitcoinwallet

Unfortunately, Google doesn't moderate it, so the best thing to do is to report it to them so that they can take it down. Perhaps another expensive lessons to check everything first or just used wallet that we have been trusting already like Electrum.


hero member
Activity: 3010
Merit: 666
just lost btc through a scam wallet on google play market. if you type in 'bitcoin wallet'. you'll see SoBit: Bitcoin Wallet. it has 5 star rating & it would be first or second on the list. beware. once you send funds to it, it sends out btc somewhere else after confirmation. i couldnt believe it at first but then after going through 1 star reviews i realised i wasnt the only one. makes me wonder how can google allow this scam to be on top?


Google allow it because they are not the tool to assess the credibility of the apps. It was we who are very responsible of doing the research and at least seeing the reviews. In fact, you have seen the 1-star review and for me, it is quite doubtful about it and never I think it was reliable. Because if you bother to think about it, definitely you will never fall into this scam/fake wallet. And if you also hear about Electrum wallet, you never see yourself in the google play store looking for a Bitcoin wallet as it was indeed a trusted wallet already.
hero member
Activity: 3038
Merit: 634
makes me wonder how can google allow this scam to be on top?
Google is poor on filtering those scams.

That's why they've become a scammers den for the apps unless you report them, they'll have a view on it and will end up removing it from its platform.

They need the cooperation of everyone before they act on it. Well, as for downloading a bitcoin wallet in the app store or google play is a no no. The same with searching on the google play store, don't also be dependent in searching it on their search engine.
legendary
Activity: 1202
Merit: 1015
First of all, Google doesn't moderate scams unless there is a report from end users. It's their business and they need just money. Google just checks apps through AI or some easy way. And all we know detecting scams isn't easy anyway. However, you should learn Google reviews aren't worth it anymore. Because it can be manipulated easily. Why did you need to use your wallet by searching on Google play? Aren't you familiar with some popular crypto wallets? I am even not familiar with this name nor do I search on Google. I use a wallet from a trusted source.

my fault entirely. ive searched quickly as a demonstration to someone else. whatever came up on top ive downloaded.
legendary
Activity: 2394
Merit: 2223
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First of all, Google doesn't moderate scams unless there is a report from end users. It's their business and they need just money. Google just checks apps through AI or some easy way. And all we know detecting scams isn't easy anyway. However, you should learn Google reviews aren't worth it anymore. Because it can be manipulated easily. Why did you need to use your wallet by searching on Google play? Aren't you familiar with some popular crypto wallets? I am even not familiar with this name nor do I search on Google. I use a wallet from a trusted source.
hero member
Activity: 1624
Merit: 791
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Why don't you just use famous wallets such as Coinomi, Electrum, TrustWallet, SafeFal and many other types available on the Play Store, Sobit does sound very foreign to me because I only know now after you state it.

Actually there have been several similar cases before where many fake applications spread on Google Play, see the case about the fake electrum wallet which has a 4.9 review

Another fake electrum wallet on google

Here are some lists of fake apps on the Google Play Store.

[Warning] List of fake wallets/apps on Google Play.

Maybe it's the SoBit site: https://sobit.pro/

Quote
Domain Name: sobit.pro
Registry Domain ID: abc6edf3105242389de89150d8a2d993-DONUTS
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.name.com
Registrar URL: http://www.name.com
Updated Date: 2022-07-19T07:12:28Z
Creation Date: 2022-07-14T07:11:38Z
Registry Expiry Date: 2023-07-14T07:11:38Z
legendary
Activity: 2240
Merit: 1993
A Bitcoiner chooses. A slave obeys.
just lost btc through a scam wallet on google play market. if you type in 'bitcoin wallet'. you'll see SoBit: Bitcoin Wallet. it has 5 star rating & it would be first or second on the list. beware. once you send funds to it, it sends out btc somewhere else after confirmation. i couldnt believe it at first but then after going through 1 star reviews i realised i wasnt the only one. makes me wonder how can google allow this scam to be on top?



This sound quite serious. You might want to bring forth a few details of exactly what happened as well as posting the evidence that you have. The best effect on investigating sobit would be if you posted this thread in scam accusations sub-forum here on Bitcointalk: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=83.0

The people on that board might be able to help you out or you might find a few comrades who have had the same experience as you with the SoBit Bitcoin wallet.

Personally, I would not trust any Bitcoin or Altcoin wallet which does not have the full approval of Bitcointalk. I would also do my own research (at least on google search) whether or not someone distrusts said wallet.
legendary
Activity: 1358
Merit: 1000
just lost btc through a scam wallet on google play market. if you type in 'bitcoin wallet'. you'll see SoBit: Bitcoin Wallet. it has 5 star rating & it would be first or second on the list. beware. once you send funds to it, it sends out btc somewhere else after confirmation. i couldnt believe it at first but then after going through 1 star reviews i realised i wasnt the only one. makes me wonder how can google allow this scam to be on top?



A lot of people these days give reviews and stars service to google play apps. Some of them use this service for the promotion of their app and some for such fraudulent. But after some reports google will remove it. I checked and i couldn't see it. Perhaps its already removed from the store. But there is a sobit app but there isn't 5 stars.
legendary
Activity: 1202
Merit: 1015
just lost btc through a scam wallet on google play market. if you type in 'bitcoin wallet'. you'll see SoBit: Bitcoin Wallet. it has 5 star rating & it would be first or second on the list. beware. once you send funds to it, it sends out btc somewhere else after confirmation. i couldnt believe it at first but then after going through 1 star reviews i realised i wasnt the only one. makes me wonder how can google allow this scam to be on top?

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