Topic: You are responsible for your own safety. (Read 354 times)

This issue of scammers get happen to so many of people's not only the beginners even those that has been a while in the system, because scammers are always hard identify to everyone it doesn't matter either experts or not. Since their always build themselves with so much research and updates their self how to just scammer people's, particularly the crypto they find it very easy to hack people's wallets.

To be honest scammer very away that's it's good even know the type of app where downloading through our Google, because the scammers are also customized their own app which of you check well when you come to download you make their own and you won't aware till after you have inserts all your details.

ah, sadly surviving in the crypto space safely is getting difficult day by day one lets we are the old users in the crypto space and we can understand these scamming techniques but those who just step into this Crypto Industry can easily be trapped by the scammers but sometimes experts are also gets trapped by the Scammer because scammer keeps updating their scamming techniques.

Besides this part if someone still takes it easy will be a big mistake for him/her as only one mistake is needed for the clean washout in this space I have seen one of my friend> friend who has lost a fair amount just because of these kinds of scams so that is why we need to stay up to date for the safe survival in the crypto industry. Well thanks, Op for sharing this info with Us.

The thing is, most websites would give you a link to Google Play Store for Android or App Store for IOS. Very few apps, allow you to download directly from their site. They always have a link that takes you to Play Store. You should use the link from the official website if you can guarantee that that is the official website site and not a scam site. If you're using the official website, there's little to no risk of downloading the wrong app.

Also, some people are just careless about these things. When you want to download an app on the app store, at least do a little investigation, especially when you're dealing with an app that involves money and private information. Check the reviews, check the ratings. I understand these things can be manipulated but a proper background check helps you escape a lot.

what i think about safety is that, one should try as much as possible to make sure he or she doesn't share his or her private pin like bank account and wallet pin. Also make sure not everyone knows about your phone unlocked passwords. Even your closest friends and family. One must be careful who to discuss about his or her business affairs with. Especially that of online stuffs so that they don't use it against you and tarnish your images and personality.
 
 
Since google is for everyone to access, it's left for who is to work on it to be very cautious while trying to access it or before downloading a particular app. Because there are a lot of countless fake apps and fabricated sites created by scammers to dupe innocent individuals during the process of trying to download things like bank apps, wallet apps and other cash related apps.
So i think one should try and at least have some knowledge about the site he or she wants to browse something from before clicking on it.
Also, there are a lot of sites that try to sale items like drugs, phone, cars and all sorts of things which we use and they claim to deliver to you. for example, JUMIA. Although, JUMIA is real but scammers might also try to fabricate it to dupe innocent people, one should take heed of such.

I don't think it's more safe to directly download your app from the project servers, especially if you don't or can't check the PGP signature of the downloaded app. Because the servers could have been compromised by an external hack or even sometimes by someone able to internally access to them(aka evil maid attack). At least Google store avoids this risk, and with the current power of AI I think they are able to detect fraudulent apps more easily than several years ago. So for most known wallets, I think it's still a rather safe option.

I know there are a lot of fake apps on the Play Store, but you should not ask people to stop using the Play Store. This is the only way to get official apps from the verified sources. If you talk about banking apps, most of the websites do not even upload their apps on their website. Instead, they upload it on the google play store. Not only banking apps but all the apps everyone releases are on the Play Store. The user has to make sure who is the publisher. If someone downloads the fake app due to they did not pay attention, it's their fault. Searching for the website on google or searching for the official website on google or any other search engine is more risky than the playstore. But when it comes to cryptowallets, yeah people should use the official website if they know the web address already. But if they are not sure about the official website URL, their number one go to place should be the playstore.

Yes, the security of each wallet depends on the individual user. I have to guarantee the security of my wallet, no one else can guarantee my wallet. However, there are hundreds of fake websites around us, and if we access all those websites, there will be a possibility of our wallet being hacked. My wallet, my private keys, everything is my responsibility, if I keep them well secured, they will never be hacked.

I don't know. I may be wrong, but I kind of understand their position. Why spend resources fighting scams, which, considering the complexity of some apps, can be a useless effort when you can deter scamming developers right from the start with such expensive fines?

I agree with you, there should be filters to protect users from malicious apps, but it can be a double-edged sword as it could give Google Play users a false sense of security. There is no filter that will be 100% efficient.

This issue is old already but the Google Apps Store doesn't do something to stop scams and fake apps. Therefore, it was hard to trust them but rather make our own way to determine if that is a scam or a legit apps. It is definitely our responsibility as we can hand it over to the people who don't care about the people who use their services.

Our money = our responsibility
That is why we also understand what apps we install as are aware of the situation and if there is another option, then avoid apps from Google as much as possible especially FREE applications because most of them are fake.

Google play store have been around since android version 1.5 I guess, and there have been thousands of fake apps been uploaded on their store, when the first set of victims start reporting about scam apps google failed to believe and do anything about it, they don't even bother to look into it, as if no one could upload fake apps on their app store.

I am curious why now, maybe the complaint is getting out of hand and it will affect their companies so much later. Google doesn't give a fxck about anyone, their past histories with their customers have proven how stone-hearted they are, so why now?

---

I was a living victim of fake apps on the Google App Store, and I blamed myself for trusting their platform but still, I ended up getting better at protecting myself, now I downloaded my app from the app devs themselves, and I would rather use the link on the app website than anywhere else today.

So rather than building up better infrastructures inside Google to filter application submission for listing in Google Play, Google go ahead with finding preventive measures for their company. They prioritize it than aim at defending their users first. No customers first here with this movement of Google.

If it can help Google to reduce fake and scam applications on Google Play, it can be helpful for community and Google Play users but I don't imagine of big positive effects from this change.

My guess is Google's just trying to make a point here.  Legal action like this shows they ain't messing around when it comes to scams in their app store.  They probably wanna scare off any shady developers thinking about pulling this kinda crap in the future and  sure, maybe Google should've cracked down on this stuff sooner.  But hey, better late than never, right? As long as regular users can avoid getting ripped off Id say it's a good move.

Medicine after death, that's what Google is trying to do. Maybe the issue of fake apps are getting to them as they have been losing investors so they are trying to minimize the impact by showing that they're doing something about the issues but whatever they're doing won't have any impact unless they address the problem from the root which is by verifying every application that want to get listed on their App store.  Google is a centralized services so they do not have any excuse to have fraudulent apps listed on their platform.

People are entrusting their safety on them which is the worst thing to do because Google is one of the worst company anybody should be trusting. They're responsible for their users security so they should do what is needed but as an enlighten crypto enthusiast, you shouldn't be trusting any app you see being marketed on Google play store or any other store.

I really love this statement. I myself who is responsible of my safety, especially in this crypto investment. When we want to invest in crypto, we should be very aware of this reality and make ourselves prepare everything very well. Because, we are the sole ones who determine our success and also the welfare of our assets. Because crypto business is definitely very risky. We are the ones who are responsible for ourselves. Safety is important and very important for our investment, so don't just have high expectations because we get the opportunity to invest, and use it very wisely.

That would be a complete hard task for them. Fraudulent apps have spread a lot in the Google app, so don’t expect too high that they will completely eradicate all of them. But for your best safety, learn to avoid suspicious download links and just stick to their original site. And when it comes to cryptocurrency, stick to bitcointalk as there’s nowhere you can consider as legit and reputable but only this forum alone. If you can’t stop those fraudulent apps from spreading, then find your own way and stick to bitcointalk.

No way to stop these scammers, in fact, the battle against them is started many years ago but instead, we never feel a decrease in their number, we even feel they are growing and smarter than before. The situation is getting worse because even experienced investors/traders, sometimes fall into their hands. Nothing is safe on the internet and it is even hard to trust those people we know already. Nothing can help us to secure our funds aside from doing it personally. Instead of mastering how to analyze the market situation, we've better master how to keep our wallets safe and develop a skill to avoid scammers. As they are getting smarter, we also have to be smart like them to balance the situation and make them feel that we are prepared.

So far individuals that have been scammed through phishing sites on Google play store can not sue Google, for being scammed, then anybody that's downloading any apps on play store is at their own risks. I've heard a lot of complaints from people about these and I think that google should have strict regulations before accepting apps into their store, to protect their customers from these scammers, because them going to court over existing ones will not help those that have already been scammed. I think that to minimize downloading fake apps, people can download directly from sites, that is if they know the exact word for word of the site.

I think people needs to be very careful and observant when they are in the online environment because scammers, scamming is becoming very high. If you go through the play store their  are so many apps that are not real but just imitation of the real ones. When planning to get app one just need to take time to be sure if it is the real one, expecially the  ones that have to do with money  like the bank app, wallets and others.

It is only you that can protect yourself from Internet fraudsters by being vigilant and smart. The Internet is full of scammers everywhere,  no place is safe. Be Your Own security.

I don't think it is possible for them to completely eradicate scam/phishing applications being published in their platform, they can scrutinize things better and be more stringent with things anyway. Don't wait for google to help you, do what's best for your own security, download stuffs only from their original website and be very cautious if you must download from either playstore or apps store.

 A lot of people have been scammed by downloading the wrong apps on google, for example this trading apps, you won't know the right one to download, more especially  those beginners that  still want to start this crypto journey, it will be very difficult for them to identify the right application for trading. However I wish they can put an end to that I will be the most happiest person ever.

I so much love the move by Google to right back because there had been so many complaints and now it is time when they are enforcimg their power to fight back. If this continues, it will reduce the number of scam applications on the Google play store.
This would be a long fight because I believe the team are prepared and they might have lost so many customers that would have added big to their fortune. I know so many people that had lostonwy just because they downloaded the wrong apps on Google play store losing valuable amount of money.

Reading reviews about a particular product might also help ascertain how trustworthy a product is. It might shouldn't be the only means of determining it but it can be part of your source of information. Going through some of the reviews of Bitcoin wallets one common mistake that most people made was downloading these applications from the wrong sources. After they have lost funds, they usually blame the original developers and write negative reviews.

Google Play and Apple Store are not trustworthy platforms to download any application without verification. They will always claim that they protect consumers but they don't do enough investigation of applications advertised on these platforms. Most newbies in this forum are fortunate because they are in the right community which has almost every information they need to protect themselves from these scam projects.

This is another strategy used by business owners or creators to buy the heart of victims and app users. Definitely you don't expect play store community to keep quiet and watch cause users will give a negative feedback if action is not carried out but rather I love the action taken by the community. Scammers are basically everywhere so I will always love the action taken to eliminate the evil act

Excatly, everyone ought to prioritize their safety and not rely on any community or project when it comes to safety measures. just a quick reminder, despite the act carried by Google and the community scammers will still find other means. Almost all Android users make use of Google play store so I believe this will have a negative impact on crypto enthusiast but it'll difficult to convince users who know their worth

It seems like all app stores are suffering from the same attacks, either apple store or other, maybe they will start doing the same thing? It's already been a long time coming, enough is enough.

They can only go after the ones they find, but the numbers of scammers that are making a living out of scamming people are higher in numbers, they can't get a hold of them all.

This is why people need to start standing up for themselves, google might not have any choice than to intervene to save their name and business, we really can't rely on them, it is better we try to avoid these dirty scammers ourselves.

Official marketplace for smartphone is supposed to provide us better security but whether it's Google or Apple both allowed fake apps to be uploaded on their platforms which caused the users of respective platforms to lose their money.

In my opinion, identifying fake apps is very simple especially from official app store, just look at the number of downloads, if you see the numbers in thousands of it has been uploaded very recently then just skip it without a blink.

I am an Android user ever since I am holding smartphones and I kept my banking apps as well as cryptos safe by following the safety procedures.

It's good to see Google's lawsuit acting against these scammers. Why now? Maybe they're improving their app vetting process, or perhaps the number of complaints reached a critical point. While their timing might be suspicious, suing these developers is a positive step. It's important to remember, that lawsuits take time, so this might not be directly related to the recent complaints.

As for downloading apps, it's wise to be cautious with crypto wallets and bank apps, regardless of the source. While the official website is usually the safest option, the Google Play Store does have some legitimate crypto wallets. The key is to do your research before downloading anything.

It's a good idea to check reviews and ensure the downloaded app matches the official website description. Staying safe online is a shared responsibility. Google can improve security, but we also need to be smart about what we download.

Good advice regarding downloading the wallet from the official site and don't download it directly from Playstore because it is very risky.
Reminders like this are important as a precautionary measure and I strongly support this advice for safety reasons.
Regarding wallets, make sure what you use is a wallet that has been proven. Then also pay attention to the source of the wallet and when using it you must go through the process correctly according to the procedure.

They prolly are, but it changes nothing in the grand scheme of things. Google playstore and Apple's appstore is not safe to download your crypto wallets or any crypto tool, it is very possible to download a phishing application that will lure you to input your seed phrase and lose your money.

If they are suing crypto scammers now, then good a thing, but they should also be stricter in their policy of publishing applications in their platforms, this would not mean it becomes safe to use, but it would make things safer for people who are hell bent on always using their platforms.

I very much agree with the points that you have raised.

It is very ironic that Playstore/Google has been taking action despite all the complaints that have been circulating since then. The funny thing is, the regulation in order to register any kind of application in the playstore is not stringent which results to an influx of many fake and scam exchanges and/or wallets throughout the years.

Again just to reiterate once again, prevention is better than cure. Before you download something on any kind of online store in your mobile phones, always check for genuine feedback and reviews from this forum itself. This thread is an excellent source of information that can warn users in order to avoid downloading the WRONG application which can result to your coins being scammed in the process.

Everyone, please be vigilant on the things that you download on in the internet. Not everything on what is posted is genuine- always be skeptical about everything as scammers just need ONE opportunity to scam you and they will do it swiftly.

Thankfully, in my early days in the crypto industry, I never attempted such an act because whenever I'm not familiar with the apps, I won't ever look at it let alone download it. This was the same when the cloud-mining era was popular, they created fake cloud-mining sites offering their investors big income from their capital but in reality, they just want to steal their money and once they deposit it, they can't withdraw it once again, they need to wait for weeks or months to get it back but the problem is, the cloud-mining site is not paying them back weekly again and run away with their money. This is what they are doing with those apps, and that's why equipping yourselves with knowledge before engaging in any sort of crypto activity is a must because a huge number of scammers are wreaking havoc on the internet nowadays.

Even if you download a crypto wallet from its official website, still that doesn't guarantee safety. You will have to take a step further to verify its GPG signatures as an added precaution. As you have implied in the OP, hackers are relentless and can hack even official sites, replacing files without users notice. Verifying GPG signatures is important because if files have been changed the verification will fail.
Learn how to verify GPG signature by reading this - https://electrum.org/#download

Usually do the same since its hard to search it somewhere even on those legit app store or playstore since some of scam devs are capable to create a same like up just to confuse people and scam them. Lots of phising apps has been placed on Play store before and that's why I don't trust that platform anymore especially for seeking some wallets to use since there's no guaranteed that we can be safe their. Maybe they didn't do a proper verification on those apps listed on their platform and what they only care is the money they can get that's why those scary apps are been listed waiting for the victims to upload it. We are really responsible on our safety that's why before doing some actions especially if there's money involve with it we should seek for verification from the support of the apps that we download their legit application so we can avoid any possible troubles.

i have expected that there will be some form of checks and balances on th authenticity of the apps that are allowed on the Google play store but that's not the case.  The thing is that because of the ease in getting these apps from the Google play stores, people generally don't take the safety aspect of those apps seriously and coupled with the fact that most of the reviews you see on play store are ones that are sponsored by owners you can't even believe any of those reviews because most of those reviewing these apps have been paid to do so and what they are just saying is just good stuff that will make them receive there pay even when that's not true of the app.

For those using mobile device, it's deficult to access original version of apps that's outside of play store and even when you see them, you will still be referred back to play store. I have heard an experience last December when jumia was doing her black Friday sales, some guys hard to clone the jumia app and after placing an order through the app my aunt installed from her play store, we waited for weeks without seeing it and even after making several attempts to get good feedback from jumia customer service line, the result was not reasonable and the whole money flew into the air. The internet in itself has denied us of our privacy and security and we only wish not to fall victim of doing business from wrong source that's rampant everywhere.

That's the whole point of Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. Isn't?

Be your own bank. Have a full control and responsibility of your funds or finances.

---

And yet when you try using their search engine, there is a still a good number of phishing sites that appear at the top of their search engine as ads. To them ads revenue from phishing sites is more important than user safety.
No one should blindly trust Google and its products.

Mycelium is losing it. I think the iOS version is even no longer being maintained.

I would go further and recommend downloading wallet software directly from the developer's website. As for Google, yes, we often see their advertisements, which later turn out to be phishing. Some applications that are downloaded to the Play Store also bring a lot of inconvenience to users. The question is, how do they get there? Everyone probably guesses that Google cares about money; pay and continue advertising whatever you want. So yes, the OP is right. We are responsible for our safety. Attaching your phones to applications that seem convenient is like walking through a minefield. It’s enough that Google itself regularly tracks our steps, but opening your data to scammers by installing a bunch of applications is like throwing your money and data down the drain.

Interesting. I wonder if Apple is going to follow suit as well, given that they are suffering from the same problem:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1b3q5wr/fake_wallet_on_apple_app_store/

I have my doubts that a lawsuit is going to change anything in the long term, since for each scammer they take down, another will emerge. But it's better than nothing, I guess?

Sparrow and Armory doesn't support Android and iOS.

While Bitpay, Bither and Edge, I'm not sure if it's really trustworthy since not many people discuss about it, there's a chance it could be closed source.

Remember, when you've successfully install your wallet from the official sites, don't forget to verify the PGP signature to know if you're installed the original wallet, not the fake one.

Our safety is our sole responsibility actually but I think Google should not be blame for all this foul play going on in their store. They are running a business and cares more about their profits than users safety but they are still trying and working hard to improve their security measures in order to reduce fraudulent activities. If I remember correctly, Google took down over millions apps that are considered harmful, suspicious and deceitful. The problem is that some of these scammers are highly skilled and intelligent in this tech industry and they are coming up with new techniques to evade detection from Google.

We should just apply caution when downloading from play store because some of these websites and even banking institutions will still redirect you to Google store to get their apps. Although this guarantees that you are getting the legitimate version of the app but some times even the official sites can be hacked and manipulated or imitated.

So it is true that Google sued some crypto scammers for allegedly uploading fake apps on their Android app stores? Why now?

Have they noticed that people are abandoning google play store? Because there have been many complaints since 2020 about how many people lost money to fake apps and they never made any move.

Are they trying to look like the good guys now?

They even claimed to be among the first peers to take action against crypto scammers.

https://www.CNBC.com/2024/04/04/google-sues-crypto-scammers-allegedly-uploading-fake-apps-android-app-store.HTML

The scammers have created over 87 fraudulent apps since 2019 luring their victims to deposit and preventing them from withdrawing their money.

Anyways, readers, especially the beginners, do not think that Google has your best interest at heart, even if they can sue all the scammers that have uploaded fake apps on their store your safety belongs to you only.

Do not download apps from Google playstore for any reason, whether it's bank apps or crypto wallets, always go for the old crypto wallets and download from the crypto wallet official websites, do not use app stores to find your desired app, there will never be an end to these scam and fakes apps online.

Bitcoin.org is enough, this website has all the official links to all available trusty crypto wallets, not just for Bitcoin only, Mycelium, Unstoppable, Electrum, Bitpay, Bither, Edge, Green, Armory, Sparrow, wasabi, etc, as a beginner it's a good place to start.