Apple Removes Fraudulent Ledger App After $9.5M Crypto Theft

Apple has taken swift action in response to a recent onchain investigation that exposed a fraudulent Ledger app on its App Store.

The fake Ledger Live app was available for download between April 7 and April 13 and used a 'bait-and-switch strategy' to trick users into installing the application and sharing their seed phrases. This allowed attackers to access victims' wallets, resulting in over $9.5 million in cryptocurrency losses across multiple blockchains.

The incident has raised questions about Apple's app review process, with more than 17,000 apps removed or rejected for bait-and-switch violations in 2024 alone. Ledger CTO Charles Guillemet emphasized the importance of exercising extreme caution when interacting with any application that requests sensitive information.