Rebeca Moen
Apr 15, 2026 07:18
Apple removed a fraudulent Ledger Live app that stole $9.5 million from over 50 crypto investors using a bait-and-switch strategy to harvest seed phrases.
Apple has removed a counterfeit Ledger Live app from its App Store after the malicious software drained approximately $9.5 million from more than 50 crypto investors between April 7 and 13, according to onchain analysis by blockchain investigator ZachXBT.
The tech giant confirmed to Cointelegraph on Tuesday that it terminated the developer account behind the scam, listed as “SAS Software Company,” after discovering the app used a bait-and-switch strategy to trick users into surrendering their seed phrases.
Three Victims Lost Over $7 Million Combined
The damage was heavily concentrated among a handful of investors. One victim lost $3.23 million in USDT. Another saw $2 million in USDC vanish. A third lost $1.95 million across Bitcoin, Ether, and staked ETH.
Among the smaller victims was Garrett Dutton, the American musician known as “G. Love,” who publicly disclosed losing $420,000 worth of Bitcoin—reportedly his retirement savings—after installing the fraudulent app.
Apple’s Ongoing Battle With App Store Fraud
Bait-and-switch scams aren’t new to Apple’s platform. The company disclosed that in 2024 alone, it removed or rejected more than 17,000 apps for similar tactics. It also blocked over 37,000 potentially fraudulent apps and rejected 320,000 submissions flagged as spam, copycat, or misleading.
The playbook is familiar: scammers submit legitimate-looking apps to pass review, then swap screenshots and alter descriptions to mimic established brands like Ledger. Apple has been dealing with these schemes since at least 2013, when a fake Pokémon Yellow clone briefly appeared on the store.
This isn’t even the first fake Ledger app to slip through major app store defenses. In late 2023, scammers bypassed Microsoft’s review process for its app store, resulting in nearly $600,000 in stolen crypto.
What Crypto Holders Should Know
The incidents underscore a harsh reality: app store approval doesn’t equal legitimacy. Ledger’s official mobile app is called “Ledger Live” and is published by Ledger itself—not third-party developers. Users should verify publisher names, check download counts and review histories, and ideally download wallet apps only through official links from the hardware manufacturer’s website.
Seed phrases should never be entered into any mobile app. Legitimate hardware wallet software doesn’t request full seed phrase entry during normal operation—that’s exclusively for device recovery on the hardware itself.
Image source: Shutterstock
