Google has recently filed a lawsuit against two app developers for defrauding the company into putting 87 fake cryptocurrency apps on the Play Store. According to Google, these two individuals have caused more than 100,000 people worldwide to be scammed for amounts ranging from 100 to more than 100,000 USD.
The two developers, one with Chinese nationality and one from Hong Kong created applications that impersonated legitimate cryptocurrency exchanges and investment applications. They then used advertising to lure users into downloading and investing money in these applications. However, after investing, users were unable to withdraw their money regardless of their profit or loss.
Google detected and removed these apps from the Play Store, but the developers quickly created new apps to replace them, prompting Google to take legal action. In the lawsuit, Google alleges that the developers misled the company by spoofing their identities, locations, and intentions. Furthermore, Google said that it spent over 75,000 USD to investigate this incident.
This lawsuit has exposed flaws in the Play Store’s security system, despite Google’s efforts to prevent fake apps. Google has stated that it is working to improve the Play Store’s security system to better protect its users.