A fake cryptocurrency wallet app distributed on the App Store stole approximately 1.5 billion yen worth of cryptocurrency; Apple removed the app.
It has been reported that at least 50 users had a total of $9.5 million (approximately 1.5 billion yen) worth of cryptocurrency stolen from them in a few days in early April 2026 by a counterfeit version of the cryptocurrency wallet app 'Ledger Live' distributed on Apple's App Store. Apple removed the app from the App Store after receiving multiple reports, but the damage has been confirmed to span multiple chains, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tron, Solana, and XRP.
Fake Ledger Live app on Apple's App Store stole $9.5M in crypto
Apple pulls fake Ledger app and Freecash in rough day for App Store review - 9to5Mac
https://9to5mac.com/2026/04/14/apple-pulls-fake-ledger-app-and-freecash-in-rough-day-for-app-store-review/
The fake app in question was disguised as the macOS app 'Ledger Live,' and by prompting users to enter their seed phrase and recovery phrase, attackers were able to take over the entire wallet.
This fake app was registered on the App Store under the name 'Leva Heal Limited,' which is unrelated to the real Ledger development team, and even included a fake update history that made it appear as if the app had progressed from version 1.0 to 5.0 in just two weeks.
The stolen assets passed through multiple receiving addresses and were ultimately sent to over 150 deposit addresses on KuCoin, where they were linked to 'AudiA6,' a centralized mixing service that uses high fees to obscure the flow of fraudulent funds.
Among the most significant losses were those tracked between April 8th and 11th, when three victims lost $3.23 million (approximately 513 million yen), $2.08 million (approximately 330 million yen), and $1.95 million (approximately 310 million yen) respectively. Furthermore, musician G. Love revealed on X that he lost approximately $430,000 (approximately 68 million yen) after downloading the app, and this loss has also been tracked and confirmed.
Here's the TX hash from my hack
— G. Love (@glove) April 11, 2026
I lost 5.9 BTC all I had for ten years I worked on this fuuuuuck be careful out there
8753c7d24a28f677089aefb09628eb9b191e843ae965f55ca8ae87540561feaf
One of the factors contributing to this incident is that while Ledger distributes its Mac app on its own website, only the iOS version is available on Apple's App Store. This type of exploitation of differences in distribution channels has been used before; in 2023, a fake Ledger Live app stole $768,000 (approximately 115.2 million yen) worth of cryptocurrency from the Microsoft Store.
Furthermore, it remains unclear why no prompt action was taken, given that reports of damage had already surfaced immediately after the app passed the App Store review and was published. This could potentially lead to a class-action lawsuit.
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in Software, Smartphone, Security, Posted by log1i_yk