Published in cooperation between CryptoNews and Good Times
Consumers are increasingly interacting with crypto assets using all sorts of platforms. Digital assets have become some of the most sought-after investment vehicles in the market and whether they’re being used to gamble or buy consumer goods, they’re fast becoming a major part of our lives. Take the sheer number of tokens that investors are putting money into.
There are already thousands of tokens in existence but our appetite for new ones seems insatiable. As Alan Draper points out, many consumers are looking to invest in a new meme coin that sees massive success in the market. After all, we’ve seen Bitcoin, Dogecoin, and everything in between find their way into the market so there is precedent for this behavior.
Investing or even spending crypto, however, will require the use of a crypto wallet. These wallets have become essential for virtually all crypto users and the market has responded by providing a wealth of options. Unfortunately for a Florida-based woman, the crypto wallet app she downloaded from the Google Play Store turned out to be fraudulent and cost her money. Now, she’s suing Google in a California court for not taking down the app.
Maria Vaca has alleged that she began her crypto investing journey between February and July 2023 and downloaded the Yobit Pro app from the Google Play Store. During that time, she deposited $4.6 million into the app, and it said that her investments were doing well, netting her $7 million.
The trouble began when she tried to withdraw some of the money and was told that she had to deposit another $500,000. This money, the app said, was to cover taxes related to her investments. She deposited the money but when she was asked for another $2 million, she began to get suspicious. She didn’t put any more money on the app but this didn’t stop the issue. Instead, she began receiving threats to her life via WhatsApp.
She turned to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) which then informed Google about the scammy app. But the suit says that Google was very slow to do anything about the issue. In fact, the app stayed on the Play Store for another 3 months despite the information it received. It turns out that Maria was not the only one with this experience as Yobit Pro had been downloaded by over 12,000 people.
Five of these people have reported also having their money stolen, which shows just how far-reaching the issue is. Maria is seeking $5 million in damages from Google and is accusing the company of “material misrepresentations and other deceptive conduct”. Maria has also said that the whole ordeal led to the collapse of her real estate business and damaged her mental health.
This incident is a rather tricky one because, as the lawsuit points out, Maria and others trusted the app because it was on the Google Play Store, meaning it had been vetted by the company. The Play Store is one of the biggest app platforms in the world and users might naturally assume that Google has a responsibility to keep them safe.
Google, on its part, has taken some action to combat the issue of fraudulent apps. Earlier this year, it sued two developers who had developed 87 fraudulent apps. These apps scammed a total of 100,000 users and included a number of crypto apps. Similar to Yobit Pro’s strategy, users were drawn in by the promise of making massive profits but once they deposited their money, they weren’t able to get it out.
Any industry that is financially viable will have to deal with scammers but cryptocurrency is especially tricky to navigate. Crypto transactions, because they are decentralized, are very difficult to track and they cannot be reversed. So when someone is scammed of their crypto assets or through a crypto investment scheme, it is harder for them to get justice. This is why crypto investors are always told to only invest with verified platforms. In Maria’s case, an app approved for listing on the Google Play Store is perhaps as verified as it gets, but she still got scammed.
Google hasn’t responded to the suit just yet but its outcome will set a precedent for both it and other firms moving forward. It might prompt Google to be more proactive about removing scam apps lest it lose the confidence of some of its users. For crypto investors, it is yet another cautionary tale of avoiding scammers.
