Google sues crypto scammers, asking for the court to block them
Google has recently filed a lawsuit against two Crypto Scammers for uploading fraud investment and crypto apps on the Play Store. The two developers were China and Hong Kong-based, against whom Google has filed a lawsuit. Google has filed the lawsuit in the Southern District of New York.
Now Google Sues Crypto Scammers and said that it is the first tech company of its peers to take such action. But Google is taking these actions to set a legal precedent for the security of its users. In their lawsuit, Google claims that “multiple misrepresentations to Google in order to upload their fraudulent apps to Google Play, including but not limited to misrepresentations about their identity, location, and the type and nature of the application being uploaded.”
The scammers have uploaded the apps and their different versions since 2019, as per Google. Till now they have uploaded 87 apps on the Play Store, luring in more than 100,000 people who have downloaded the app. The scammers were identified as Yunfeng Sun, also known as Alphonse Sun, and Hongnam Cheung, also known as Zhang Hongnim or Stanford Fischer, based in China and Hong Kong.
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Google’s general counsel, Halimah DeLaine Prado, said in a statement,” This litigation is a critical step in holding these bad actors accountable and sending a clear message that we will aggressively pursue those who seek to take advantage of our users”. Google is also harmed by these scammers. To check the integrity of these apps and for detection and disruption purposes, the company faced economic damage of around $75,000.
Google Sues Crypto Scammers, but how it actually Works:
As per the Google complaint, the scammers were supposed to upload fake crypto and investment apps under the name of legitimate investing apps. Additionally, they mislead the Play Store by adding fake locations and information about these apps so that they can be uploaded to the Play Store.
The scammers were not directly asking the users to invest in their apps. Despite that, they lure users to their platform by sending misleading romantic messages and through YouTube videos. This kind of scam is generally known as “pig butchering,” Once they make a proper conversation with the users, the developers then shift the users to their apps and make them invest.
Google has now brought the case to the court for breaking her terms and conditions.
