Cryptocurrency App Available on Google Play Steals $5 Million From Woman, Threatens to Kill Her
A Florida woman has filed a lawsuit against Google after being robbed of the equivalent of $4.60 in cryptocurrency via an app installed on her Android smartphone. The app in question, called Yobit Pro , had malicious intent and the cybercriminals behind the app threatened to kill the victim of the theft.
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Maria Vaca, the heroine of this story, invested $4.6 million between February and July 2023 via the YoBit Pro app on her Android smartphone. At one point, the app showed a balance of $7 million in cryptocurrencies.
That’s when Vaca tried to withdraw some of her profits. But the request required her to pay a “fee” of $500,000. The victim followed the instructions in the request, but was unable to withdraw her money.
Later, she was asked to pay an additional $2 million, which the victim refused. Before it was rejected, the cybercriminals sent the victim a WhatsApp message threatening death if she didn’t enter.
After contacting the authorities, the notification was sent to Google, which only removed the app from Google Play three months later. At the time of its removal from the store catalog, the app had been downloaded at least 12,759 times and there are records of at least five people who have had experiences similar to Vaca's.
For this reason, Vaca decided to file a lawsuit against Google, demanding $5 million in damages for economic loss. In the lawsuit document compiled by the news portal The Block, it was specified that the victim downloaded the application only because she was convinced that Google was able to effectively prevent the presence of fraudulent applications in the Android App Store. did not comment on the matter.
This is not the first time that Google has faced such a situation. Just a few months ago, the company had to remove nearly 90 fraudulent cryptocurrency applications from the Google Play Store. Faced with this type of threat, experts recommend making transactions only through recognized platforms that offer some form of guarantee on the funds deposited.
