Scam ‘Bitcoin Wallet’ used to steal $120k in STX — app riddled with fake reviews available from App Store

The founder of crypto hub Portal and creator of the first Bitcoin debit card says a scam crypto wallet app inside Apple’s App Store was recently used to steal more than $120,000 worth of STX. 

Posting on X early Monday, George Burke stated “Watch out. This scam wallet INSIDE Apple App Store stole 38,000 STX after importing.” Burke tagged Muneeb Ali, co-founder of Stacks, asking him to warn other traders in the community. Burke has even provided a link to the transaction where he says the theft took place. 

One commenter noted “We’ve all been posting this for a while and @hirosystems have reached out to @AppStore,” possibly indicating this app has been at large and known about, at least in the crypto community, for some time. 

At first glance, the app Leather Wallet & Hiro Bitcoin (which we are not linking to for obvious reasons), purports to be a ‘Bitcoin Wallet’ app that lets you “Manage your finances effortlessly.” The description says it’s “the ultimate companion for securely storing and managing your digital assets,” and the boasts a hefty 4.9 out of five rating from 215 reviews on the App Store. 

However, it seems these reviews might not be real. The 10 most recent reviews were all posted on the same day by a series of almost certainly fake accounts with suspicious names.

This story is developing, please keep refreshing the page

As noted, the stum stolen is a not-insignificant $123,598.10. Burke did not confirm whether or not he personally was the victim of the scam, iMore has reached out to Burke to confirm. 

The aforementioned commenter further noted “Hopefully they [Apple] will pay attention and we should all remember if they do not the headline should read “Apple Store allows its users to be scammed, even though it was warned about fake app.” The company was not immediately available for comment. 

The founder of crypto hub Portal and creator of the first Bitcoin debit card says a scam crypto wallet app inside Apple’s App Store was recently used to steal more than $120,000 worth of STX. 

Posting on X early Monday, George Burke stated “Watch out. This scam wallet INSIDE Apple App Store stole 38,000 STX after importing.” Burke tagged Muneeb Ali, co-founder of Stacks, asking him to warn other traders in the community. Burke has even provided a link to the transaction where he says the theft took place. 

One commenter noted “We’ve all been posting this for a while and @hirosystems have reached out to @AppStore,” possibly indicating this app has been at large and known about, at least in the crypto community, for some time. 

At first glance, the app Leather Wallet & Hiro Bitcoin (which we are not linking to for obvious reasons), purports to be a ‘Bitcoin Wallet’ app that lets you “Manage your finances effortlessly.” The description says it’s “the ultimate companion for securely storing and managing your digital assets,” and the boasts a hefty 4.9 out of five rating from 215 reviews on the App Store. 

However, it seems these reviews might not be real. The 10 most recent reviews were all posted on the same day by a series of almost certainly fake accounts with suspicious names.

This story is developing, please keep refreshing the page

As noted, the stum stolen is a not-insignificant $123,598.10. Burke did not confirm whether or not he personally was the victim of the scam, iMore has reached out to Burke to confirm. 

The aforementioned commenter further noted “Hopefully they [Apple] will pay attention and we should all remember if they do not the headline should read “Apple Store allows its users to be scammed, even though it was warned about fake app.” The company was not immediately available for comment.