UniSwap User Lost $20,000 Thanks To A Fake Google Play Store App

Uniswap user lost $20,000 after inputting his private keys backup phrase in a fake app that is available on the Google Play Store as we are reading more in the latest altcoin news.

Scams in the crypto space are forming in different shapes like impersonating celebrities that urge people to invest, making fake apps, or fake platforms that are downloadable from trusted establishments like this one with Google Play Store. The popular digital asset platform warned the community about a scam using the Uniswap name that resulted in the loss of $20,000.

Uniswap is a decentralized exchange that runs on the Ethereum blockchain, enabling users to swap from different tokens. It became extremely popular this year which was evident from the trading volumes which it reached a few months prior. Despite losing $1 billion in liquidity recently, as it seized the UNI farming, Uniswap remains still the most widely utilized platform in the crypto and Defi space. Having a popular name, however, usually makes you prone to impersonations and scams. The popular commentator Alex Saunders revealed that a scam duping a Uniswap user emerged on the Google Play Store App in the form of a new application.

It now seems that someone copied Uniswap’s application and made it downloadable on the Google Play Store which is the online store for music, apps, games, and movies. The copycat app received about 100 “fake positive reviews” which seemed enough for the victim to input his private keys backup phrase. However, a simple search shows that while the UniDEX application has about 50,000 downloads and 4000 reviews, the app had actually about 100 downloads with 100 reviews.

Just had a member of ours lose $20k to a fake @UniswapProtocol mobile App on @GooglePlay store as it has 100 fake positive reviews so he trusted to input private key backup phrase.

Please retweet this. Please report the App. 🚨💳⚠️https://t.co/uY3NQz3pFn pic.twitter.com/PXjmdsvPP3

— Alex Saunders 🇦🇺👨‍🔬 (@AlexSaundersAU) November 19, 2020

The fake app scam is far from being the first fake activity associated with the platform. The popular platform was targeted recently by a different sort of scammers which were giveaway scams. Fraudsters created a fake Uniswap YouTube Channel with a live stream video or Hayden Adams, where he offered to double all UNI tokens sent to his address. Of course, this was a scam and Adams didn’t promote any giveaways. It was not clear however how many people fell for the scam since these events usually highlight more issues behind them.

Google and YouTube are run by the same company Alphabet Inc and both of these platforms banned and removed crypto content articles and videos while being unable to detect and eliminate scams. As centralized platforms keep having issues with finding the most appropriate solution, the users have to be extremely careful in protecting their own funds and personal data.