US Lawmaker Calls On Apple And Google About Measures Against Fake Crypto Apps
Fake cryptocurrency apps have been making an appearance in the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. This has not gone unnoticed.
Recently, a US lawmaker demanded answers from Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google, and Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, to disclose the measures they are taking against such apps.
Senator Sherrod Brown said that millions of Americans were investing in unregulated digital assets via mobile apps.
The senator said that there had been reports about fake crypto apps that had defrauded hundreds of crypto investors.
Senator talks about safeguard
The Democrat senator sent a letter to the respective CEOs to inquire about the measures they are taking against the fake crypto apps that can be found on their platforms.
He said that app stores need to have appropriate safeguards for preventing any further fraudulent activities via mobile apps.
The letters from the head of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs come after a warning about fake crypto apps had already been issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI).
According to the FBI, these fake crypto apps have ended up scamming hundreds of investors and have resulted in losses of more than $42 million.
Contents of the letter
When addressing the chief executives of Google and Apple, the lawmaker said that mobile apps are used by millions of Americans for the purpose of digital asset investments, including crypto.
He noted that these crypto mobile apps were accessible to the public via the app stores, which include Google and Apple.
He stated that there was no doubt that crypto apps could offer investors convenient and easy ways of trading crypto, but there were reports about fake apps scamming investors.
The senator asked five questions in the conclusion of his letter to Google and Apple and requested that the executives give their answers by August 10th.
The questions
The purpose of the questions is to get more insight into the app review process of the companies’ respective app stores.
This includes the criteria that is used for assessing the app in order to determine if it should be approved or not.
They also have to provide details about the steps taken to ensure that crypto apps do not circumvent the policies of the app store and turn into phishing apps.
Other questions ask about the processes and systems that have been implemented for users to report fake apps.
They are also asked to share the actions taken by their app stores for alerting people about the potentially fraudulent, along with the actual fraudulent activity of these crypto investment apps.
The lawmaker told the two chief executives that the aim of the questions is to get a better understanding of the measures that their companies have taken for keeping fraudulent activity at bay via their app stores.
Crypto scams have skyrocketed in the last few years and the use of apps is one of the most common tactics used.
