William Gallagher
An app purporting to be for the Rabby Wallet crypto service, is the latest failure for Apple's App Store review team.
Apple's Phil Schiller has correctly said that the EU's requirement for alternative app stores weakens the iPhone's security, but that vaunted security has yet again proven to be vulnerable. Following the recent discovery of a movie piracy app and one impersonating the password manager LastPass on the App Store, now a fake blockchain app has been taking users' money.
A FAKE iOS app has resurfaced. Please note that our iOS app is still under review.
— Rabby Wallet (@Rabby_io) February 16, 2024
Identify the real app by Developer: DeBank (Android) & DeBank Global Pte. Ltd. (iOS).
For secure downloads, ONLY use our official website: https://t.co/FZmFjG2o5X https://t.co/OX9HxHo354
The fake app is called Rabby Wallet & Crypto Solution, and it's purporting to be the official Rabby Wallet app. The fake has no competition, either, as while the scammers' app has been approved by the App Store, the real one has not.
That real app is still going through the App Store review process, according to its developer, DeBank Global Pte. Ltd., which has been warning customers about the fake. The blockchain service can alternatively be used via a Mac app, or a Chrome extension.
"I was also scammed for about 5k usd from this fraudulent app this morning," wrote one user on Apple's support pages who claims that the fake app has been available for years. "I have raised a support case with apple to see if there's any means of reimbursement as the app has been reported multiple times prior and is still standing 4 years now."
"Less than 1 day of trying to use this wallet and I manage to lose majority of my holdings," wrote another in Rabby Wallet's Discord channel. "Did I deserve it for not doing my due diligence, sure. Am I going to complain to the heavens to apple support to try get reimbursement, sure."
Apple has now told AppleInsider that it has removed the fake app.
That pirate movie app lasted for months before Apple finally removed it. And it's not only the iOS App Store that has similar problems — Apple has regularly been very slow to remove fakes from the Mac App Store, too.
Updated: 3 A.M ET on February 20, 2024 with the detail that Apple has removed the app.
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Christine McKee
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5 Comments
Why would anyone allow Bitcoin or Crypto Apps in? Just ban them let the in coming third party stores go down with them Apple.
What's less surprising than the fact that fake apps can make it through Apple's overwhelmed review process is the fact that Apple does such a poor job of taking them down when they are reported. You would think that fake apps would be taken down within days of being reported by a legitimate source, rather than remaining in the app store for months or years.
There is a case to be made for a non Apple app store that does a better job than Apple of providing properly curated apps. But, users are going to have to figure out which ones are trustworthy by themselves, creating an annoying meta problem.
Crypto is largely unregulated and has no insurance against losses/failure the way a bank does, so as far as I'm concerned the whole thing's a scam. That said I wish everyone risking some money in it the best of luck.
And once Apple are forced to open the iPhone to 3rd party app stores, more of this will happen as there will be no control over what users can download and install. Nice one European Union.