More than $768,000 in Bitcoin was stolen from users who downloaded the fake Ledger Live app on the Microsoft App Store. On-chain detective ZachXBT discovered the scam on Nov 5.
The hacker initially stole $16.8 BTC, worth $588,000, through 38 transactions. As Blockchain.com reported, the hacker’s wallet address was “bc1qg05gw43elzqxqnll8vs8x47ukkhudwyncxy64q”. Then, the scammer transferred $115,200 out of the wallet, leaving it with $473,800 or approximately 13.5 Bitcoin.
The attacker continued to steal $180,000 from another wallet, bridging the total loss of up to $768,000. In the next post, ZachXBT announced that Microsoft had removed the fake app from their platform.
The first transaction sent to the hacker wallet took place on Oct 24 with a value of $5,210. Most of these transactions occurred after Nov 2, with the largest transfer of $81,200 occurring two days later.
This is not the first time a fake Ledger Live app has been live on Microsoft’s app store. It was found two times in October and March, and Ledger’s support account also confirmed it. So, many victims question Microsoft’s responsibility in such incidents, claiming that their lax security has led to fake apps sneaking into the app store.
Ledger has not made any official comments or announcements about this incident. It recently laid off 12% of its staff, and was caught up in controversy over its newly launched Recovery Phrase feature.