Last updated on April 9th, 2024 at 10:32 am
Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company, reportedly filed a lawsuit today, April 4, 2024, against two individuals claiming they deployed fraudulent crypto mobile applications as part of a massive racketeering scheme.
The accused, Yungfeng Sun and Hongnam Cheung, are alleged to have used a range of deceptive tactics. These included promotions via text messages, online videos, and affiliate marketing campaigns. Their aim was to trick users into downloading their mobile apps, which were designed to appear legitimate. These apps, supposedly linked to a fake crypto exchange called TionRT, would show customers’ balances and return on investments (ROIs). However, they did not allow users to withdraw their funds.
The defendants allegedly began the racketeering scheme and released the malicious apps in 2019. The lawsuit alleges that the defendants released 87 fake apps to the Google Play Store and scammed over 100,000 individuals. Google Play Store has reportedly removed these apps from its platform, but the company claimed the scheme resulted in damages going up to $75,000.
According to the report, the tech giant claimed that the defendants misrepresented themselves and their locations and provided false information on the kind and nature of the mobile apps they were publishing on Google Play Store to the firm to upload their malicious apps.
The defendants were also accused of changing computer network infrastructure and user accounts to make their identities anonymous.
This lawsuit is notable as this is the first time a leading tech firm has taken legal action against crypto fraudsters. Google reportedly intends to use the lawsuit to establish a precedent for future fraudsters and build legal protections to protect its users from crypto scams.
While talking about the case in a recent interview with CNBC, Halimah DeLaine Prado, Google’s general counsel, stated:
“This litigation is a critical step in holding these bad actors accountable and sending a clear message that we will aggressively pursue those who seek to take advantage of our users.”
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