Apple sued over alleged App Store crypto scam
Three users have sued Apple Inc., alleging they collectively lost over $1.8 million due to a fraudulent app distributed through the App Store.
Apple is facing a lawsuit over alleged negligence regarding its App Store security measures. In a complaint filed on Monday in the U.S. District Court of Northern California, three plaintiffs claim they were tricked into downloading and installing a fraudulent crypto wallet app, leading them to collectively lose more than $1.8 million. The plaintiffs downloaded an app called Sparrow Wallet, despite the official Sparrow Bitcoin wallet not being available on iOS. According to the complaint, they transferred their Bitcoin assets to the fraudulent app, resulting in significant losses to their digital currency. One plaintiff, James Ramirez, lost approximately $875,000; Christopher Ellis lost around $840,000; and Jalen Delgado lost about $120,000. The lawsuit challenges Apple's long-standing claim that its tight control over the App Store makes its platform safer than those offered by competitors. This argument has been used by Apple to push back against deregulation of the app ecosystem, including third-party app stores and sideloading.