Since this year, scammers have illegally obtained a total of 2 million US dollars in cryptocurrency by impersonating Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Mask. Cryptocurrency and NFT fraud have been rampant in the United States over the past few years, amounting to billions of dollars.
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To remedy the phenomenon, U.S. politicians and law enforcement are turning their attention to the tech giants Apple and Google, which run sprawling app stores, and the specific ways they vet fraudulent encrypted apps.
In a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Thursday, Senator Sherrod Brown asked the companies to detail their App store review and monitoring process for cryptocurrency apps. In less than a year, 244 investors reported that they had been scammed out of $42.7 million by a fraudulent cryptocurrency app that claimed to be a trusted investment platform.
He also stated in the letter, “Users download encrypted applications through Google Play and the App Store. While companies offering cryptocurrency investments and other related services should take necessary measures to prevent fraudulent activities, including warning investors, the App Store also Appropriate safeguards must be in place to prevent such fraudulent activity.
Hours after the letter of inquiry, the Senate Banking Committee chaired by Brown will hold a hearing with cryptocurrency experts to discuss how Congress can combat cryptocurrency scams. Apple and Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and they were given until Aug. 10 to respond to senators’ inquiries.
