Apple’s latest lawsuit involves bogus Bitcoin wallet

NewsPlaintiffs claim an imposter Sparrow Wallet app scammed them out of $1.8 million. (Getty Images)Getty ImagesBy Claudia Dimuro | cdimuro@pennlive.comApple has been hit by another lawsuit that has nothing to do with OpenAI. MacRumors reports that three Apple customers have sued the company after a fake Bitcoin wallet app scammed them out of a collective $1.8 million.Filed in the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California on Friday, the suit claims that the three plaintiffs downloaded and installed what they thought was the Sparrow digital wallet app but was, in fact, “a fraudulent spoof designed to steal funds by capturing users’ account credentials and diverting their digital assets to cybercriminals.” This is not a new issue: The developer of the real Sparrow Wallet, Craig Raw, has flagged imposters on the App Store as far back as 2024. “Users found their accounts had been wiped out and their cryptocurrency assets transferred to the scammers’ private wallets,” the complaint reads. “This fraud succeeded precisely because Apple exploited the consumer trust it had deliberately cultivated through more than a decade of marketing in the App Store as a uniquely safe and trusted environment.” The lawsuit thus accuses Apple of violating California’s Consumer Legal Remedies Act, negligence, and knowingly hosting fraudulent apps (among other things). The plaintiffs behind the suit are seeking compensatory, treble, and punitive damages. They’re also looking for injunctive relief as well as “all other appropriate relief to redress the injuries they have suffered” as a result of this issue. Apple informed MacRumors that it has “taken swift action” to get rid of any Sparrow Wallet impersonators, and to terminate the developer accounts linked to those apps. Yes, Xbox is down: ‘Major outage’ impacts game access, storeSnapchat has something new for music lovers: ‘Now Playing’Is Spotify working? Hundreds of reports claim it’s downClaudia Dimuro is a trends reporter, runs the original "Paranormal PA" series which covers the state's weirder stuff, and hosts "Today in Pa.," a Keystone Award-winning podcast.