- Consumers lost over $600,000 in Bitcoin to a counterfeit Ledger Live app.
- The fraudulent app accumulated 16.8 BTC, equivalent to approximately $588,000.
- Analyst ZachXBT believes Microsoft should bear responsibility for the scam.
Crypto analyst ZachXBT has reported that consumers were defrauded of over $600,000 in Bitcoin (BTC) after downloading a counterfeit Ledger Live application from Microsoft’s app store. On November 5, an on-chain investigator identified a scam named “Ledger Live Web3”, which falsely presents itself as a user interface for cryptocurrency hardware wallets produced by Ledger.
Upon examining 38 distinct transactions, Blockchain.com has deduced that the fraudster has accumulated a total of 16.8 BTC, equivalent to approximately $588,000. After making two withdrawals of roughly $115,200, the fraudster’s wallet now holds a balance of $473,800, or 13.5 BTC.
ZachXBT, in his subsequent article, highlighted that the fraudulent Ledger Live application might no longer be accessible on the Microsoft store.
Early Alert Signals
The initial transaction of $5,210 to the fraudster’s digital wallet occurred on October 24, marking the inaugural use of this wallet. Most of these transactions took place post-November 2, with the largest single payment of $81,200 transacted on November 4.
Upon receiving communications from two victims on November 4, ZachXBT expressed his belief that Microsoft should bear responsibility for allowing the distribution of the counterfeit Ledger Live app through the Microsoft Store. This incident is not the first instance of a fake version of Ledger Live being disseminated via the Microsoft Store.
Between December and March, the Ledger support Twitter account issued two successive warnings about a counterfeit Ledger Live app. Ledger has consistently reiterated to its customers that the only secure source to download Ledger Live is ledger.com.
