Scams within the cryptocurrency industry come in different shapes and forms, including impersonating legitimate applications downloadable from trusted establishments. A popular digital asset commentator recently warned the community about such a scam using the Uniswap name, resulting in the loss of $20,000.
$20K Lost In A Uniswap-Impersonating Scam
Uniswap is a sort of decentralized exchange (DEX) running on the Ethereum blockchain that enables users to swap various tokens. Its popularity exploded this year, evident from the trading volumes that reached consecutive monthly highs.
Despite recently losing over $1 billion in liquidity as it seized UNI farming, Uniswap remains one of the most widely-utilized platforms in the industry.
However, having a popular name leaves it prone to impersonations and, consequently, scams. The popular cryptocurrency commentator Alex Saunders recently revealed such a scam that duped $20,000 from an unnamed victim.
Just had a member of ours lose $20k to a fake @UniswapProtocol mobile App on @GooglePlay store as it has 100 fake positive reviews so he trusted to input private key backup phrase.
Please retweet this. Please report the App. 🚨💳⚠️https://t.co/uY3NQz3pFn pic.twitter.com/PXjmdsvPP3
— Alex Saunders 🇦🇺👨🔬 (@AlexSaundersAU) November 19, 2020
It seems that someone has copied Uniswap’s application (UniDEX) and placed it for downloads on the Google Play Store – the online store for applications, music, movies, games, and more for Android users.
The copycat app has received 100 “fake positive reviews,” which seemed sufficient for the victim to input his private key backup phrase. However, a simple search showcases that while the UniDEX application has over 50,000 downloads and 4,000 reviews, the fake app has only 100 downloads and the aforementioned 100 reviews.
Not The First Uniswap Scam
The fake app scam is far from being the first fraudulent activity associated with Uniswap. The popular platform was recently targeted by a different sort of impersonators – giveaway scams.
As reported by CryptoPotato earlier, fraudsters created a fake Uniswap YouTube channel. It carried a live stream video of the protocol’s creator Hayden Adams, in which he allegedly offered to double all UNI tokens sent to his address.
Somewhat expectedly, it was just a blatant scam as the video was a tape, and Adams didn’t promote any giveaways. Although it wasn’t clear if or how many people have fallen for the scam, such events highlight rising issues.
Google and YouTube have the same parent company – Alphabet Inc. In the past, both the search engine and the video-sharing platform have banned and removed legit cryptocurrency content while being unable to detect and eliminate scams.
As centralized platforms keep struggling with finding the most appropriate solution, users have to be extremely vigilant in protecting their own funds and personal data.
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