Ledger Live? More Like Ledger Lost: Fake App Drains $9.5M, Including One Victim's Decade of BTC Savings

In a plot twist that would make even a DeFi rug pull blush, a counterfeit Ledger Live app on Apple's App Store has been linked to at least $9.5 million in crypto theft. Victims are now sharing stories of losses that make your average trading fees look like pocket change.

One unlucky degens, posting as @glove, revealed he lost 5.9 $BTC after downloading what he thought was the official Ledger app while setting up a new computer. "I lost my retirement fund in a hack/scam… All my $BTC gone in an instant," he wrote, probably while questioning every life choice that led him to "set up a new computer." Blockchain investigator ZachXBT traced the stolen 5.92 $BTC, showing it moved through multiple transactions into KuCoin deposit addresses with the speed of a memecoin pump—and about the same level of regret following.

$9.5 million gone across chains

Because apparently, one chain wasn't enough to satisfy these scammers' appetite. This wasn't an isolated incident. The phishing campaign ran from April 7 to April 13, affecting over 50 suspected victims across Bitcoin, Ethereum-compatible networks, Tron, Solana, and XRP. Three major victims lost seven-figure sums: $3.23 million in USDT on April 9, $2.08 million in USDC on April 11, and $1.95 million in $BTC, ETH, and stETH on April 8. Yes, you read that correctly—April 8, 9, and 11. The scammers were running a regular calendar, treating victim's savings like a subscription service they forgot to cancel.

These attacks typically work by convincing victims to enter their recovery phrase into a malicious app, giving attackers full wallet access. In crypto terms, that's basically handing someone the keys to your house while explaining exactly where you hide the spare cash. Classic social engineering, the gift that keeps on giving.

Stolen funds passed through more than 150 KuCoin deposit addresses and tied to "AudiA6," a centralized crypto mixing service known for high fees