Apple sued over App Store crypto wallet scam, with user losses exceeding 1.8 million dollars

BlockBeats reported that on July 28, Apple was sued in the U.S. Northern California Federal District Court for allegedly failing to effectively prevent cryptocurrency scam apps in the App Store. Three users accused Apple's security review mechanism of having loopholes, which led them to download fake crypto wallet apps and incur total losses exceeding $1.8 million.

The lawsuit states that the app in question impersonated the Bitcoin wallet "Sparrow Wallet," but the official Sparrow Bitcoin wallet has never actually launched on the iOS platform. After the three users transferred Bitcoin into the fake app, they suffered asset losses: one user lost about $875,000, another lost about $840,000, and the third lost about $120,000.

The plaintiffs argue that Apple has long promoted the App Store's strict review mechanism as a security advantage, claiming that its closed ecosystem can reduce the risk of malware and scams. Therefore, Apple should be held responsible for fraudulent apps on the platform. The lawsuit also cites public criticism from the founder of Sparrow Bitcoin Wallet, stating that Apple previously allowed imitation apps to appear in the App Store.

The three plaintiffs are requesting a jury trial, seeking recovery of their losses and additional compensation, and demanding that Apple increase risk warnings and security disclosures in the App Store.

Apple responded that impersonating other apps is a violation of App Store rules, and the company quickly removes such apps. It also stated that there are currently no imitation Sparrow Wallet apps in the App Store. According to data previously released by Apple, its review team rejected more than 371,000 app submissions in 2025 for being copies, spam, or misleading to users.