MILLIONS of smartphone users have been warned to check their devices for 249 apps that aim to steal your money.

Whether you use Android or iPhone, it’s worth removing the apps if you spot them on your phone.

Mad young woman look at smartphone screen have operational gadget problems, angry millennial female feel stressed frustrated with slow Internet connection, bad service on modern cellphone device

1

Mad young woman look at smartphone screen have operational gadget problems, angry millennial female feel stressed frustrated with slow Internet connection, bad service on modern cellphone deviceCredit: Getty

Trend Micro’s Threat Research team discovered the fake cryptocurrency apps.

In January, they revealed that the apps had stolen around $4.3 million.

The researchers also warned that many of the apps are still out there and revealed several red flags to watch out for.

“The hackers have created numerous different fake crypto wallet apps designed to perfectly mimic real ones, including apps from MetaMask, imToken, Bitpie, and Trust Wallet.

“The hackers are clever — they are targeting their victims in multiple ways,” Trend Micro revealed.

Scammers are said to be encouraging victims to download the fake apps via emails and texts.

The messages are convincing and impersonate a real message you could receive from one of the most popular cryptocurrency apps.

“Although the scammers are regularly updating the content of the messages, they most commonly say that the current version of your crypto wallet app is out of date,” warns Trend Micro.

Most read in Phones & Gadgets

Victims are then encouraged to download a new version of the app which is actually a scam.

Hackers are also said to be using fake crypto websites and scam tech support messages to encourage people to download malicious apps.

I scammed $32M from investors in famous crypto scandal but I’m glad I got caught – I’d be dead if I wasn’t arrested

The websites are said to look very similar to the real deal and can appear high up in search engine result lists.

You may even receive a scam call from cybercriminals telling you to download the apps.

Fake versions of the popular imToken, Bitpie, MetaMask, Trust Wallet, and TokenPocket were discovered.

“A total of 249 fake apps were discovered, which the team found were downloaded by victims in countries all over the world, including the United States, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan,” the researchers revealed.

The apps work by stealing data which gives the hackers access to the real crypto wallets of victims.

Trend Micro suspects that the amount of cryptocurrency stolen in this scam could actually be much more than $4.3million.

READ MORE SUN STORIES

To stay safe, it’s best to only download apps from official app stores.

“If you observe any suspicious behavior when updating a crypto wallet app, immediately terminate the update and uninstall the app,” Trend Micro warns.

This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk

You May Also Like

BMW shows off luxury mini-yacht fit for a Bond villain at Cannes Film Festival

BMW has revealed a swanky new mini-yacht that looks like something a…

Crypto Lender BlockFi Follows FTX Into Bankruptcy

Cryptocurrency lender BlockFi Inc. filed for chapter 11 Monday, following FTX into…

People Are Streaming Pirated Movies on TikTok, One Short Clip at a Time

What to Read Next This post first appeared on wsj.com

Apple Watch and Fitbit wristbands are ‘hotbeds’ for harmful bacteria, study reveals

Your Apple Watch or Fitbit wristband is a hotspot for harmful bacteria…