Scammers Sold Ethereum Logo on Google Play for €335

Many readers may remember the iOS app I am rich, which appeared in the App Store at its inception 10 years ago. The app cost $999.99 but did absolutely nothing useful—it simply displayed a shiny red gem on the device screen, and when tapped, showed the message: “I am rich, I deserve it, I am good, healthy, and successful.” The app lasted only one day in the App Store, but even in that short time, eight people managed to buy it.

This week, ESET expert Lukas Stefanko discovered a similar scam in the Google Play app catalog. Inspired by I am rich, scammers created a new variation in tune with the times.

The app was called Ethereum and supposedly allowed users to purchase 1 Ether by buying the app, which was priced at €334.99 (notably, Ether itself was almost €100 cheaper at the time). In reality, the scammers were selling users a useless image (the Ethereum logo) with no actual functionality, all under the name of Google Commerce Ltd.

Interestingly, when Stefanko found the fraudulent app, it had already been downloaded over 100 times, meaning at least 100 people had purchased it. The app has since been removed from Google Play, but researchers are left wondering how it made it into the official catalog in the first place, and how the scammers managed to mention Google without triggering any security mechanisms.