The chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, is challenging Google parent Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) and Apple Inc. (AAPL) for information on what they’re doing to stop bogus cryptocurrency programmes that have allegedly defrauded investors of more than $42 million.
In his letter, Brown claims that cybercriminals have stolen the names, logos, and other identifying information of cryptocurrency firms. They then created phoney mobile apps to defraud poor unsuspecting investors into thinking they are doing business with a real cryptocurrency firm. “Alarmingly, far too many investors have fallen victim,” he emphasised.
On Thursday, the senators’ committee will host a hearing to discuss bitcoin scams.
“Imperative” controls must be in place in app stores, according to Brown, to guard against fraudulent mobile application activity. The questions in the letters concerned the companies’ app evaluation practices, namely “the review procedure” an organisation takes before authorising crypto apps to run in your app store.