Google faces lawsuit for taking three months to remove scam apps, which stole over $5 million in cryptocurrency

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Google Sued Over Cryptocurrency Scam

In a recent lawsuit, Maria Vaca, a resident of Florida, USA, has accused Google of allowing her to be scammed for over $5 million by a fraudulent cryptocurrency app called Yobit Pro.

Vaca believed she was making a profitable investment and deposited $4.6 million into the app between February and July 2023. According to court documents, Vaca's account balance once showed nearly $7 million. However, when she tried to withdraw funds, the fraudulent nature of the app was revealed.

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When Vaca attempted to withdraw funds, the app informed her that she needed to deposit an additional $500,000 to cover "taxes" before she could cash out. Despite complying, the app then demanded an extra $2 million, which raised her suspicions. After Vaca refused to pay more, she started receiving threatening messages from unknown scammers on WhatsApp, even being threatened with physical harm if she did not cooperate.

Realizing she had fallen victim to a scam, Vaca contacted law enforcement and filed a complaint with the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which promptly forwarded the complaint to Google. However, according to Vaca's lawsuit, Google took three months to remove the fraudulent app from its Play Store.

Lawsuit Against Google: Trusting Play Store

Vaca is currently suing Google in California, seeking at least $5 million in damages, reflecting her financial losses. Her lawsuit argues that she downloaded the Yobit Pro app because she trusted Google to effectively prevent fraudulent apps from appearing on its Play Store.

The lawsuit states: "As a result of Google's significant misrepresentations and other deceptive conduct, Ms. Vaca has suffered significant losses, including but not limited to financial losses exceeding $5 million, severe emotional and psychological distress, and losses to her real estate business that she has built throughout most of her adult life."

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Vaca's lawsuit also points out that she is not the only victim. The lawsuit claims that approximately 12,759 Android users downloaded Yobit Pro, with at least five individuals experiencing similar scam incidents. This highlights the widespread issue of fraudulent apps on the Google Play Store and raises questions about the effectiveness of Google's app screening process.

This is not the first time Google has had fraudulent apps on its platform. Previously, Google sued two developers who successfully released 87 scam apps on Google Play, affecting over 100,000 users, with at least 8,700 being US residents. The scam tactics described in Google's lawsuit mirror those of Yobit Pro: victims are obstructed from withdrawing funds and forced to pay additional "taxes," but the invested funds ultimately cannot be recovered.