Overview
- Garrett Dutton, known as G. Love, says he lost 5.9 BTC after downloading a counterfeit Ledger Live app and entering his recovery phrase on a new MacBook Neo.
- On-chain analyst ZachXBT traced the stolen Bitcoin to deposit addresses linked to the KuCoin exchange through nine transactions, and KuCoin issued a standard customer service reply.
- Dutton wrote that the theft erased nearly a decade of savings he had set aside for retirement, calling it a very tough day in posts to his followers.
- A recovery phrase controls a hardware wallet, so entering it in a fake app lets thieves move funds at once, which is why the Bitcoin vanished immediately.
- The app appeared to bypass Apple’s review process, echoing a 2023 case where a fake Ledger app on Microsoft’s store led to nearly $600,000 in losses after slipping past internal checks.