In a surprising turn of events, a fake Ledger Live app on the Apple App Store caused losses totaling $9.5 million.
On April 14, blockchain investigator ZachXBT spoke to Telegram and highlighted that the theft affected more than 50 victims across “Bitcoin, EVM, Tron, Solana, and Ripple.”
That said, the illicit activity occurred for a consecutive week, from April 7 to 13.
As ZachXBT reports, the stolen funds were routed through more than 150 KuCoin (KCS) deposit addresses linked to AudiA6, a centralized transaction mixer that hides illicit funds by charging higher fees.
Commenting on the incident, the blockchain investigator noted:
I’d be curious to see if this warrants a class action lawsuit against Apple.
Losses suffered and measures taken
In this theft, three victims suffered massive losses worth “seven figures each”.
On April 8, a victim suffered a loss of $1.95 million, with 20.64 BTC, 211 stETH, and 70 ETH compromised. Then, on April 9, another victim lost $3.23 million in USDT. Finally, a third victim lost $2.08 million in USDC on April 11.
SO, Apple removed the fake app from the App Store on April 12 to prevent further losses.
KuCoin steals the spotlight for the wrong reasons
Needless to say, KuCoin has seen an increase in illicit activity over the past year. As AMBCrypto previously reported, Bitcoin Depot recently lost $3.66 million. There, the stolen funds were transferred to KuCoin deposit addresses.
Additionally, in January 2025, the US government had imposed fines exceeding $300 million on the exchange “for violation of AML laws”.
In February 2026, ZachXBT reported that the Austrian regulator had banned KuCoin from onboarding new users from the EU. Then, in late March 2026, the Japan Financial Services Agency (FSA) also reported that KuCoin was operating without registration.
Overall, these incidents have highlighted the growing activity of bad actors, with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) recently reporting $11.36 billion in losses related to crypto fraud.
Final summary
- More than 150 KuCoin deposit addresses linked to AudiA6 moved the stolen funds, leaving three victims to bear the brunt of this crypto theft.
- KuCoin, over the past year, has paid $300 million in fines to the US government.
