A US Senator demands safeguards from Google and Apple and other tech giants to keep the crypto scams off their app stores so let’s have a read on our latest cryptocurrency news today.

Senator Sherrod Brown who is a Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee sent a letter to the chief executives of Google and Apple demanding a response to the fake crypto investing apps circulating in their stores. As the announcement detailed, the Federal Bureau of Investigation warned that the fake crypto apps had already stolen $42 million from investors in less than a year. The scams often operate by using stolen logos or brands as well as information from other established companies.

They created fake apps and leverage the legitimate company’s reputation to fool investors into providing them with money.  Brown argued that the imperative of steering the investors away from these schemes lies in the crypto industry but also in the app stores which market them:

“It is likewise imperative that app stores have the proper safeguards in place to prevent fraudulent mobile application activity.”

The US Senator demands safeguards from tech giants and requested that these companies should provide a detailed outline of the steps each takes when approving crypto apps on the platforms and asked about their processes in reporting the fake apps and the frequency where they monitor the apps for fraudulent activity. Brown’s request was announced before the banking committee hearing pertaining to the crypto market scams. Before the hearing, senator Pat Toomey released a statement arguing that the US SEC’s regulation enforcement approach harmed consumers.

The crypto winter ushered in an era of relative peace and safety from crypto scams as was explained by the Chainalysis Director of Research Kim Grauer who said that such fraudulent activity tends to rise and fall with the market performance. However, some more sophisticated scams are becoming more prevalent and they account for $185 million in losses for Americans between 2021 and 2022.

As recently reported, Senator Warren calls for a more assertive stance from authoriteis and she called on Congress as well as the sEC to take a more assertive stance with crypto beucase of the many insolvencies that we saw from lenders like Voyager, Blockfi, Celsius, and Vault. Warren said that Congress needs to act but the SEC also has the responsibility to use its authority and put some guide rails in place and start cracking down on crypto actors.