Ten years of cautious financial savings disappeared in a single day. That is what occurred to American musician Garrett Dutton, often known as G. Love. He misplaced 5.9 bitcoins, value about $420,000, after a malicious app tricked him into handing over one factor he ought to by no means have shared.
A retirement fund constructed over a few years.
Dutton has been constructing Bitcoin as a long-term retirement plan since 2017. On Saturday, he posted in regards to the lack of X, telling his 67,500 followers that the cash have been gone straight away.
Garrett Dutton, aka G Love. Supply: The Ark
He mentioned he downloaded what seemed to be the Ledger Reside app, a self-custodial cryptocurrency utility, from the Apple App Retailer on his new MacBook. The app was pretend. As soon as inside, he was prompted to enter his seed phrase. He did. The cash is gone.
“I’ve been a part of the cryptocurrency circus since 2017,” he wrote in a follow-up put up. “They caught me off guard right this moment. It was my fault for not being extra diligent. However take this as a warning: There are too many scams.”
After monitoring down the stolen funds, blockchain investigator ZachXBT found that the bitcoins had been moved to deposit addresses linked to cryptocurrency alternate KuCoin in 9 separate transactions.
I had a extremely laborious day right this moment. I misplaced my retirement financial savings attributable to hacking/fraud once I transformed. @ledger I went to my new pc and by accident downloaded a malicious Ledger app. @apologize retailer. All my BTC was gone straight away.
— G. Love (@glove) April 11, 2026
KuCoin responded to ZachXBT’s put up with an announcement usually delivered to prospects. Dutton didn’t disclose which hyperlink led him to the fraudulent obtain.
Picture: Da-kuk by way of Getty Photographs
Faux pockets apps have fooled folks earlier than.
This is not the primary time scammers have taken this actual step. In 2023, a counterfeit model of the Ledger Reside app appeared within the Microsoft App Retailer and defrauded a number of customers of practically $600,000 earlier than being eliminated.
howdy. We traced the stolen 5.92 BTC, all of which was laundered by: @kucoincom Deposit tackle for the next transactions:
6f5c8eb6b01774626f33527e0cb03c0d1860447acacd6079e69bf41b459bcf1f
9ee1288f941b2c3775ebd125eefeebdc713aa160bf2cf9d18661fd07f84ce891…— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) April 12, 2026
Microsoft later acknowledged that the app was not found by the assessment course of. Apple didn’t reply to a request for remark.
BTCUSD at present buying and selling at $70,879. Chart: TradingView
Bitcoin losses proceed to extend throughout the nation.
Dutton’s case is considered one of a a lot bigger drawback. In accordance with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), People misplaced greater than $11 billion to cryptocurrency-related scams in 2025. This is a rise from $9 billion the earlier yr.
The seed phrase is the grasp key of your self-custodial cryptocurrency pockets. Respectable pockets purposes don’t require customers to sort something on the display. That is the road that Dutton unknowingly crossed. And when he did, there was nothing left to get well from.
Featured picture from Pexels, chart from TradingView
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