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 concerning the lack of X, telling his 67,500 followers that the cash have been gone instantly.
Garrett Dutton, aka G Love. Supply: The Ark
He stated 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 submit. “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 arduous day right this moment. I misplaced my retirement financial savings because of hacking/fraud after I transformed. @ledger I went to my new pc and unintentionally downloaded a malicious Ledger app. @apologize retailer. All my BTC was gone instantly.
— G. Love (@glove) April 11, 2026
KuCoin responded to ZachXBT's submit with an announcement sometimes delivered to clients. Dutton didn’t disclose which hyperlink led him to the fraudulent obtain.
Picture: Da-kuk by way of Getty Pictures
Faux pockets apps have fooled individuals earlier than.
This isn't 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 means of: @kucoincom Deposit tackle for the next transactions:
6f5c8eb6b01774626f33527e0cb03c0d1860447acacd6079e69bf41b459bcf1f
9ee1288f941b2c3775ebd125eefeebdc713aa160bf2cf9d18661fd07f84ce891…— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) April 12, 2026
Microsoft later acknowledged that the app was not found by means of the evaluate 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 one in all a a lot bigger downside. Based on the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Individuals misplaced greater than $11 billion to cryptocurrency-related scams in 2025. This is a rise from $9 billion the earlier 12 months.
The seed phrase is the grasp key of your self-custodial cryptocurrency pockets. Official pockets functions 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 recuperate from.
Featured picture from Pexels, chart from TradingView
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