In brief
Three Bitcoin holders have sued Apple in California federal court, saying a counterfeit Sparrow Wallet app took a combined $1.8 million.
One plaintiff reported the app to Apple; another downloaded it nine days later and lost $840,000, the complaint says.
Sparrow Wallet developer Craig Raw has publicly flagged copycat iOS apps since January 2024.
Three Bitcoin holders have sued Apple over a counterfeit Sparrow Wallet app they say drained a combined $1.8 million. The complaint, filed on July 24 in the Northern District of California, brings eight counts including fraud, negligent misrepresentation and strict products liability.Each plaintiff entered a seed phrase into the app, according to the filing. James Ramirez lost 7.4 BTC, put at $875,000; Christopher Ellis $840,000; and Jalen Delgado 1.05 BTC, put at $120,000. Sparrow Wallet runs only on Windows, macOS and Linux and has never shipped an iOS version, so any App Store listing under that name is an impersonation.Ramirez reported the app and his loss to Apple on July 25, 2025, the day it happened. Ellis downloaded a Sparrow app from the store nine days later. No one from Apple has contacted Ramirez about that report, the complaint says, and fraudulent Sparrow apps were still listed when it was filed.The filing also alleges, on information and belief, that Apple ranked the fake app and included it in curated cryptocurrency collections, "effectively recommending a fraudulent application to consumers alongside legitimate ones."The developer’s warningCraig Raw, who built Sparrow Wallet and holds the U.S. trademarks on the name, has flagged copycat malware on Apple's App Store since January 2024, when he tweeted that a scam version was still live weeks after being reported.
