MetaTrader (also known as MT4 or MT5, depending on the version), a well-known smartphone programme used to carry out foreign exchange trades, was covertly taken down from Apple’s App Store last Friday. The app is still accessible through the Google Play store as of this writing.
The programme, created by a Cypriot business called MetaQuotes, has been used to commit a new kind of cryptocurrency fraud called “pig butchering,” in which the con artist cultivates a longer-term connection with the target before persuading them to make a series of little investments. The use of fake cryptocurrency applications and websites, which pretend to show the victim that they are profiting from their investment when in reality the fraudster has taken everything, is a crucial component of the scheme.
Apple banned MetaTrader, after a fraud victim from California who lost over $1 million last year. This victim, Cy, executed all of his ostensible trades through the MetaTrader programme, which displayed false returns to him. Adam Dema, a representative for Apple, stated at the time that the firm was looking into MetaTrader and, if required, considering taking extra steps to safeguard App Store consumers.
Squire Patton Boggs attorney Daniel Delnero, informed late Sunday night that his firm is now representing MetaQuotes. Delnero is headquartered in Atlanta. Multiple emails addressed to firm email accounts had not received any response from the organisation in the past. On its Contacts page, none of the company’s several offices throughout the world is listed with phone numbers.
Requests for a response from Google and Apple were not answered.
On iOS devices, MetaTrader installations that already exist are still operational. However, there have been allegations on Twitter of people offering to sell pre-installed iPhones for as much as $15,000 in one instance, or a “beginning price” of 5,000 British pounds.
MetaTrader, which sells software licences, does allow for legal trading by real brokerages. Oanda and other well-known foreign exchange traders use it as an agnostic trading platform. However, the Global Anti-Scam Organization (GASO), an organisation that advocates for scam victims, claims that MetaTrader also permits licensees to use a specific plug-in called Virtual Dealer, which can be used by con artists to “manipulate those market prices, and simulate account balances, profits, or losses. According to a GASO investigation, “Everything appears and feels authentic, yet it’s all a fiction.
No explanation has been given by MetaTrader as to how dishonest actors might utilise the programme to demonstrate phoney deals, or what steps, if any, have been made to stop this conduct.
Sen. Sherrod Brown, the head of the Senate Banking Committee, issued letters to Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Apple CEO Tim Cook in July regarding the firms’ consideration of and eventual approval of the spread of phoney cryptocurrency apps in their app stores.
FX News Group and Finance Magnates broke the news of the app’s deactivation on Saturday.
Cy, the victim who has yet to recover any of his losses, expressed his satisfaction that Apple has taken down the trading app in a text message received late Sunday night over WhatsApp. He earlier admitted the fact that it had good reviews and was available on Apple’s App Store played a significant role in convincing him to download it.
It’s past due, he wrote. How many more people perished before our voices were heard? It’s morally appropriate to do so. However, given the harm already done, it doesn’t make me feel good.
The organisation was “happy” about the app’s withdrawal, according to Jan Santiago, the deputy director of GASO.
He stated in an email that platforms like Apple and Google Play store that list MetaTrader are responsible if MetaTrader doesn’t address the serious issues brought up by people who trusted them.
