DeFiLlama exposes scam app by deliberately letting it drain a wallet

When you report a scam to one of the world’s most valuable companies and they do nothing for months, what’s left? Apparently, you let the scam happen on purpose, document it, and hand over the receipts. That’s exactly what DeFiLlama did. The popular DeFi analytics platform, tired of Apple ignoring repeated trademark violation reports about a fake DeFiLlama app on the App Store, took a creative and slightly unhinged approach to the problem. The team funded a small wallet, connected it to the fraudulent app, and watched it get drained. Armed with undeniable evidence of theft, they went back to Apple. This time, the app was removed within days. Months of silence, then a sting operation DeFiLlama founder 0xngmi disclosed the ordeal publicly, describing a frustrating cycle of filing reports that went nowhere. The team flagged the fake app for trademark infringement multiple times over a period of several months. Apple, for its part, apparently needed more than a well-documented complaint to act. So DeFiLlama gave Apple exactly what it seemed to require: proof that the app was actively stealing money. The setup was straightforward. The team loaded a small amount of funds into a wallet, c...