Apple removes VTB Bank app posing as restaurant coupon tracker

Apple has removed an app from its App Store that appeared to be a restaurant guide but was actually an online banking app for customers of Russia’s majority state-owned VTB Bank, according to the Russian business magazine Inc.Russia.

The app, which was called Vsyo Prosto (“It’s all simple”), first appeared on the App Store on March 1. According to its description, the app allowed users to keep track of restaurant sales and coupons. In the comments, users reminded one another not to mention the “well-known three-letter abbreviation.”

VTB Bank came under Western sanctions shortly after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and its official app was removed from the App Store at the same time.