Brooklyn Man Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison over $16M Coinbase Phishing Scam
Prosecutors said he stole nearly $16 million from about 100 Coinbase users by posing as support staff and using phishing messages.
- On Wednesday, Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun sentenced Ronald Spektor, 23, to four to 12 years in prison for stealing nearly $16 million from approximately 100 Coinbase users through phishing and social engineering.
- Spektor orchestrated the scheme by contacting victims while posing as Coinbase staff using the alias 'James Wilson,' and ran a Telegram channel named 'Blockchain enemies' where he boasted about the thefts.
- Investigators used blockchain analysis and digital forensics to trace stolen assets, finding that a California victim lost more than $1 million and a Virginia victim lost more than $900,000.
- Following his September 2 guilty plea to 31 counts, the court ordered Spektor to pay nearly $16 million in restitution and forfeit assets worth more than $500,000, including cash and cryptocurrency.
- The Brooklyn District Attorney's Virtual Currency Unit led the yearlong investigation using transaction records and search warrants, while Coinbase advises users to never move funds to new wallets upon request.
28 Articles
28 Articles
Man sentenced to 12 years for $16M Coinbase customer support scam
A Brooklyn man was sentenced to as much as 12 years in prison for stealing nearly $16 million from Coinbase users. On Sept. 23, Ronald Spektor, 23, received a four-to-12-year sentence after pleading guilty to a 31-count indictment stemming from a fake customer-support operation that targeted about 100 people across the US, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors said Spektor posed as a Coinbase representative and warned…
Man Sentenced To Up To 12 Years For $16M Coinbase Scam
A scammer who went by the online name “lolimfeelingevil” will face 12 years in prison after pleading guilty for playing his part in stealing $16 million in crypto from Coinbase users. Ronald Spektor, 23, from Brooklyn, New York, posed as a representative from America’s biggest crypto exchange and told victims their accounts were under threat from hackers, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office. He then socially engineered them to…
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