Brooklyn Man Sentenced to Prison for $16M Coinbase Phishing Scam

A 23-year-old Brooklyn man has been sentenced to prison for stealing nearly $16 million from about 100 Coinbase users through a phishing scheme. Ronald Spektor, of Sheepshead Bay, was sentenced by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun to four to 12 years in prison.

Spektors' scam worked as follows: he would pose as a Coinbase representative and warn victims that their accounts were being targeted by hackers. He would then convince them to move their funds to a new wallet, which they believed was under their sole control, but which Spektor could actually access.

Once the money arrived, Spektor would empty the wallets and launder the proceeds through various means, including swapping and mixing services, crypto gambling sites, and online storefronts. The victims came from all over the country, with some losing $1 million or more.

Spektors' guilty plea was accepted on September 2 for all 31 counts in the indictment, which included first-degree money laundering and first-degree grand larceny. He was also ordered to forfeit over half a million dollars in cash, crypto, and personal property, as well as pay nearly $16 million in restitution.