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

A Brooklyn resident has been sentenced to 4-12 years in prison for orchestrating a sophisticated Coinbase phishing operation that resulted in the theft of approximately $16 million from around 100 victims across the country.

Ronald Spektor, aged 23, impersonated Coinbase customer support personnel and manipulated victims into transferring their cryptocurrency to supposedly secure wallets. He admitted guilt to 31 criminal counts including grand larceny and money laundering offenses.

The court ordered asset forfeiture exceeding $500,000 and mandated restitution payments approaching $16 million to compensate the victims.