Coinbase User Loses $15.94 Million in Phishing Scheme
A Brooklyn man has been sentenced to four to 12 years in prison for stealing nearly $16 million from about 100 Coinbase users through a year-long phishing and social engineering operation.
Ronald Spektor, 23, of Sheepshead Bay, pleaded guilty on September 2 to a 31-count indictment that included first-degree money laundering, first-degree grand larceny and first-degree criminal possession of stolen property.
The investigation revealed that Spektor impersonated Coinbase representatives and contacted customers with warnings that hackers were threatening their assets. Victims were instructed to move their crypto into new wallets they believed were under their own control. Spektor could access those wallets and then remove the assets.
Spektor repeatedly moved the stolen assets through exchanges, swapping services and other platforms before consolidating funds at locations where they could be converted, gambled, exchanged for cash or used to buy gift cards and digital assets.