The man behind the $20 million Coinbase Pro scam was sentenced to five years in prison.
Chirag Tomar, an Indian national, was sentenced by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) to serve 60 months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release, for his crimes of stealing $20 million from Coinbase Pro users. That number was initially believed to be $37 million.
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina made the announcement. Tomar previously pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy charges in May. Tomar and his accomplices created a fake website, spoofing the earlier existing Coinbase Pro website, which fooled its users into thinking it was the real deal. The phishing website stole user credentials when they tried to log in, which Tomar and his co-conspirators used to drain funds from their accounts.
In some cases, the fraudsters posed as customer support representatives to gain remote access to victims’ computers and orchestrate the draining activity. Tomar began this scam as early as June 2021 until he was arrested in December 2023. Tomar and co managed to steal about $240,000 worth of crypto from one victim in North Carolina. The ring operated beyond the US to scam victims globally.
“According to filed court documents and today’s sentencing hearing, from as early as June 2021, Tomar and his co-conspirators engaged in a spoofing scheme to steal millions in cryptocurrency from hundreds of victims located worldwide and in the United States, including in the Western District of North Carolina,” the DoJ announcement read.
Tomar would convert his ill-gotten funds into other cryptos to layer the proceeds and obfuscate their trails. That would then be converted into cash, which the ring leader and his co-conspirators would split.
Regarding what Tomar did with the funds, the announcement mentioned that he “used the victims’ funds to pay for his lavish lifestyle, including to purchase Audemars Piguet and other expensive watches, to buy luxury vehicles like Lamborghinis and Porsches, and to make trips to Dubai, Thailand and elsewhere.”
The DoJ Arrested Two Individuals for Scamming a Gemini User the Same Way
Such scams highlight the use of established scamming techniques, like phishing, with newer technologies like crypto. A similar scam hit a Washington DC Gemini user as two cybercriminals impersonating Gemini customer support agents siphoned away 4,100 bitcoin worth $230 million. The DoJ indicted the two individuals in September 2024.
