100 Coinbase Users Trusted Fake Support and Lost Nearly $16M

Coinbase Users Lost Nearly $16 Million

Some individual victims lost $1 million or more after someone posing as Coinbase support warned that their crypto was at risk. On Sept. 23, Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun sentenced Ronald Spektor to four to 12 years in prison, according to Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez. Prosecutors put the losses at approximately $15,944,000 across about 100 U.S. victims.

The 23-year-old from Sheepshead Bay pleaded guilty Sept. 2 to all 31 counts of the indictment, including first-degree grand larceny and first-degree money laundering. Chun imposed the promised sentence over prosecutors’ objection; the district attorney’s office had sought seven to 21 years. Gonzalez said: “This case should put crypto scammers on notice: we will follow the digital trail wherever it leads and aggressively pursue those responsible.”

The sentencing follows Spektor’s indictment in the Coinbase impersonation case, announced in December. The district attorney’s office stated:

“The defendant was also ordered to forfeit cash, cryptocurrency and personal property with an estimated value of more than half a million dollars and make restitution of almost $16 million.”

The forfeiture and restitution are separate orders; the value of property subject to forfeiture is far below the amount victims lost. Under New York law, the four-to-12-year term sets a minimum and maximum: Spektor can first appear before the state parole board after serving the minimum, though credits for certain nonviolent offenders can move that date earlier, and release is at the board’s discretion.

A Warning About Hackers Led Victims to Transfer Their Crypto

Spektor contacted Coinbase users while pretending to represent the exchange, prosecutors said. He told them a hacker threatened their assets and directed them to move their funds into a new wallet. Victims believed they alone controlled those wallets, but Spektor could access them and emptied them after the transfers. Coinbase says its representatives will never call users to request a fund transfer.

Investigators traced the stolen assets through repeated swaps at cryptocurrency exchanges and onward to services where the funds could be gambled, converted to cash, or used to buy gift cards and digital assets. Prosecutors said large portions reached gambling platforms and online storefronts. In a separate Coinbase impersonation case involving fake websites, criminals obtained account credentials and verification codes; Spektor’s victims were persuaded to make the transfers themselves.

The false security warning was central to the theft. A person who sends crypto to an address supplied by an impersonator can lose control of the funds even when the transfer is made from a legitimate account. Phishing and wallet fraud schemes can use messages, calls, and lookalike services to make a fraudulent request appear to come from a trusted company.

Digital Records Connected Spektor to the Wallets

Prosecutors linked Spektor to the thefts through transaction records, blockchain analysis, digital evidence, and search warrants. They said his home internet address was connected to multiple wallets that cryptocurrency was stolen from. Investigators also found that he recruited others on online forums to work as social engineers and bragged about the scheme on Telegram.

Messages recovered by investigators showed Spektor claimed to have lost $6 million in cryptocurrency through gambling and implied that he had made millions through scams. That figure reflects what he wrote, rather than a separate accounting of gambling losses. Prosecutors also said texts on his phone showed he disposed of a hardware wallet and bought another after online fraud allegations surfaced.

The Federal Trade Commission warns that scammers may claim money is at risk and direct people to move it to an account the scammer controls. The Brooklyn district attorney advised users to verify unexpected security claims through a company’s established channels before moving funds. That warning addresses the pressure used in Spektor’s scheme: victims were told their assets were at risk from a hacker and needed to move fast.

In a separate Singapore police operation involving Coinbase, officers reached more than 145 potential scam victims before funds were lost. The police-led effort used blockchain analysis and information from participating exchanges to identify people at risk. Authorities reported preventing more than $4.2 million in potential losses.