A fraudster from India has pleaded guilty to organizing a large-scale phishing scheme.
Chirag Tomar, 30, pleaded guilty in the United States to charges of stealing more than $37 million from hundreds of victims by creating a website that mimics the Coinbase service. The exact number of victims is not specified, but it is noted that the scheme affected users around the world, including in the United States.
Tomar was arrested while entering the country on December 20, 2023, and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit electronic communications fraud, for which he faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The website "CoinbasePro[.]com" was created in 2021 with the aim of deceiving users into believing that they are accessing the real Coinbase Pro service. Victims who entered their credentials on the fake site were exposed to the theft of credentials from Coinbase. In some cases, scammers tricked users into granting remote desktop access, which allowed them to gain access to their Coinbase accounts.
The scammers also pretended to be representatives of Coinbase's customer support service, forcing users to transmit two-factor authentication codes over the phone. After gaining access to the victims ' accounts, the criminals quickly transferred assets to their crypto wallets. In one case, a US victim lost more than $240,000 worth of cryptocurrency when she was tricked into calling a fake Coinbase representative to restore access to her trading account.
Chirag Tomar managed several cryptocurrency wallets, which received stolen funds totaling tens of millions of dollars. The funds were then converted into other cryptocurrencies or moved to other wallets, and eventually cashed out to support Tomar's "luxury lifestyle", which included buying Rolex watches, Lamborghini and Porsche sports cars, as well as numerous trips to Dubai and Thailand.
Chirag Tomar, 30, pleaded guilty in the United States to charges of stealing more than $37 million from hundreds of victims by creating a website that mimics the Coinbase service. The exact number of victims is not specified, but it is noted that the scheme affected users around the world, including in the United States.
Tomar was arrested while entering the country on December 20, 2023, and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit electronic communications fraud, for which he faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The website "CoinbasePro[.]com" was created in 2021 with the aim of deceiving users into believing that they are accessing the real Coinbase Pro service. Victims who entered their credentials on the fake site were exposed to the theft of credentials from Coinbase. In some cases, scammers tricked users into granting remote desktop access, which allowed them to gain access to their Coinbase accounts.
The scammers also pretended to be representatives of Coinbase's customer support service, forcing users to transmit two-factor authentication codes over the phone. After gaining access to the victims ' accounts, the criminals quickly transferred assets to their crypto wallets. In one case, a US victim lost more than $240,000 worth of cryptocurrency when she was tricked into calling a fake Coinbase representative to restore access to her trading account.
Chirag Tomar managed several cryptocurrency wallets, which received stolen funds totaling tens of millions of dollars. The funds were then converted into other cryptocurrencies or moved to other wallets, and eventually cashed out to support Tomar's "luxury lifestyle", which included buying Rolex watches, Lamborghini and Porsche sports cars, as well as numerous trips to Dubai and Thailand.
