- A man was sentenced for his role in a $20m crypto scam using fake Coinbase sites.
- Crypto platform and employee impersonation scams are on the rise in 2024.
Chirag Tomar was sentenced to five years in prison in a North Carolina court on Thursday for his role in a scheme that defrauded victims of over $20 million.
Tomar and his co-conspirators created spoofed websites resembling the Coinbase exchange platform, luring victims into providing login credentials and two-factor authentication codes.
Using this information, the fraudsters accessed victims’ accounts and transferred crypto to wallets under their control.
One victim alone reportedly lost over $240,000 to Tomar’s scam.
Tomar used the stolen funds to finance a lavish lifestyle of luxury cars and watches.
He was arrested in December 2023 while entering the US and pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy in May 2024.
Crypto scams are becoming more sophisticated in 2024, with billions of dollars funneled into illicit operations.
According to Chainalysis, 43% of scam inflows this year have gone to wallets that only became active in 2024.
Scammers are also shortening the duration of their operations.
They now have access to on-chain and off-chain tools, fake domains, and social media accounts to dupe victims.
Using these, they can quickly drain funds, disperse them across multiple wallets, and easily set up new schemes under different names, making it harder for authorities to track and shut them down.
Kyle Baird is DL News’ Weekend Editor. Got a tip? Email at kbaird@dlnews.com.
