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BROOKLYN, New York (WABC) — A man from Brooklyn was indicted for a giant online phishing scam that targeted crypto currency investors and stole nearly $16 million in total from them.
Prosecutors say 23-year-old Ronald Spektor of Sheepshead Bay ripped off his victims over several years through the huge phishing and social engineering scheme.
He allegedly gained access to about 100 users’ Coinbase accounts.
Prosecutors say Spektor used the handle @lolimfeelingevil. He allegedly contacted the users, pretending to be a Coinbase representative, and claimed that their assets were at risk from a hacker and convinced them to transfer their money to a new cryptocurrency wallet.
He allegedly emptied out those accounts and laundered the assets by sending them to online swapping and mixing services as well as cryptocurrency gambling entities.
“This indictment charges the defendant of operating a long-running social engineering scam that amounted to a digital robbery against scores of crypto investors across the country,” said Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez. “He allegedly tricked many unsuspecting people to transfer their life savings to wallets he controlled, blew their hard-earned money gambling online, and then bragged about his successful thefts.”
Spektor was arraigned on Friday on a 31-count indictment charging him with first-degree grand larceny, first-degree money laundering, scheme to defraud and other related counts.
The judge set his bail at $500,000 cash. When Spektor’s father tried to bail him out, the judge wouldn’t accept the money because he could not account for how he obtained the funds.
Prosecutors say through “Operation Phish Net,” about half a million dollars, about $105,000 in cash and approximately $400,000 in cryptocurrency, has been recovered, and they are working to recover more.
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