An Indian man has been sentenced to five years in prison after being found guilty of stealing more than $20 million in a cryptocurrency fraud scheme using a fake cryptocurrency website.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced that U.S. District Judge Kenneth D. Bell sentenced Chirag Tomar, 31, an Indian national, to 60 months in prison. Tomar will serve two years of supervised release after his sentencing.
His sentence is the latest in a series of similar fraud schemes.
Cryptocurrency fraud by spoofed websites
Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina, said Tomar deceived hundreds of people into using fake or “spoof” websites and stole more than $20 million. This plan is backdated to June 2021.
Prosecutors said Tomar and his co-conspirators impersonated the U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase and targeted victims around the world and in the United States.
Spoofing is a cybercrime in which a malicious attacker uses a disguise to trick a victim into thinking they are using someone official or trusted. Actually it's fake. In this incident, Tomar and others used a fake URL for Coinbase's virtual currency exchange site “Pro.Coinbase.Com.” They completed a fraudulent website using the URL CoinbasePro.Com that allowed unsuspecting victims to unknowingly grant cybercriminals access to their authentication details on Coinbase.
The scammers used remote desktop software to steal from victims, including in one case impersonating Coinbase customer support staff.
Court documents reveal that a crypto user in North Carolina lost more than $240,000 in February 2022.
Tomar was arrested in December 2023 after using the stolen funds to buy luxury cars and finance lavish trips to places like Dubai. In May 2024, he pleaded guilty to charges including conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Earlier this week, a US court sentenced a 46-year-old man to 20 years in prison for crypto fraud.
Meanwhile, a German man facing a $150 million cryptocurrency fraud case in New York is on the run after failing to attend a hearing.
