An
Indian
citizen
pleaded
guilty
this
week
to
U.S.
charges
that
he
created
a
fake
version
of
Coinbase’s
website,
letting
him
steal
login
credentials
on
the
real
thing
and
plunder
more
than
$9.5
million
of
cryptocurrency
from
hundreds
of
victims.
Chirag
Tomar,
30,
was
arrested
at
the
Atlanta
airport
on
Dec.
20,
2023,
while
visiting
family
on
a
travel
visa.
He
was
charged
with
one
count
of
conspiracy
to
commit
wire
fraud
and
one
count
of
conspiracy
to
commit
money
laundering.
Both
carry
a
maximum
sentence
of
20
years
in
prison.
Tomar’s
case
was
first
flagged
by
Seamus
Hughes
of
CourtWatch.
According
to
court
documents
filed
in
the
Western
District
of
North
Carolina,
Tomar
and
his
co-conspirators
created
a
fake
version
of
Coinbase
Pro’s
website
to
fool
Coinbase
customers
to
fork
over
their
login
info.
Between
at
least
June
2021
and
Tomar’s
arrest
in
late
2023,
at
least
542
victims
were
scammed
out
of
their
crypto.
Court
documents
show
that
the
U.S.
Secret
Service
was
able
to
identify
Tomar
as
a
member
of
the
crime
ring
because
he
used
an
email
account
in
his
real
name
to
communicate
with
known
and
unknown
co-conspirators
in
the
fraud.
He
also
kept
a
spreadsheet
of
his
victims
and
how
much
had
been
stolen
from
each
and
sent
“stolen
or
fraudulently
obtained”
identity
documents
to
other
email
addresses
used
to
open
up
accounts
at
Binance,
another
cryptocurrency
exchange.
Between
June
2021
and
October
2022,
Tomar
made
internet
searches
for
“fake
coinbase
page,”
“coinbase
scam,”
“scams
in
the
USA,”
and
“how
to
take
money
from
coinbase
without
OTP.”
Tomar
used
the
same
email
address
to
apply
for
his
travel
visa
to
the
U.S.
Using
the
proceeds
of
his
fraud,
Tomar
funded
a
lavish
lifestyle,
purchasing
Rolex
and
Audemars
Piguet
watches,
“high-end
luxury
vehicles
such
as
Lamborghinis
and
Porches,”
and
traveling
to
London,
Dubai
and
Thailand.
Tomar
has
not
yet
been
sentenced.