In May 2024 Chirag Tomar, 30, pleaded guilty in Charlotte, NC to federal charges for stealing more than $37 million through a spoofing scheme of the Coinbase website.
In June 2021, Chiraq and his co-conspirators engaged in a scheme to steal millions in cryptocurrency from hundreds of victims located world wide and in the United States, including in Charlotte and surrounding areas.
Chiraq executed the fraud by spoofing the Coinbase website. Coinbase is one of the largest virtual currency exchanges in the world, that allows customers to buy, sell or trade cryptocurrencies.
Coinbase users can also store their cryptocurrencies in their virtual exchange wallets.
Chiraq spoofed the Coinbase Pro website by using a similar fake URL, CoinbasePro.Com. In order to deceive unsuspecting users into believing they were accessing the legitimate Coinbase webpage.
The fraudulent website was crafted to mimic the authentic website. Once victims entered their login credentials into the fake website, an authentication process was triggered.
In some instances, victims were tricked into providing their login and authentication information of the real Coinbase website to fraudsters. Other times, victims were tricked into allowing fake Coinbase representatives into executing remote desktop software, which enabled fraudsters to gain control of victims’ computers and access their legitimate Coinbase accounts.
The fraudsters also impersonated Coinbase customer service representatives and tricked the users into providing their two-factor authentication codes to the fraudsters over the phone.
Once the fraudsters gained access to the victims’ Coinbase accounts, the fraudsters quickly transferred the victims’ Coinbase cryptocurrency holdings to cryptocurrency wallets under the fraudsters’ control.
In February 2022, a victim located in North Carolina attempted to log into his Coinbase account through the fraudulent website.
The spoof website immediately notified the victim that his account was locked and prompted the victim to use a number provided to call a fake Coinbase representative.
The fake representative tricked the victim into providing his two factor authentication information, ultimately gaining access into the victim’s real Coinbase account.
Using the information, the fraudsters stole cryptocurrency from the victim’s Coinbase wallet worth over $240,000.
Chiraq was arrested at the Atlanta airport on Dec. 20, 2023, upon entering the United States.
Chiraq admitted in court that he controlled several cryptocurrency wallets that received hundreds of transactions of cryptocurrency stolen from victim accounts at Coinbase, totaling tens of millions of dollars. $37 million to be exact.
After Chiraq received the stolen cryptocurrency, he would quickly convert it to other forms of cryptocurrency or move the funds amongst many wallets controlled by him and others.
Ultimately, the cryptocurrency was converted into cash which was then distributed to Chiraq and his co-conspirators.
According to court documents, Chiraq used the victims’ funds to pay for his lavish lifestyle, including to purchase a Rolex and other expensive watches, to buy luxury vehicles like Lamborghinis and Porsches, and to make trips to Dubai, Thailand, and elsewhere.
Chiraq pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. A sentencing date has not been set.
