An Indian national has been sentenced to five years in prison for a fraud scheme that took over $20 million by creating fake cryptocurrency exchange websites. The perpetrator, 31-year-old Chirag Tomar, will also face two years of supervised release after his prison term, according to a U.S. Department of Justice announcement, according to the United States Attorney’s Office.
Between June 2021 and February 2022, Tomar and his accomplices created fake websites that looked like the real Coinbase Pro to trick victims into thinking they were logging into their cryptocurrency accounts. When victims entered their information, the criminals were able to take over their real accounts. This allowed the scammers to access the victims' cryptocurrency and impersonate customer service representatives, tricking them into giving their two-factor authentication codes, as reported by the United States Attorney’s Office.
A specific instance of the fraud involved a North Carolina victim who was misled by a scam website into thinking his Coinbase account was locked. The criminals, posing as fake customer service, obtained his two-factor authentication information and took control of his real account, stealing over $240,000 in cryptocurrency. Tomar was arrested at the Atlanta airport on December 20, 2023, and pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy on May 20. U.S. Attorney Dena J. King recognized the U.S. Secret Service and the FBI for their roles in the investigation, with Matthew T. Warren from the Charlotte U.S. Attorney's Office leading the prosecution, as stated by the United States Attorney’s Office.
