Indian citizen drains $9.5M crypto from Coinbase user’s account using “Coinbase spoof” website
Chirag Tomar used a fake Coinbase website to steal real Coinbase customer passwords & successfully stole a total of $9.5 million worth of crypto assets.
Chirag Tomar is a 30-year-old Indian citizen. 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.”
After collecting huge data from internet sources, Chirag created a fake Coinbase crypto exchange webpage.
With the help of the created spoof website, he managed to get the email ID & password of more than 542 Coinbase users.
Interestingly Chirag failed to hide himself from his internet presence, as he used an email account in his real name to communicate with known and unknown co-conspirators in the fraud.
This scammer used the funds for a luxurious life e.g. travel in London, Dubai and Thailand, buying high-end luxury vehicles such as Lamborghinis and Porches.
In 2023, Chirag applied for his US travel Visa using the same email account, used by him to communicate with other fraudsters.
Chirag was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Under these charges, he will face a maximum sentence of 20 years in jail.
Tomar’s case was first flagged by Seamus Hughes of CourtWatch. After that, he was on full monitoring and successfully arrested by the US authorities in late 2023 but Tomar has not yet been sentenced.
Raj Kundra & “Bitcoin gain scam”
Just a few days Indian Enforcement Directorate (ED) seized a property which was under the ownership of popular Indian actress Shilpa Shetty.
As per ED investigation, Shilpa’s husband Raj Kundra received 285 Bitcoin from a Bitcoin gain ponzi scheme mastermind to set up a Bitcoin mining company in Ukraine.
So far Raj Kundra has not been arrested in this case but many media reports confirmed that he will face big charges of fraud & money laundering, later one is a non-bailable offence.
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