Indian Man Pleads Guilty to Creating Spoofed Coinbase Website, Stealing $9.5M in Crypto

On December 20, 2023, Chirag Tomar, aged 30, was taken into custody at the Atlanta airport during his family visit. He is currently facing two charges: one for conspiring to commit wire fraud and another for conspiring to launder money. The penalties for each offense include a potential imprisonment term of up to 20 years.

Tomar’s case was first flagged by Seamus Hughes of CourtWatch.

Court documents from the Western District of North Carolina allege that Tomar and his accomplices fabricated a deceitful replica of Coinbase Pro’s website to trick genuine customers into disclosing their login details. From at least June 2021 until Tomar’s arrest in late 2023, over 542 unsuspecting individuals lost their cryptocurrency to this scam.

According to court records, Tomar was unmasked as part of the criminal organization due to his use of a genuine email account for correspondance with known and unknown accomplices in the fraud scheme. He maintained a chart detailing his victims and their respective losses, while transferring ill-gotten identity papers to various email addresses that were then employed to establish accounts on Binance, a cryptocurrency trading platform.

From June 2021 to October 2022, Tomar conducted various online investigations. During this period, he looked up topics such as “counterfeit Coinbase site,” “Coinbase swindles,” “scams originating in the USA,” and “methods for withdrawing funds from Coinbase without requiring an OTP.”

Tomar used the same email address to apply for his travel visa to the U.S.

With the gains from his deceitful actions, Tomar indulged in an extravagant existence. He bought expensive timepieces like Rolexes and Audemars Piguets, as well as luxury cars such as Lamborghinis and Porches. Furthermore, he jetted off to London, Dubai, and Thailand for exotic vacations.

Tomar has not yet been sentenced.