Chirag Tomar, a 30-year-old Indian national, has pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy charges for orchestrating a sophisticated scheme that resulted in the theft of over $37 million in cryptocurrency.
Tomar and his co-conspirators created a fake Coinbase Pro website, meticulously designed to mimic the legitimate platform. Unsuspecting victims were tricked into entering their login credentials and two-factor authentication codes on the fraudulent site, giving Tomar and his team unauthorized access to their accounts.
The stolen funds were then laundered through a complex network of cryptocurrency wallets and used to finance a lavish lifestyle, including luxury cars, international travel, and high-end purchases.
“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,” reads the DOJ’s announcement.
“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.”
Tomar was arrested at the Atlanta airport in December 2023 and has remained in federal custody since. He now faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
