Brooklyn man in New York impersonates Coinbase customer service staff and falls victim to social engineering phishing scam, losing 16 million and being charged

A typical social engineering phishing scam has occurred again in the cryptocurrency space. The Brooklyn District Attorney in New York recently announced that a 23-year-old man from Sheephead Bay, Brooklyn, Ronald Spektor, is suspected of stealing a total of up to $16 million worth of cryptocurrencies from approximately 100 Coinbase users through phishing and impersonating Coinbase customer support. He has been charged and faces multiple serious criminal counts.

Suspect impersonates Coinbase support claiming account hacked

Prosecutors stated that Spektor, known online as “lolimfeelingevil,” is believed to be the mastermind behind this scam. He used emails, text messages, or messaging apps to impersonate Coinbase customer support, falsely claiming that victims’ accounts were at “risk of being hacked” or had “suspicious logins,” and demanded immediate cooperation for “security measures.” Under high tension and panic, victims followed instructions to transfer their cryptocurrencies into wallets controlled by Spektor, resulting in rapid asset transfer.

This method is a classic social engineering phishing scam. The scammer does not directly attack system vulnerabilities but exploits human fears, trust, and time pressure to induce victims to voluntarily surrender assets or account access. Since transactions are completed on the blockchain, once confirmed, funds are nearly impossible to recover.

Mixer becomes a tool for laundering money

Prosecutors further stated that after obtaining the funds, Spektor used cryptocurrency mixers and crypto gambling sites to launder money, obscuring the source of the funds. A “mixer” is a service that pools cryptocurrencies from multiple users and redistributes them, disrupting the flow of funds through numerous transactions to reduce traceability on the blockchain. Although mixers are sometimes used for privacy protection, they are also frequently exploited by criminals for money laundering and hiding illegal gains, making them a focus of law enforcement regulation and crackdown.

Spektor was brought to court this Friday. Prosecutors filed 31 charges against him, including first-degree grand larceny, first-degree money laundering, and organized scam conspiracy. After a year-long investigation by the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, law enforcement has seized approximately $105,000 in cash and about $400,000 in digital assets, with ongoing efforts to trace other stolen funds with unknown destinations.

During the investigation, prosecutors also discovered that Spektor had publicly boasted about his scam activities in a Telegram channel called “Blockchain enemys.” In recovered chat records, he even claimed to have lost about $6 million worth of assets due to crypto gambling.

Coinbase stated that they are fully cooperating with the investigation, assisting in verifying the identities of suspects and victims, and providing relevant on-chain transaction data to facilitate fund tracing. Blockchain investigator ZachXBT also released a report last year revealing scams related to Spektor, with victims reporting losses of up to $6 million.

It is worth noting that Coinbase was recently criticized for a data breach affecting nearly 70,000 users, with estimated losses possibly reaching $400 million. Coinbase later promised to strengthen internal controls and vendor management, and to compensate users affected by social engineering attacks.

According to official information, Spektor lives with his father in Sheephead Bay, Brooklyn. A judge has set bail at $500,000, and due to unclear sources of funds, the suspect’s father’s bail was denied. The case is still under review. This also serves as a reminder to cryptocurrency users to be vigilant when encountering any “urgent notifications” or “official calls.” Coinbase strongly emphasizes that they will never contact customers to request personal information or to transfer wallet assets, and urges users not to become victims of social engineering scams.

This article about a Brooklyn man impersonating Coinbase support and successfully scamming $16 million, leading to charges, first appeared on Chain News ABMedia.