TLDR
- Ronald Spektor, 23, was sentenced to four to 12 years in prison for a Coinbase phishing scheme.
- He stole nearly $16 million from about 100 victims across the United States.
- Spektor posed as a Coinbase representative and convinced victims their accounts were hacked.
- He pleaded guilty to a 31-count indictment including grand larceny and money laundering.
- He must forfeit over $500,000 in assets and pay almost $16 million in restitution.
A Brooklyn man has been sentenced to prison for running a phishing scheme that stole nearly $16 million from Coinbase users. Ronald Spektor, 23, will serve four to 12 years behind bars.
🔴 Brooklyn man sentenced to 4–12 years for $16M Coinbase phishing scheme
Ronald Spektor pleaded guilty Sept. 2 to a 31-count indictment for posing as a Coinbase representative and stealing $15.94 million from roughly 100 users over a year. He was sentenced Wednesday to four to… pic.twitter.com/RXndt3HxZu
— NewsTongue (@NewsTongueX) September 24, 2026
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced the sentencing on Wednesday. Spektor pleaded guilty earlier this month to a 31-count indictment.
The charges included first-degree money laundering, first-degree grand larceny, and first-degree criminal possession of stolen property. Prosecutors had originally sought seven to 21 years in prison.
How the Scheme Worked
Spektor ran the operation for over a year. He posed as a Coinbase customer service representative and contacted victims by phone.
He told his targets that their accounts had been hacked. He then convinced them to move their crypto into a new wallet for safety.
Victims believed they still controlled the new wallet. In reality, Spektor had access to it and drained the funds.
The scheme affected close to 100 people. Victims came from different backgrounds and were located across the United States. Some individual losses reached $1 million or more.
Total losses from the scheme came to $15,944,000, according to the Brooklyn DA’s office.
Laundering the Stolen Funds
After stealing the crypto, Spektor moved it through multiple exchanges to cover his tracks. Investigators said he consolidated the funds at what they called cash-out points.
From there, he converted the crypto into other digital currencies. He also placed bets with some of the funds.
Spektor eventually converted portions of the stolen money into cash. He used that cash to buy gift cards and purchase more digital assets.
Investigators built their case using transaction records and blockchain analysis. Digital forensics and evidence from several search warrants also helped tie Spektor to the crimes.
His home IP address was linked to multiple wallets connected to the stolen funds. That evidence became a key part of the prosecution’s case.
As part of his sentencing, Spektor must forfeit cash, cryptocurrency, and property worth more than $500,000. He was also ordered to pay nearly $16 million in restitution to his victims.
Gonzalez said the case took careful work to piece together. His office’s Virtual Currency Unit tracked the stolen funds and built evidence against Spektor over time.
Officials used the case to repeat a warning to crypto users. Coinbase and most companies will never call and ask customers to move funds to a so called safe wallet.
Investigators say scammers often create a sense of urgency to pressure victims into acting fast. They recommend that people never move money in a rush, no matter how convincing the caller sounds.
Social engineering scams have become one of the most common threats in the crypto industry. Reports show nearly 41% of crypto security incidents last year involved this type of deception.
Coinbase has faced phishing attempts before. Last year, the company disclosed that criminals had bribed overseas support agents to access customer data for use in similar scams.
Coinbase said that incident affected less than 1% of its monthly users. No passwords, private keys, or funds were exposed in that case.
Spektor’s sentencing closes out one of the larger individual phishing cases tied to Coinbase users in recent memory.
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