Ronald Spektor was sentenced to 12 years for defrauding Coinbase users of $16 million through a phishing scheme.
A 23-year-old Brooklyn resident, Ronald Spektor, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for defrauding nearly 100 users of Coinbase out of approximately $16 million through an elaborate phishing scheme, according to the district attorney of New York, Eric Gonzalez.
Spektor's operation spanned over a year, during which he employed social engineering tactics to mislead victims into believing their accounts were compromised. He convinced them to transfer their funds to accounts that he controlled.
Social engineering scams are increasingly prevalent in the cryptocurrency sector, with reports indicating that they accounted for nearly 41% of all crypto security incidents in 2025. This follows recent cases, including a 22-year-old in Singapore who pleaded guilty to being part of a network that generated $245 million through similar fraudulent activities. A Chainalysis report pointed out a troubling trend of criminals shifting focus from infrastructure attacks to targeting individual users.
“Today's sentencing ensures accountability for a long-running scam that resulted in significant losses for nearly 100 victims,” Gonzalez stated. He emphasized the vital role of the Virtual Currency Unit in collecting digital evidence linking Spektor to the fraud and tracing the stolen assets.
In addition to his prison sentence, Spektor has been ordered to forfeit assets exceeding $500,000, including cash and cryptocurrency, and to pay nearly $16 million in restitution to the victims.
The investigation revealed that Spektor laundered the stolen assets by exchanging them across various cryptocurrency platforms and later converting them into cash, which he used to buy gift cards and additional digital assets.
Gonzalez cautioned the public, stating, “Coinbase and most other companies will never call customers or ask them to transfer crypto to a ‘safe wallet.’” He advised against trusting caller IDs and urged users to remain vigilant against scams that create a sense of urgency.
