Indian crypto Fraudster Chirag Tomar was declared guilty of cyberspace manipulations on October 17. Consequently, he received a 5-year prison sentence. Interestingly, a supervised two-year release will follow the completion of the prison term. Notedly, District Judge Kenneth D. Bell, United States Attorney for the District of North Carolina, issued the verdict in an October 17 press release.
For context, the culprit and his cohorts were notorious for masterminding incessant cyber attacks for over two years. Like most scamming schemes, their malicious acts have led to significant losses in crypto assets from unsuspecting victims.
Crypto Fraudster Operational Mode
The complexity of the cryptocurrency structure offers a free pass to hacking adventures. Digital technicians who channel their expertise towards fraudulent activities leverage the ambiguity of the crypto space to carry out their mission. Tomar understood this perfectly well and hopped on it. He synergistically duplicated the Coinbase Pro website, luring unsuspecting customers to engage in it.
By engaging with the fake website, Tomar had easy access to users’ funds and personal information, including login credentials and authentication information. Notably, he provided fake customer service providers that made it exceedingly seamless to extract users' personal information in a drastically reduced suspicious manner.
Reports revealed that Tomar utilized the valuables from his dubious deals to fund an extravagant lifestyle. He made various trips to Dubai and purchased several fast cars and other valuables, including Porsches, Audemars Piguet, Lamborghinis, etc.
Estimated Losses from Tomar’s Fraudulent Exploits
According to investigational findings, hundreds of customers forfeited their hard-earned funds to the fraudulent manipulations. Noteworthily, the proceeds from the scam escapades exceeded over $20 million, having begun operation in June 2021 before the apprehension in December 2023. A notable incident involved a North Carolina citizen who lost over $240,000 to this monetary scandal.
“Tomar remains in federal custody and will be transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility,” the publicized document stated.
