A Brooklyn man has been sentenced to four to 12 years in prison for his role in a phishing and social engineering scheme that stole nearly $16 million from approximately 100 users of the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced the guilty plea and sentencing following an indictment brought by the District Attorney’s Virtual Currency Unit. The defendant, Ronald Spektor, 23, of Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, pleaded guilty to the entire 31-count indictment on September 2, 2026. The charges included first-degree money laundering, first-degree grand larceny, first-degree criminal possession of stolen property and related offenses.
Spektor was sentenced on September 23, 2026, by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun. The sentence was imposed in exchange for a promised term of four to 12 years in prison, despite the objection of the District Attorney’s Office, which had sought a sentence of seven to 21 years.
Spektor was also ordered to forfeit cash, cryptocurrency and personal property estimated to be worth more than $500,000 and to pay almost $16 million in restitution.
According to the District Attorney, the scheme targeted Coinbase users through phishing and social engineering. Spektor contacted victims while pretending to be a Coinbase representative and told them that their cryptocurrency assets were at risk because of a hacker. He then persuaded them to move their funds to a new cryptocurrency wallet.
The victims believed they were dealing with a legitimate Coinbase representative and transferred their cryptocurrency to wallets they were led to believe were under their exclusive control. The investigation determined that those wallets were actually accessible by Spektor, who subsequently emptied the accounts.
The stolen cryptocurrency was then laundered through a series of transactions. Investigators found that the assets were swapped multiple times through different cryptocurrency exchanges before being consolidated at so-called cash-out points. From there, the cryptocurrency could be converted into other digital assets, wagered through betting services, converted into cash, or used to purchase gift cards and other digital assets. Large portions of the stolen funds were sent to cryptocurrency gambling services and various online storefronts.
The District Attorney said Coinbase is an American cryptocurrency exchange that allows users to buy, sell and store digital assets. Coinbase users are among the targets of phishing scams, which rely on social engineering to make victims believe they are communicating with a trusted company or organization. Such attacks can involve deceptive emails, text messages, phone calls or websites designed to look legitimate.
The Virtual Currency Unit investigated the Coinbase phishing scheme over the course of a year and determined that the approximate loss was $15,944,000 involving about 100 users based in the United States. Victims told investigators that someone claiming to represent Coinbase had informed them that their assets were in danger and needed to be transferred to a new wallet.
Evidence gathered during the investigation included transaction records, blockchain analysis, digital forensic evidence and material recovered through multiple search warrants. According to the evidence, Spektor, who lived with his father in Brooklyn, was responsible for the scheme. Investigators linked his home IP address to multiple cryptocurrency wallets from which assets had been stolen.
The investigation also found that Spektor used online forums to recruit others to work as social engineers, including people who could carry out communications designed to appear like hacking attempts. He also used the forums to brag about his criminal activity.
Spektor used the online handle @lolimfeelingevil on the encrypted messaging application Telegram. There, he operated a channel called “Blockchain enemies,” where he openly bragged about his thefts. He also used encrypted applications including Discord.
Investigators recovered messages in which Spektor, using slang, said that he had lost $6 million worth of cryptocurrency through gambling. The messages also indicated that he claimed to have made millions of dollars in cryptocurrency through scamming.
Text messages recovered from Spektor’s phone provided additional evidence. After he became the subject of online allegations of fraud, investigators found that he disposed of a cryptocurrency hardware wallet and purchased a new one.
The victims came from different backgrounds and were located across the United States. Some victims lost $1 million or more.
District Attorney Gonzalez said the sentencing held Spektor accountable for what he described as a long-running social engineering scheme that amounted to the digital robbery of nearly 100 victims. He said investigators reconstructed the digital evidence used to identify the person behind the scheme, traced the stolen funds and gathered evidence against him.
The District Attorney’s Office also issued several recommendations aimed at helping people avoid phishing scams. Coinbase and most other companies will not call customers and ask them to transfer cryptocurrency to a “safe wallet.” People should not rely on caller ID, sender names or similar-looking domains because those details can be spoofed. The office also advised users to slow down when confronted with urgent requests, independently verify the information, consult with others and avoid moving money under pressure.
The civil forfeiture case was handled by Senior Assistant District Attorney Joel Greenwald under the supervision of Diana Villanueva, Deputy Bureau Chief of the Asset Forfeiture and Crimes Against Revenue Bureau.
The investigation was led by Assistant District Attorney Alona Katz, Chief of the District Attorney’s Virtual Currency Unit, with assistance from ADA Kevin Zhen of the Frauds Bureau, Senior Virtual Currency Analysts Sam Weaver and Paul Stenzel, analysts Jayden Kuprel and Chris Vellios, and Paralegal Claire Fagan of the Virtual Currency Unit.
Detective Investigators from the KCDA Detective Bureau and members of the Digital Evidence Lab Unit, under the supervision of Chief Jingu Chong, also assisted with the investigation.
