A Sheepshead Bay man is facing a 31-count indictment that alleges he ran a phishing and social engineering scheme that targeted cryptocurrency investors and led to the theft of $16 million.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced on Friday that Ronald Spektor, was arrested on Dec. 3.
“He used psychological warfare, to trick people into making, bad decisions,” he said at a press conference.
Gonzalez said the 23-year-old went by the handle @lolimfeelingevil online where he bragged about his exploits and attempted to recruit others to join his phishing scam operation.
“We allege that he chatted with someone about blowing $6 million on gambling,” said Gonzalez. “I guess he treated it like Monopoly money because it wasn’t his money.”
Spektor was arraigned in court today and pleaded not guilty to the charges, which include grand larceny, money laundering and scheme to defraud.
His bail is set at $500,000 cash.
A yearlong investigation by the DA’s Virtual Currency Unit uncovered the Coinbase phishing scheme that they said resulted in the theft of nearly $16 million from about 100 cryptocurrency investors in the United States.
Victims told investigators they were flooded with text messages that made it seem like their account was hacked, then contacted by a person that claimed to be a Coinbase representative who would convince them to move their assets into a new wallet.
Once the money was moved, investigators said Spektor would drain the account.
Gonzalez said his team was able to recover $500,000 in stolen funds and hopes to uncover more which would be given back to victims as restitution.
In court prosecutors said it appears Spektor was plotting to flee the country before his arrest.
They said after his arrest a search of his phone showed he made concrete plans which included applying for a new passport and sending cryptocurrency to a person in the country Georgia.
Prosecutors also said they found messages which showed he was planning to flee to Mexico or Canada.
His attorney brushed off those claims.
“He’s a 23-year-old kid I am sure you can imagine, kids online are talking about all sorts of things its puffery its nothing more than that,” said Todd Spodek, defense attorney.
Prosecutors also said his father attempted to post bail with money they believe could have belonged to victims adding his father is being investigated.
Spektor is due back in court on Jan. 6.