{"id":73960,"date":"2025-12-18T00:05:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T00:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/73960\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T00:05:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T00:05:16","slug":"brooklyn-man-charged-in-15m-coinbase-impersonation-scam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/73960\/","title":{"rendered":"Brooklyn man charged in $15M Coinbase impersonation scam"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This April 3, 2013, file photo shows bitcoin tokens in Sandy, Utah. AP Photo\/Rick Bowmer, File<\/p>\n<p>BROOKLYN \u2014 RONALD SPEKTOR, 23, OF Brooklyn, has been charged with stealing about $15 million by allegedly posing as a customer-care representative for cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase in order to trick victims into surrendering their credentials,  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/a-23-year-old-man-charged-in-coinbase-customer-care-scam-2025-12\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">according to Business Insider<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Ronald Spektor allegedly contacted roughly 100 users nationwide between April 2023 and December 2025, falsely warning their accounts were at risk and directing them to move assets to online \u201cwallets\u201d he controlled. Authorities say the victims then provided \u201cseed phrases,\u201d allowing immediate withdrawals of their assets without their consent.<\/p>\n<p>Spektor is held at Rikers Island on $500,000 cash bail or $1 million bond, awaiting unsealing of his indictment. He faces top counts of grand larceny and money laundering, each punishable by up to 25 years in prison, along with possession of stolen property and personally identifying information.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Investigators allegedly traced more than $5 million to online gambling accounts. His attorney said Spektor has pleaded not guilty and plans to challenge the charges.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u2730\u2730\u2730<\/p>\n<p> <a style=\"font-size: inherit; background-color: #fefefe;\" href=\"https:\/\/brooklyneagle.com\/whats-news-breaking\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wnb-read-more aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1764410718_524_read-more-wnb-shad-1024x341.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"341\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/forms\/d\/e\/1FAIpQLSd5hEdpXLwpeWAPMPmcmdn--vHz1InXjphFdhedt_prXKoVFQ\/viewform\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1764410719_915_ultima-reader-response.png\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t<br \/>\n<a class=\"related-articles comment-link\" style=\"clear: both;padding-top:6px;color:#6cc4e8;\" href=\"#comments\" title=\"Leave a Comment\"\/><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/brooklyneagle.com\/337838\/9-11-memorial-events-in-brooklyn\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1764410719_15_AP24254764142461-250x250.jpg\" class=\"alignleft wp-post-image\" alt=\"Flags are placed by the names of those killed during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks at the reflecting pools at the National September 11 Memorial &amp; Museum, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, in New York. One World Trade Center rises in the background. AP Photo\/Donald King\" decoding=\"async\"  \/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t9\/11 memorial events in Brooklyn<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSeptember 11 |<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBrooklyn Eagle Staff\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/brooklyneagle.com\/337822\/americans-mark-the-24th-anniversary-of-the-9-11-attacks-with-emotional-ceremonies\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1764410719_46_AP25254543237567-250x250.jpg\" class=\"alignleft wp-post-image\" alt=\"William Staudt, a firefighter that worked at Ground Zero on the day of the attacks, looks over a reflecting pool during a ceremony to mark the 24th anniversary of the 9\/11 attacks, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025, in New York. AP Photo\/Seth Wenig\" decoding=\"async\"  \/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAmericans mark the 24th anniversary of the 9\/11 attacks with emotional ceremonies<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSeptember 11 |<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBrooklyn Eagle Staff\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/brooklyneagle.com\/337613\/volunteers-prep-millions-of-meals-for-fellow-new-yorkers-on-24th-anniversary-of-9-11\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1764410720_596_AP25253626445845-250x250.jpg\" class=\"alignleft wp-post-image\" alt=\"Volunteers work during the &quot;NYC Meal Pack For 9\/11 Day&quot; at the Intrepid Museum, Wednesday, Sep. 10, 2025, in New York. AP Photo\/Yuki Iwamura\" decoding=\"async\"  \/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tVolunteers prep millions of meals for fellow New Yorkers on 24th anniversary of 9\/11<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSeptember 10 |<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBrooklyn Eagle Staff\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/brooklyneagle.com\/337825\/ceremonies-hosted-throughout-brooklyn-to-remember-9-11\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1764410720_709_canarsie4-250x250.jpg\" class=\"alignleft wp-post-image\" alt=\"A 9\/11 tribute remembering victims and honoring survivors and first responders was held on Sept. 7. Photo by Arthur De Gaeta\" decoding=\"async\"  \/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u2730PREMIUM <br \/>Canarsie Park holds 9\/11 vigil, other ceremonies hosted throughout Brooklyn<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSeptember 11 |<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBrooklyn Eagle Staff\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\tLeave a Comment\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This April 3, 2013, file photo shows bitcoin tokens in Sandy, Utah. AP Photo\/Rick Bowmer, File BROOKLYN \u2014&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73961,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[3302,98,100,99,14768,10525,9,24,63],"class_list":{"0":"post-73960","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn","8":"tag-breaking","9":"tag-brooklyn","10":"tag-brooklyn-headlines","11":"tag-brooklyn-news","12":"tag-courts-and-law","13":"tag-cryptocurrency","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-city","16":"tag-nyc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}