TLDR
- A UK hacker named Elliot Gunton was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison for a $900,000 phishing scam targeting Coinbase users.
- In the US, Abner Alejandro Tinoco was ordered to pay over $31 million for running fraudulent cryptocurrency schemes.
- Washington state regulators warned about a potentially fraudulent crypto platform called Vims.One.
- A man in Korea was charged for operating a fake crypto mining business that stole $1.3 million.
- The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority fined Coinbase’s UK arm £3.5 million for failing to prevent high-risk customers from using their services.
Recent events in the cryptocurrency world have highlighted ongoing issues with fraud and regulatory compliance. From individual hackers to large exchanges, the crypto industry continues to face challenges in protecting users and following rules.
In the United Kingdom, a young hacker named Elliot Gunton received a 3.5-year prison sentence for his role in a phishing scam that targeted Coinbase users.
Gunton, who was 17 and 18 years old at the time, worked with others to steal over $900,000 from more than 500 Coinbase accounts in 2018 and 2019.
They created a fake website that looked like Coinbase’s login page to trick users into entering their account information.
Intelligent Norwich hacker Elliott Gunton jailed for 42 months in crypto scam
The 24-year-old committed the offences when he was aged 17 and 18
He and fellow hackers accessed the Coinbase accounts of more than 500 crypto users by directing online logins to dummy website
Gunton… pic.twitter.com/IHyfY9Z7wm
— Ryan (@breakingryan1) July 26, 2024
Judge Alice Robinson of the Norwich Crown Court called the scam “highly sophisticated” and said it involved “significant planning and technical expertise.”
This wasn’t Gunton’s first time in trouble with the law. He had previously been sentenced for stealing customer data from TalkTalk and hacking high-profile Instagram accounts.
In the United States, a federal court ordered Abner Alejandro Tinoco and his company to pay back over $31 million for running fraudulent cryptocurrency schemes. Tinoco is accused of taking money from investors and using it to pay fake profits to other clients, similar to a Ponzi scheme.
He also spent the money on luxury items like a private jet and a mansion. The court ordered Tinoco to pay $6.2 million to victims, give up $6.2 million in illegal profits, and pay an $18.8 million fine.
Regulators are also working to warn people about potential scams. In Washington state, the Department of Financial Institutions alerted investors about a platform called Vims.One.
An investor complained that they couldn’t withdraw money from the site, which promised high returns. The platform was linked to a group called the Miami Foundation and used WhatsApp to communicate with investors.
In South Korea, authorities charged a man for running a fake crypto mining business that stole about $1.3 million. The man, known as “Mr. A,” promised investors high monthly profits but didn’t actually do any cryptocurrency business. Instead, he used new investment money to pay earlier investors, making the scheme look profitable.
Even large, well-known crypto companies are facing regulatory issues. The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) fined Coinbase’s UK branch £3.5 million (about $4.5 million) for breaking rules about high-risk customers.
Coinbase had agreed not to let certain risky customers use their service, but the FCA found that over 13,000 such customers were still able to sign up.
