Alert! 23-year-old man's online phishing scam exposed, over 100 crypto users lost $16 million

2025-12-21 00:18:13

【Crypto News】Another major case has surfaced. The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office announced the arrest of a 23-year-old local man, who is charged with 31 counts of serious cyber fraud involving up to $16 million.

The suspect from Shipshead Bay, Ronald Specter, is accused of first-degree grand theft and money laundering. His method was quite cunning—posing as an official representative of a major compliant platform to contact victims directly, falsely claiming their accounts were under hacker attack and their assets were at risk. He then lured users to transfer their crypto assets to a new wallet under his control.

What’s more interesting is that after transferring the assets, this guy also knew how to launder money. He used cryptocurrency mixers, exchange services, and gambling platforms to disperse the “hot money.” The entire criminal chain—from scam, transfer, coin mixing, to cashing out—is quite complete. It is said that there are up to 100 victims.

This case serves as a warning to everyone—those messages claiming to be official representatives reaching out to you are almost certainly scams. Legitimate platforms will never proactively ask you to transfer funds or confirm wallet information.

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MetaverseVagabond

· 12h ago

Damn, it's this trap again, fake platform customer service, I was wondering why I've been getting so many private messages lately. Impersonating the official is really something, we have to stay vigilant. A 23-year-old kid managed to pull this off, which shows that on-chain defenses are really weak. Mixing coins and still daring to wash on a gambling platform, it’s indeed a bit clever but still got caught. 100 people were scammed, that number is frightening. Looks like I need to protect my seed and private key at all costs. People are getting more cunning, and it’s becoming harder for us to defend. Every time I see such cases, I have to be on high alert, just one phishing link can ruin everything. So, exchanges are unreliable, self-management is the way to go. Even a little kid can wash 16 million, the coin mixing technology has indeed been mastered. Scam costs are too low these days, but the cost of arrest is so high.

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RugDocDetective

· 12-23 09:40

That's why I emphasize every day not to click on unfamiliar links. A 23-year-old kid was able to scam 16 million, it's really outrageous. It's another trick of impersonating the official, wake up everyone, legitimate platforms won't actively reach out to you. Look at his money laundering methods, they are quite professional, that's the scariest part. Hundreds of people were deceived, how much trust do you have to place in a scammer... I just can't understand. Wow, from phishing to mixing coins to cashing out, it's a one-stop service, how bad is the defense? Cases like this are increasing, fortunately, they got caught, otherwise, how many more people would have been harmed? Impersonating official platforms is really an old trick, can everyone please be more alert?

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0xTherapist

· 12-21 00:47

Here comes again, every day there are people falling for phishing scams. I think newcomers entering the crypto space these days should first learn how to prevent scams rather than just trading coins. Protecting your wallet is the key. Why are so many people still trusting strangers' words? 100 people, 16 million dollars. On average, each person is scammed out of 160,000. Damn, how inattentive can they be? Official compliant platforms will never proactively ask you to transfer funds. If you don't have this basic knowledge, you really need to rethink your life. The scam chain is so complete, yet they still get caught. It shows that justice is always on the lookout. Mixer services can't clean coins completely. All on-chain operations leave traces. This guy is still too inexperienced. I just want to know how many of these 100 victims were fooled by fake "customer service." Prevention is impossible to guarantee. 16 million USD would be enough to live comfortably in 2024. Why bother doing this? Phishing scams are so common now. People still fall for them? Luckily, they got caught. This is a warning to all crypto people: don't trust any safety warnings from strangers. Just block them directly and be done with it.

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PonziDetector

· 12-21 00:46

Hundreds of people scammed out of 16 million? This trick is so old, yet some still fall for it. Is it really that hard to do your own research (DYOR)? Really, impersonating the platform is happening every month. What do you suggest we do? At 23 years old, he can clean himself up so well. Impressive. Mixing coins + gambling platforms, this guy did quite a bit of homework, but unfortunately, he got caught. What does this case tell us? We still need to be cautious of any "official" that actively reaches out to you. Why are reputable exchanges so easy to impersonate? Platforms need to reflect on this. 100 victims... behind this number are tears and blood.

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ChainWatcher

· 12-21 00:44

Wow, at 23 years old, you can scam 16 million? I need to reflect on what I've been doing all these years.

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DaoTherapy

· 12-21 00:29

Damn, this technique is way too familiar, I see this kind of information everywhere every day. If you ask me, only 16 million are really caught; how many have been scammed and gone unnoticed before? The mixer combo is indeed impressive, but in the end, they still got caught, showing that on-chain tracking is still possible. 100 victims, this guy has managed to stay alive for so long, truly remarkable. Who can you trust these days? Even official accounts can be impersonated.

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Gm_Gn_Merchant

· 12-21 00:19

It's the same old trick again, pretending to be platform customer service to scam... Over 100 people have been deceived, which is really quite outrageous. You really need to be more cautious. Legitimate platforms would never proactively contact you about account issues. This guy is only 23 and already involved in such a complex money laundering chain, which shows he's got some skills... but he also definitely needs to be caught. Who would really believe a stranger saying "your account has been hacked"? It's already 2024. 1.6 million just gone like that, so managing your private keys properly is really basic operation. Cases like this are happening more and more frequently; we need to stay alert.

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