假Coinbase：它是如何誕生的以及誰是創造者

30 歲的 Chirag Tomar 承認犯有電匯欺詐陰謀罪，他使用虛假的 Coinbase 在加密貨幣騙局中欺騙了多人

An Indian national has pleaded guilty in the United States to charges of stealing more than $37 million by creating a website that mimicked cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase, essentially creating a fake Coinbase.

一名印度國民在美國認罪，指控他創建了一個模仿加密貨幣交易平台 Coinbase 的網站，實質上創建了一個假 Coinbase，從而竊取了超過 3700 萬美元。

Chirag Tomar, 30, pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy for defrauding multiple people in a cryptocurrency scam using a phony Coinbase, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He was arrested on December 20, 2023, upon his entry into the country.

30 歲的 Chirag Tomar 承認犯有電信詐欺罪，他使用虛假 Coinbase 在加密貨幣詐騙中欺騙了多人，最高可判處 20 年監禁和 25 萬美元罰款。他於 2023 年 12 月 20 日入境後被捕。

“Tomar and his co-conspirators (fake Coinbase accomplices) organized a scheme to steal millions of cryptocurrencies from hundreds of victims around the world and in the United States, including in the Western District of North Carolina,” the Department of Justice (DoJ) said last week.

美國司法部(DoJ) 表示：「托馬爾和他的同謀（假冒Coinbase 共犯）組織了一項計劃，從世界各地和美國（包括北卡羅來納州西區）的數百名受害者那裡竊取數百萬美元的加密貨幣。

The website, created around June 2021, was called “CoinbasePro(.)com” (basically the fake Coinbase, it made unfortunate people believe that it was a sort of “pro” version of the real one) in an attempt to disguise itself as Coinbase Pro and trick unsuspecting users into believing they are accessing the legitimate version of the virtual currency trading platform.

該網站於 2021 年 6 月左右創建，名為“CoinbasePro(.)com”（基本上是假 Coinbase，它讓不幸的人們相信它是真幣的“專業”版本），試圖將自己偽裝成Coinbase Pro並誘騙毫無戒心的用戶相信他們正在訪問虛擬貨幣交易平台的合法版本。

It is worth noting that Coinbase discontinued the offering in favor of Advanced Trade in June 2022; and this was to further imply that CoinbasePro was the fake Coinbase, the gradual migration of Coinbase Pro customers to Coinbase Advanced was completed on November 20, 2023.

值得注意的是，Coinbase 於 2022 年 6 月停止了發行，轉而支持 Advanced Trade；這進一步暗示CoinbasePro是假Coinbase，Coinbase Pro客戶向Coinbase Advanced的逐步遷移已於2023年11月20日完成。

Victims who entered credentials on the fake Coinbase site had their login information stolen by scammers and, in some cases, were tricked into granting remote desktop access which allowed the cyber criminals to access their Legitimate Coinbase accounts.

在假冒 Coinbase 網站上輸入憑證的受害者的登入資訊會被詐騙者竊取，並且在某些情況下，受害者會被誘騙授予遠端桌面存取權限，從而使網路犯罪分子能夠存取其合法的 Coinbase 帳戶。

“The scammers also impersonated Coinbase customer service representatives and tricked users into providing their two-factor authentication codes to the scammers over the phone,” the DoJ said, adding: “Once the scammers gained access to the victims’ Coinbase accounts, they quickly transferred the victims’ cryptocurrencies to the cryptocurrency wallets under the scammers’ control.”

美國司法部表示：「詐騙者還冒充Coinbase 客戶服務代表，誘騙用戶透過電話向詐騙者提供雙重認證碼。」並補充道：「一旦詐騙者獲得了受害者Coinbase 帳戶的存取權限，他們就會迅速轉移資金受害者的加密貨幣轉移到詐騙者控制下的加密貨幣錢包。

In one case highlighted by prosecutors, an unidentified fake Coinbase victim located in the Western District of North Carolina lost over $240,000 in cryptocurrency this way after being tricked into calling a fake Coinbase representative under the guise of blocking their trading accounts.

在檢察官重點關注的一起案件中，一名位於北卡羅來納州西區的身份不明的假冒 Coinbase 受害者被騙以凍結其交易帳戶為幌子致電假冒 Coinbase 代表，從而損失了超過 24 萬美元的加密貨幣。

Tomar is believed to have been in possession of several cryptocurrency wallets that received stolen funds totaling tens of millions of dollars, which were later converted into other forms of cryptocurrency or transferred to other wallets and ultimately cashed out to fund a style of luxurious life.

據信，托馬爾擁有多個加密貨幣錢包，這些錢包接收了總計數千萬美元的被盜資金，這些資金後來被轉換成其他形式的加密貨幣或轉移到其他錢包，最終兌現以資助奢華的生活。

This included expensive watches from brands such as Rolex, the purchase of luxury vehicles such as Lamborghini and Porsche, and several trips to Dubai and Thailand.

其中包括勞力士等品牌的昂貴手錶，購買蘭博基尼和保時捷等豪華汽車，以及多次前往杜拜和泰國旅行。

The development in the investigation into the fake Coinbase comes as a Special Investigation Team (SIT) associated with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in the Indian state of Karnataka arrested Srikrishna Ramesh (also known as Sriki) and his alleged accomplice Robin Khandelwal for the theft of 60.6 bitcoins from a cryptocurrency exchange company called Unocoin in 2017.

在對假冒 Coinbase 的調查取得進展之際，印度卡納塔克邦刑事調查部 (CID) 的特別調查小組 (SIT) 逮捕了 Srikrishna Ramesh（又名 Sriki）及其涉嫌同謀 Robin Khandelwal。為Unocoin 的加密貨幣交易公司被竊60.6 比特幣。

It was thus discovered where the money went, after it passed through the fake Coinbase.

這樣，錢通過假 Coinbase 後就被發現去了哪裡。

The Coinbase clone (the fake Coinbase) is just the tip of the Iceberg that started a series of events.

Coinbase 克隆（假 Coinbase）只是引發一連串事件的冰山一角。

The phony Coinbase case also follows a new wave of arrests in the United States in connection with an elaborate, multi-year scheme designed to help North Korea-linked IT workers obtain remote jobs at more than 300 U.S. companies and advance the the country's weapons of mass destruction in violation of international sanctions.

在Coinbase 假案發生之前，美國出現了新一波逮捕行動，涉及一項精心設計的多年計劃，該計劃旨在幫助與朝鮮有聯繫的IT 工人在300 多家美國公司獲得遠程工作，並推進該國的武器裝備。

Among the arrested parties is a 27-year-old Ukrainian citizen, Oleksandr Didenko, accused of creating fake accounts on IT job search platforms in the United States and selling them to foreign IT workers to obtain employment.

被捕者包括一名27歲的烏克蘭公民Oleksandr Didenko，他被指控在美國的IT求職平台上創建虛假賬戶，並將其出售給外國IT工人以獲得就業機會。

He is also believed to have operated a now-dismantled service called UpWorkSell that advertised the “ability for remote IT workers to purchase or rent accounts in the names of identities other than their own on various online freelance IT job search platforms.”

據信，他還經營著一項名為 UpWorkSell 的服務，該服務現已被拆除，該服務宣傳「遠端 IT 員工能夠在各種線上自由 IT 求職平台上以自己以外的身份購買或租賃帳戶」。

According to the affidavit in support of the complaint, Didenko operated approximately 871 “proxy” identities, provided proxy accounts for three freelance IT hiring platforms in the United States, and provided proxy accounts for three different U.S.-based money services transmitters.

根據支援投訴的宣誓書，Didenko 經營著大約 871 個「代理」身份，為美國的三個自由 IT 招聘平台提供代理帳戶，並為三個不同的美國貨幣服務發送者提供代理帳戶。

Those involved are not just North Koreans

參與其中的不僅是朝鮮人

Didenko's accomplice, Christina Marie Chapman, 49, was also arrested for running what is called a “laptop farm” by hosting multiple laptops at her residence for North Korean IT workers to give the impression they were in the U.S. and apply for remote work positions in the country.

迪登科的同夥、49 歲的克里斯蒂娜·瑪麗·查普曼(Christina Marie Chapman) 也因經營所謂的「筆記型電腦農場」而被捕，她在自己的住所為朝鮮IT 工人託管多台筆記型電腦，給人留下他們在美國的印象，並申請朝鮮的遠距工作職位。

“The conspiracy (…) generated at least $6.8 million in revenue for foreign IT workers,” Chapman's indictment said, adding that the workers obtained jobs at numerous prominent U.S. companies and exfiltrated data from at least two of them, including

查普曼的起訴書稱，“這一陰謀（…）為外國IT 工人創造了至少680 萬美元的收入”，並補充說，這些工人在許多著名的美國公司獲得了工作，並從其中至少兩家公司竊取了數據，其中包括