Coinbase Fraudster Sentenced to 3.5-Year Prison Term in The UK

A young man is set to serve three and a half years imprisonment for orchestrating a phishing scam on the Coinbase website. These crypto hacks impacted more than 500 accounts, causing the crypto exchange to lose millions of dollars. Similar trends have prompted the global regulatory legal agencies’ keenness to tackle crimes related to crypto hacks and illicit activities. 

Teenage Hacker’s Crypto Crimes Come Back to Haunt Him

The sentenced hacker is Euston Guston, a British National, already deep in malicious acts at a young age. The young criminal, at the age of 17- and 18-years breached over 500 accounts.

According to reports, these accounts belonged to users of crypto exchange, Coinbase. According to a North Norfolk report on July 27, Guston and his accomplice swindled over $900,000 from the accounts. These bad actors managed to get into the Coinbase accounts by redirecting online logins to a fake website. The funds siphoned were spent lavishly. 

Judge Alice Robinson from the Norwich Crown Court presiding over the case said it is a very sophisticated crime that required extensive planning and technical skills. Guston was sentenced to three and a half years jail time after pleading guilty to fraud and money laundering charges. 

Notably, it was revealed that Guston has a knack for crimes. He got a 20-month sentence back in 2019 for messing with TalkTalk customers’ data for crypto. Surprisingly, he dodged jail by finishing a rehab order. Also, he had to cough out 407,359 pounds or $524,700, for hacking those fancy Instagram accounts.

Crypto Scams Surge, Regulations Tighten

This time poses a significant challenge for the crypto community due to the impact of crypto hacks on exchange operations. Recently, BlackRock, a financial giant issued a stern warning to the crypto community to be vigilant when making any investment decisions. This is due to the increasing scam threats on its platform. The rise of crypto scams in the industry led global regulatory agencies to implement stringent rules and regulations. 

Notably, a staunch crypto critic U.S Senator Elizabeth Warren called for more strict regulations recently. She alleged that foreign crypto miners are spying on the U.S. military operations.

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