Multi-Million Dollar Bitcoin Scam Lands Two Canadians In Jail

With the introduction of every new technology, criminals are looking for innovative ways to manipulate the ignorant and naive. Though Bitcoin and cryptocurrency have been around for twelve years now, scammers are still defrauding holders of their coins.

“It is reported that over $4.3 Billion was stolen by scammers in the crypto world in 2019, which is more than triple the amount scammed the previous year.”

There is no single scam, but rather several tricks are used to defraud investors. These include various forms of ransomware attacks, the sale of fake coinage, SIM swapping, and other forms of deceit. Scammers are realising that the cryptocurrency industry provides lucrative rewards with grifters dropping mainstream fraud in favour of crypto-corruption.

 A Deceptive Duo

Two Canadian con artists managed to pull off the scam of a lifetime and then foiled their getaway by being too splashy with their ill-gotten gains.

Jagroop Singh Khatkar and Karanjit Singh Khatkar managed to swindle their target out of 23.2 Bitcoins, valued at $8,000 per coin at the time. Instead of staying quiet after their massive score, one of the brothers immediately began to live lavishly. Karanjit bought himself a Mercedes Benz for CA$56,598 and lived it up in Las Vegas, spending tens of thousands of dollars in the casinos. He was eventually arrested in as Vegas and as a result Jagroop also handing himself over to the authorities.

 The Evil Events

The Singh Khatkar duo (from Surrey, British Colombia, CA) posed as two representatives of Hong Kong’s HitBTC Bitcoin Exchange. The two set up a Twitter account called @HitBTCAssist in 2017, using it to win the trust of an Oregon, USA resident, who had his BTC stashed away.

Their patience prevailed, as the Bitcoin holder eventually spoke to them about wanting to withdraw funds from his wallet and exchange it for cash. This was the break they needed to con the investor out of his money. They managed to take control of both his email account and HitBTC account, removing the 23,2 BTC without hassle to a Kraken account belonging to Karanjit, who then transferred 50% of the funds onto Jagroop’s crypto wallet.

 Lesson Learned

Thanks to law enforcements speedy response, and the less than subtle trail left by the Singh Khatkars, Karanjit was apprehended at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. The two pleaded guilty to charges of money laundering and conspiracy to commit wire fraud and were sentenced to 2 years in prison with supervised release for an additional 3 years thereafter. They agreed to compensate their victim for his loss to the tune of $184,511, of which a large percentage has already been paid.

As the crypto world increases in prevalence, and the industry becomes a bigger target for criminals, 'hodlers' are encouraged to keep a tight hold on their logins and personal information. Bitcoin is a peer to peer platform for a reason. All investors ought to educate themselves on the control of their accounts and skip the middleman as Satoshi Nakamoto had intended. Never share your private keys with anyone!