Two brothers plead guilty to bitcoin scam worth over $150K
Two Canadian brothers pleaded guilty to bitcoin scam worth over $150,000 in federal court.
Oregon Live reported Monday that the two brothers, Karanjit and Jagroop Singh Khatkar, stole about 23 bitcoins (currently worth around $157,000) from a 63-year-old Oregon woman after they created a fake Twitter account to impersonate Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange HitBTC.
Karanjit (23) and Jagroop (24) tricked the woman to share login credentials and then used that information to withdraw 23.2 bitcoins from the woman’s HitBTC account to Karanjit’s Kraken account.
Karanjit was arrested in July and Jagroop turned himself in on Monday, per the report. Each pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud and money laundering. Both will serve two years in prison when authorities announce sentencing on March 17. Jagroop is still finishing his college degree, pending sentencing.
The woman will get her money back as Assistant U.S. Attorney Quinn Harrington received a $142,349 check from the brothers. The woman, who watched the plea hearing Monday and asked not to be identified, told Oregon Live: “I feel sorry for them. I have a son that’s 27. I hope they can turn their smarts into something more beneficial.’’
