Palm Coast’s “King Bob” faces multiple federal crypto theft charges

A Palm Coast man who was 19 when he was arrested earlier this year in Florida as part of a scheme to steal cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin is now facing multiple charges in California.

A Palm Coast man who called himself “King Bob” was arrested earlier this year as part of a cryptocurrency theft of at least $800,000 now faces additional federal charges as part of a “phishing scheme” to steal confidential information and cryptocurrencies, according to California prosecutors.

Noah Michael Urban, 20, was among four men indicted by a federal grand jury on one count each of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one count of conspiracy and one count of aggravated identity theft. according to a statement this week from the US attorney. Office for the Central District of California.

Urban he was already indicted earlier this year on eight counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and five counts of aggravated identity theft, according to a Jan. 11 announcement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.

Urban used aliases, including “Sosa,” “Elijah,” “Gustavo Fring” and “King Bob,” the previous indictment said.

Urban was already in custody awaiting trial in federal court in Jacksonville. The trial had been set to begin in December, but dragged on until February.

Now Urban is facing new charges in California.

Palm Coast man faces new charges related to cryptocurrency theft

The other men facing the same charges as Urban in the phishing scheme were; Ahmed Hossam Eldin Elbadawy, 23, aka “AD,” of College Station, Texas; Evans Onyeaka Osiebo, 20, of Dallas, Texas; and Joel Martin Evans, 25, aka “joeleoli,” of Jacksonville, North Carolina.

Federal prosecutors also filed a complaint charging Tyler Robert Buchanan, 22, of the United Kingdom, with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.

The FBI found that the conspirators targeted at least 45 companies in a variety of countries, including the United States, Canada, India and the United Kingdom.

Urban and the other men released “phishing attacks” between September 2021 and April 2023 by sending mass text messages to the mobile phones of numerous employees. Text messages claim to be from the company or a business service provider of the company.

Phishing tests often warned that employee accounts were about to be disabled and contained links to legitimate-looking company websites, but were actually phishing sites. Some workers clicked on the ink and entered their credentials on phishing websites, sometimes authenticating their identification through two-factor authentication sent to their mobile phones, the statement said.

The conspirators then used the stolen credentials to gain access to employee accounts and company computer systems. Once inside the systems, they stole confidential information, including personally identifiable information and account access credentials.

Federal prosecutors: Millions of cryptos stolen

Using the stolen information, the conspirators stole millions of dollars worth of virtual currency from cryptocurrency accounts belonging to numerous individuals.

The criminal complaint listed 10 individuals from whom the conspirators stole cryptocurrency. The thefts ranged from nine bitcoins worth $267,000 stolen from a person identified as EV to more than $40,000 taken in various types of bitcoins taken from a person identified as JG, the complaint said. Other people were hit with cryptocurrency thefts of $199,000 in ether and $182,000, $129,000 and $1,668,000 in bitcoin, according to the complaint.

If convicted, each of the defendants would face a maximum of 20 years in federal prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, up to five years for conspiracy and a mandatory two consecutive years in prison for identity theft with aggravation. In addition, Buchanan could face up to 20 years in prison for wire fraud.