HitBTC Scammers Arrested in Canada

Two HitBTC scammers have been arrested in Canada for impersonating customer service representatives of the crypto exchange. Two brothers, Jagroop Singh Khatkar and Karanjit Singh Khatkar were charged with fraud and some cases of identity theft when they lied to a HitBTC customer over the phone and siphoned funds from her hot wallet as well as her personal account. The number of funds came to a total of $140,000 which is considered a serious offense by Canadian law.

The investigation was undertaken by US authorities and found both brothers guilty of wire fraud as well as the intention of committing wire fraud. The customer in question was a 63-year-old woman who lost 23 BTC to the brothers but refuses to disclose her identity to this day.

Although the brothers were arrested in August 2019, the sentencing is just now being processed. The US law considers a maximum of 20 years for such cases, but considering that both the brothers pleaded guilty on all charges, it’s likely that they will both be given a 2-year sentence each.

The final hearing will take place in mid-March 2020 in Portland where the attorneys of the brothers will try their best to find them a minimum sentence. Considering that all of the funds have been returned and the brothers have pleaded guilty, it’s almost guaranteed that the sentence will be lowered.

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