Crypto Influencer Impersonator Sentenced to 15 Months in Staking Scam
A New York man will serve 15 months in federal jail for posing as crypto influencers on Telegram and steering victims right into a pretend crypto staking rip-off.
A federal choose additionally sentenced Noman Saleem, 39, of Queens and Levittown, to three years of supervised launch. The scheme ran from December 2020 by at the very least March 2021.
How the Crypto Influencer Impersonation Worked
Saleem copied the Telegram deal with of a preferred crypto influencer in 2020. Thousands of customers joined his public channel.
He additionally constructed a paid VIP sub-channel, charging roughly $500-$600 in crypto for a subscription. Members might message him instantly, which led them to consider he was the actual influencer.
In addition, Saleem cloned a second influencer’s deal with and used the VIP subscription mannequin right here as effectively. The duplicate identities widened his attain throughout the messaging app.
He promoted staking rewards with phrases of 30 to 90 days. Saleem promised bigger payouts for bigger deposits, but he never staked any funds.
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The Money Trail and the Sentence
Victims despatched crypto to wallets that Saleem owned and managed. Once he held the belongings, he lower contact and disappeared with the funds.
“Saleem engaged in the funding scheme by selling himself as fashionable on-line crypto influencers, convincing a number of victims to ship crypto to digital wallets that he owned and managed,” the press launch read.
The scheme generated at the very least $1.4 million in crypto and US dollars. Prosecutors mentioned the federal government recovered a lot of that sum by the plea settlement.
US District Judge Deborah Okay. Chasanow imposed the time period, as introduced Tuesday by the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland. Saleem had pleaded responsible in September 2025.
The case provides to a rising wave of fraud that exploits belief in social media personalities. It additionally alerts continued federal efforts to pursue impersonation schemes that disguise behind crypto’s pseudonymous wallets.
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