A man who stole $1 million in cryptocurrency was sentenced to seven years in prison

A 24-year-old Portuguese man was sentenced Monday to seven years in federal prison for stealing more than $1 million in cryptocurrency from unwitting victims, including a resident of Montgomery County — crimes prosecutors said the man committed while he was associated with an international cybercrime network.

Ruben Filipe Gabriel Martins pleaded guilty last year to wire fraud and identity-theft charges for using sophisticated phishing tactics to obtain victims’ cryptocurrency account information, then stealing their investments.

Prosecutors said Martins committed his fraud while he was part of a group called “the Com,” a global network of people who use technology to commit a variety of crimes across the world, including extortion, theft, and even incitements of violence.

Last year, a teen who was associated with a subset of the Com made hoax active-shooter calls targeting Villanova University and other colleges, prosecutors have said, crimes that led to massive police responses and inspired widespread panic.

Martins, meanwhile, was associated with a subset known as “CryptoChameleon,” a group that uses a variety of deceptive tactics to obtain account information from cryptocurrency holders. In Martin’s case, prosecutors said, he pretended to be a customer support representative for Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange, and told his victims he could offer support for their compromised accounts — tactics he used to get into the accounts and steal the victims’ funds.