Tech Savvy Student Steals $7.5 Million in Cryptocurrency

[PTCSuccessBlog]

Joel Ortiz, a skilled SIM Swapper was caught and arrested back in May 2018. On April 22nd 2019, the District Attorney’s Office of Santa Clara County made their formal announcement about his sentence – 10 years in prison.

Ortiz was a 21-year-old Boston High School valedictorian and was very prolific at stealing cryptocurrency from SIM cards. The announcement states that he had hacked the crypto wallets (worth over $7.5 million) located on mobile phones of over 40 victims.

According to the announcement, it only took Ortiz just a few minutes to steal more than $5.2 million in crypto from one Cupertino cryptocurrency entrepreneur. He performed this theft back in May of 2018.

https://www.bitcrypt.co/tech-savvy-student-steals-millions-cryptocurrency/

[Genemind]

Ortiz was a smart hacker and yet I don't admire him because he spent all the money with worthless things. That was too huge and he just spent it with his friends. He's too young and will be spending 10 years in prison, I pity him but I guess he should pay for what he did. That's the reason why we have to handle our mobile numbers well. Hackers could do anything by just using our personal numbers.

[dothebeats]

I'm not surprised by his skill but by the few targets in which he managed to steal $7.5 million worth in crypto from. I mean, who are these people he stole from? Are they some sort of high-profile individuals and didn't notice that they have been robbed? That's why it's highly important for people to be very vigilant at all times because at this day and age, it's incredibly easy to steal private information from other people. It's a shame though that the dude will be spending time behind bars instead of just honing his craft outside and being clean. He could have made a lot of fortune without being watched by the government by being a security consultant or anything that involves security.

[gentlemand]

Savvy and tech savvy are two very different things. Incredibly stupid of him to flash the cash.

It's also incredible that this is still possible through phone companies. Idiots base their entire lives around their phones. Security surrounding their interaction with customers services should be rock solid. I seem to recall someone looking into a lawsuit about them giving the SIM away. I wonder what became of that.

One more incredibly stupid for any crypto fan who trusts a phone company as well.

[okala]

Ortiz is among those who have been attacking and hacking exchanges all over, how can you steal another man hard earned money and spending it at night club's and buying of useless items until only $400,000 left from the total of $7.5 million Worth of cryptocurrency you stole from your victims.

[Pamadar]

Ortiz was a smart hacker and yet I don't admire him because he spent all the money with worthless things. That was too huge and he just spent it with his friends. He's too young and will be spending 10 years in prison, I pity him but I guess he should pay for what he did. That's the reason why we have to handle our mobile numbers well. Hackers could do anything by just using our personal numbers.

He's good but didn't used his knowledge in the right way, this news should be remembered and be a basis for traders and investors who's keeping their assets in some places which is prone for hackers attention, we should firstly take a bunch of care with every single information about our investment, he deserved what he needed to fill inside the prison cell.

[fudster]

Took him minutes to steal but will take him 10 years on prison cell. He be spending 10 years of his life wondering how he could have avoided getting caught. Such a waste when a valedictorian should have concentrate on his studies. If he still have his coins in a safer place, he still could be a millionaire when he is out though, BTC might just be worth $50K.

[Yakamoto]

Ortiz was a smart hacker and yet I don't admire him because he spent all the money with worthless things. That was too huge and he just spent it with his friends. He's too young and will be spending 10 years in prison, I pity him but I guess he should pay for what he did. That's the reason why we have to handle our mobile numbers well. Hackers could do anything by just using our personal numbers.

It's actually pretty crazy how vulnerable 2-factor authentication can be if someone has the means to change or access SIM cards. Not to say that it's easy to exploit the vulnerabilities with 2FA, because it makes it much harder for someone to access your stuff across the board, but there's always some way to break the system.

Either way, it's fraud and he deserves it. You can't justify taking money from other people regardless of how elaborate your scheme is to get past all the checks and balances preventing you from doing so. Considering he took so much crypto from that one entrepreneur, that was likely what did him in and finally got some authorities on his case. I don't think he'll be able to keep the money, but if he somehow tucked it away then a $5m payout isn't half bad for 10 years of your life. Too bad it'll be behind bars.

[pakhitheboss]

This proves Crime never pays and always Fail. Being such a smart and intelligent Guy, if he had utilized his brain in something constructive then people would have respected him and loved him.

Now, he will stay in that jail for 10 years. Thinking why he did that crime.

[Haunebu]

I'm not surprised by his skill but by the few targets in which he managed to steal $7.5 million worth in crypto from. I mean, who are these people he stole from? Are they some sort of high-profile individuals and didn't notice that they have been robbed?

That is the interesting part. He must have carefully analyzed these particular individuals over a specific period of time and performed the theft in a smart manner without anyone noticing until now.

They acquired $400k from him and it looks like the rest has already been spent or well hidden. Good riddance.

[TimeBits]

Ortiz was a smart hacker and yet I don't admire him because he spent all the money with worthless things. That was too huge and he just spent it with his friends. He's too young and will be spending 10 years in prison, I pity him but I guess he should pay for what he did. That's the reason why we have to handle our mobile numbers well. Hackers could do anything by just using our personal numbers.

Ruined 40 lives(actually more probably) He will die and live their life and steal from himself LOL, 10 years is not that long, who makes 7.5 million in 10 years, even in the western world most people make $40,000 a year that is 187 years he should serve. He should be hung or at least forced to work until all the debt is returned just like the bankers owe us for tax. He ruined 40 lives his deserves his to be ruined. I know two wrongs do not make a right, But you should get what you deserve.

to young? he is 21 dood. You are considerd a adult at 16 here in Canada. I got kicked out when I was 16 I became a man real quick.

[livingfree]

I'm still thinking on how it is possible through SIM cards but this guy made it so there should be some backdoor or negligence from the SIM card/phone company.

Now, he will stay in that jail for 10 years. Thinking why he did that crime.

It's probably all about the money.

[Thirdspace]

I'm still thinking on how it is possible through SIM cards but this guy made it so there should be some backdoor or negligence from the SIM card/phone company.

if you even bother to click on the url link and read the article, you would know how he did it
he's impersonating the owner of the sim card and contacting sim provider for a replacement card
this seems like a well planned hack on a targeted victim
the question is how he found out the information about the user, his account and his phone number

[Beerwizzard]

Can anyone explain me how is it possible to steal crypto from SIM card?

Ortiz was a smart hacker and yet I don't admire him because he spent all the money with worthless things. That was too huge and he just spent it with his friends. He's too young and will be spending 10 years in prison, I pity him but I guess he should pay for what he did. That's the reason why we have to handle our mobile numbers well. Hackers could do anything by just using our personal numbers.

So stealing money from other people in order to spend it for good purpose totally advocates this crime in your eyes?
For some reason many hackers think that if they steal electronic money then no one would be looking for them. The same thing happened many years ago when many scammers were happy to steal some money via PayPal and for some time no one has been arresting them but then everyone understood that those kind of crimes is not that safe.

[aad140386]

It is a pity that such an intelligent person has spent his gift on stealing money from other people, and then also, by his own stupidity, to go to prison for 10 years in the prime of his life. Smart people are also be an idiots. Many people think that fast money can give us independence and prosperity, but as practice shows, easy money often brings only unhappiness to their owners. All this is sad. I hope that after this guy gets out of prison, he will be able to change his life to something better, and the prison will not break him.

[pushups44]

It sounds like he used his smarts for the wrong things. He could have made a lot more money in the space by building rather than stealing, since there is such a strong demand for developers. Perhaps while serving his 10 year sentence he will learn he took the wrong path.

Cryptocurrency enthusiasts should aim to become immune to this vulnerability, by using hardware wallets and other means.

[avikz]

Ortiz was a smart hacker and yet I don't admire him because he spent all the money with worthless things. That was too huge and he just spent it with his friends. He's too young and will be spending 10 years in prison, I pity him but I guess he should pay for what he did. That's the reason why we have to handle our mobile numbers well. Hackers could do anything by just using our personal numbers.

I wouldn't say he is a smart hacker! What he has done is illegal and must be penalized for that! It really doesn't matter how he spent his money, but the money certainly doesn't belong to him! He is a thieve and I will call him that only! It is a lesson to us to make sure that we don't keep valuable things in our mobile phones which can be easily hacked by some hooligans like Joel. It's because of some hackers like Joel, the entire hackers community gets a bad reputation! No one should try to glorify such act!

[pey]

$7.5m on exchange wallets of 40 victims   Stealing cryptocurrencies must be easier if you have physical access to such devices, think about anonymity. He could get caught, it's okay.

But: ''Ortiz wasted the money lavishly on things such as...'' He could easily disappear without a trace with coins laundered. Just a hacker..

[MarcusGates]

Ortiz was a smart hacker and yet I don't admire him because he spent all the money with worthless things. That was too huge and he just spent it with his friends. He's too young and will be spending 10 years in prison, I pity him but I guess he should pay for what he did. That's the reason why we have to handle our mobile numbers well. Hackers could do anything by just using our personal numbers.

If he was caught he was not smart. He might be tech savvy and can hack stuff, but financials and planning are not his forte obviously.

[Indamuck]

He got off too lightly for the amount of money he stole.  He will probably only end up serving 5 or 6 years as well.

This guy ruined peoples lives permanently and just blew their money on stupid shit.  This guy deserves a harsher punishment.