A 20-year-old college student who used the SIM card swapping method to steal more than $ 5 million in cryptocurrency, pleaded guilty and sentenced by a court in California to a ten-year prison term. This writes the Motherboard.
In total, about 40 people have become victims of Joel Ortiz, and law enforcement officials believe that this is the first time in the US when a person receives a prison sentence for SIM swapping - the method of gaining access to the victim’s phone gaining popularity among hackers.
The authorities also say that this will serve as a good lesson for others who have committed such crimes and have already been arrested or are still being sought.
“Every arrest was a shock to their community. It was a signal that they could not feel safe anywhere — not in their basement, nor at Momma’s house. They are searched and arrested, one by one, ”said Erin West, Deputy District Attorney in Santa Clara County.
Joel Ortiz was arrested in July 2018 after he, together with a group of accomplices, launched a series of hacker attacks on members of the cryptocurrency community. Having managed to establish control over the victims' numbers, they obtained, among other things, access to two-factor authentication, which protected wallets and accounts on stock exchanges, after which they stole Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies. It is reported that some of the victims were guests of the Consensus conference in New York.
Prison sentence Joel Ortiz will begin serving on March 14th.
