Who is Joel Ortiz crypto scammer? Fresh off the back of a major heist at an NYC crypto conference, let’s unmask the cyber thug responsible.
In May 2018, a streaming series producer, Darren Marble walked into a New York City crypto conference expecting the usual scene. Instead, he walked out to a nightmare.
His phone went dead, no emails or texts. Back at his hotel, the reality hit — his crypto wallet was emptied.
“I’d lost $100,000 of cryptocurrency instantaneously,” Marble recounted. “I just remember thinking, ‘This can’t be real.’”
Frantic, Marble dialed his wife. Shame and guilt consumed him as he saw the cash drain into untraceable accounts. As for the next steps against a crypto scammer? He was at a loss.
“I wondered, ‘What’s gonna happen next?’ Who do you call when you get hacked for cryptocurrency?”
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Crypto Scammers: The Rise of Sim Swapping
Marble had no idea he was caught in a ‘sim swapping’ scam, a new cybercrime wave targeting crypto wallets.
Savvy hackers can trick carrier employees into rerouting phone numbers. With access to his calls and messages, they drained his accounts in minutes. Scary.
The same scammer profited $385K (234 ETH) in the past 24 hours off SIM swapping four different FriendTech users. pic.twitter.com/03BoBEqGax
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) October 4, 2023
Behind Marble’s ordeal was Joel Ortiz, an 18-year-old from Boston. From his mother’s apartment, Ortiz pulled off sim swaps to steal over $7.5 million from middle class and upper middle class crypto investors.
Known online as @0, Ortiz teamed up with other crypto hackers to take down affluent targets, hoping for a big score. Saswata Basu, a Silicon Valley founder, was another mark.
“There was one wallet… which was hacked,” Basu told VICE. “The amount was about $5 million.”
Ortiz paraded his ill-gotten gains online, decked out in Gucci, dripping in designer gear, and hosting lavish parties in rented LA mansions
The Pursuit of Justice Against This Crypto Scammer
Ortiz’s flashy social media posts made the feds’ job easier. He was caught at LAX en route to Europe.
In April 2019, he pled no contest to identity theft and computer crimes, earning a 10-year stretch in Centinela Prison in California.
His release is slated for 2028, but the bulk of his stolen millions are gone, laundered beyond reach between his gang.
We’ve all been at the behest of scammers in this industry. The first time I got scammed I sent $2,000 to a guy for a Bitcoin miner after he reached out on LinedkIn. I know. Ouch.
Be extra vigilant and careful out there. Don’t trust, verify.
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Disclaimer: Crypto is a high-risk asset class. This article is provided for informational purposes and does not constitute investment advice. You could lose all of your capital.
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