The College Student Who Stole $7.5M via SIM Swapping | Cowboy Kings of Crypto

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Joel Ortiz was arrested at LAX, dressed head to toe in ostentations and gaudy Gucci, as he was about to fly to Europe with $250,000 in cash converted from cryptocurrency that he’d stolen from at least 40 victims a few months earlier to the tune of $7.5 million. Tracked by REACT, a Santa Clara, California cybercrime unit, his irresistible urge to gloat and his over-the-top trail of lavish spending and flaunting of riches on social media made him an easy catch. But how did this one-time high school Valedictorian and Information Technology student at UMass, a kid who grew up in Boston public housing, get here? Was this smart and tech-savvy but socially awkward loner really the mastermind or was he being manipulated by a larger criminal Community? This episode of Cowboy Kings of Crypto was created in 2022. Watch more like this: The Trading ‘Cult’ Separating Children From Their Families https://youtu.be/Pm9OdZmGkSw The Dark Side of the Bitcoin Pharaoh https://youtu.be/scA7eplSDKs From Child Star to Eccentric Crypto Billionaire: Brock Pierce https://youtu.be/48dD21k10nU Click here to subscribe to VICE: http://bit.ly/Subscribe-to-VICE About VICE: The Definitive Guide To Enlightening Information. From every corner of the planet, our immersive, caustic, ground-breaking and often bizarre stories have changed the way people think about culture, crime, art, parties, fashion, protest, the internet and other subjects that don't even have names yet. Browse the growing library and discover corners of the world you never knew existed. Welcome to VICE. Connect with VICE: Check out our full video catalog: http://bit.ly/VICE-Videos Videos, daily editorial and more: http://vice.com More videos from the VICE network: https://www.fb.com/vicevideo Click here to get the best of VICE daily: http://bit.ly/1SquZ6v Like VICE on Facebook: http://fb.com/vice Follow VICE on Twitter: http://twitter.com/vice Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/vice Follow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@vice?lang=en The VICE YouTube Network: VICE: https://www.youtube.com/VICE MUNCHIES: https://www.youtube.com/MUNCHIES VICE News: https://www.youtube.com/VICENews VICE TV: https://www.youtube.com/@VICE-TV/featured VICE Life: https://www.youtube.com/Broadly Noisey: https://www.youtube.com/Noisey Motherboard: https://www.youtube.com/MotherboardTV VICE Sports: https://www.youtube.com/NOC Waypoint: https://www.youtube.com/WaypointVICE