A judge will issue an official sentence on March 14th.

Ortiz likely won't be alone for long. Several others have been arrested in recent months, including participants in larger crime rings (such as Florida resident Ricky Handschumacher). However, government attorneys hope a sentence like this will deter others from perpetrating SIM hijacking schemes. Early actions might already have an effect. An agent in the Ortiz case, Samy Tarazi, told Motherboard that reports of SIM swapping had slowed down, suggesting that would-be attackers were increasingly aware of crackdowns.