He was just 15.
Stole $24 million in crypto.
Blew it on escorts, clubs, and a $100K Rolex.
Then the FBI came knocking.
This is the wildest SIM swap scam you've never heard of.
Crypto investor Michael Turpin had just finished a conference.
Miles away, a crew of teenagers bribed telecom employees and hijacked his phone number.
Leading them?
15-year-old Ellis Pinsky.
On a Skype call, Ellis ran scripts to scrape Turpin’s entire digital life—emails, cloud files, anything that might lead to wallet keys.
Then they struck gold:
$900 million in Ethereum.
But it was locked.
So they kept digging.
Hours later, Turpin checked his accounts.
His biggest wallet? Still safe.
But $24 million? Vanished.
It became the largest SIM swap theft from a single person—ever.
Overnight, Ellis was rich.
He bought a Rolex and hid it under his bed.
But the chaos came fast.
One teammate ran off with $1.5 million.
Another talked about hiring a hitman.
Ellis’s journey started young:
Raised in a small NYC apartment
Got his first Xbox at 13
Found hacker forums
Learned SQL injection
Flipped rare Instagram handles
But clout wasn’t enough.
He wanted money.
SIM swapping gave him that.
Trick a telecom worker into moving someone’s number to your SIM—
You gain control of their texts, 2FA, and recovery links.
From there?
Reset passwords.
Crack into emails.
Drain crypto wallets.
But Ellis’s ex-partner Truglia couldn’t stay quiet.
He tweeted: “Stole $24M. Still can’t keep a friend.”
And he got caught—fast.
Used his real name on Coinbase.
The FBI swooped in.
Truglia went to prison.
Ellis? Returned most of the money.
He was underage. Faced no charges.
But Turpin sued him for $22 million.
Then masked gunmen showed up at his home.
Today, Ellis is studying philosophy and computer science at NYU.
He says he wants to build startups.
Repay what he owes.
Move on.
By 15, he had:
– 562 BTC
– Telecom insiders
– A multimillion-dollar lawsuit
– A target on his back
And no idea what was coming next.