Microsoft scam call conman reaches the end of the line

[wehateporn]

These guys (or equivalent) used to phone me every day at one point

"The Luton 'businessman' is believed to be the first person in the UK successfully prosecuted over the long-running cold-call con"

Full story http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news...hammed-3341579

"With cold callers based overseas who hide behind a smokescreen of lies, this is a rampant con that I thought might never result in a culprit being held to account.

So what a delight to see a Microsoft scammer end up in a British court.

Mohammed Khalid Jamil ran a gang that managed to turn over £1million a year by phoning people at home and convincing them that their computers had a virus which urgently needed tackling.

Despite using cold callers in India and operating out of Dubai “for tax reasons”, the crook was caught when experts in online crime followed the money trail to companies he’d set up in the UK.

Now the 34-year-old, who also lives in Luton, Beds, has been given a suspended jail sentence after being nailed by the National Trading Standards eCrime Team.

“This is a landmark case, as we believe it may be the first ever successful prosecution of someone involved in the Microsoft scam in the UK,” said Lord Toby Harris, chairman of the National Trading Standards Board.

“It’s an important turning point for UK consumers who have been plagued by this scam, or variants of it, for several years.

“Many have succumbed to it, parting with significant sums of money, their computers have been compromised and their personal details have been put at risk.

“Now that one of the many individuals who’ve been operating this scam has been brought to justice, it’s a stark warning to anyone else
still doing it, that they can be caught and will be prosecuted.”

Jamil’s callers told their victims that their computers would crash unless a virus was dealt with.

They claimed to be Microsoft technicians and would remotely take over the computer and then charge for curing the problem by installing free anti-virus software.

Victims who fell for the lies paid between £30 and £150 to have their systems “cleaned” – an entirely unnecessary process.

Investigators received 370 complaints about Jamil’s operation, Smart Support Guys, a figure which is probably the tip of the iceberg.

Deborah Sherwin, prosecuting at York crown court, said that Jamil had previously been warned by Luton Trading Standards for running an earlier version of the scam under a different name.

In sentencing, Recorder James Baird said: “There were a number of aggravating features including a series of warnings from 2010.”

The court was told in mitigation that Jamil admitted “failure to control the call centre” – weasel words designed to distance the crook from the actions of his own company.

He was given a suspended four-month jail sentence and ordered to pay a fine of £5,000, costs of £13,929 and compensation of £5,665.

Continued http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news...hammed-3341579

[Maraschino]

I used to get those calls frequently too. After the first call and my hangup, I researched them and found all the complaints and bs. I used to have quite a bit of fun with them when they called after that, seeing how long it would be before they hung up on me

[fpcgary]

Ya, that suspended sentence and small fine will be a stark warning to other third worlders looking to scam some cash. Today the world is a safer place.