In what is being hailed as a ‘landmark’ legal case, a computer scammer in Luton, UK was given a suspended 4 month prison sentence and ordered to pay £5,665 ($9,421) compensation and £13,929 ($23,165) in prosecution costs.
Mohammed Khalid Jamil (34) of Luton, hired call-center staff in India, who would cold-call victims in the UK and pretend to be working for Microsoft. They would persuade the “customer” to allow them access to their computer, and would make the computer less secure – then charge for making it “secure again” – mostly using free software available from Microsoft.
Lord Harris, chairman of the National Trading Standards Board, is quoted as saying “We believe it may be the first ever successful prosecution of someone involved in the Microsoft scam in the UK.”
Jamil operated under the name of “Smart Support Guys” in Luton, near London. He admitted to unfair trading by allowing his staff to make false claims regarding their support services. His jail sentence was suspended for 12 months.
Here’s hoping this isn’t the last computer scammer to end up convicted of a crime!