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Organizer of the biggest tech support scam behind bars.
In the Southern District of New York, the trial of Vinot Ponmaran, the organizer of a large fraudulent scheme with technical support, has ended. The court sentenced him to seven years in prison for defrauding more than 6,500 people in the United States and Canada. Using social engineering and technical tricks, the criminal group headed by him stole a total of over $ 6 million.
The fraud scheme was carefully thought out and aimed mainly at the elderly: pop-ups appeared on the computer screens of victims claiming that their device was infected with a virus. In the windows, you were prompted to call the specified number for technical support. In some cases, victims were threatened that restarting or shutting down the computer could cause serious system damage and complete data loss. In order to give the appearance of legitimacy, some pop-up windows used logos of well-known technology companies without their permission. In fact, there were no viruses on the victims computers, and the technical support phone numbers indicated in the windows were not related to legitimate companies.
When victims fell for the trick, they paid for "repairs" that included remote access to their computers and running a free antivirus tool available on the Internet. Thus, the victims were forced to pay for non-existent services.
Ponmaran played a key role in this criminal scheme. He ran a call center in India that provided bogus tech support services to victims. He also recruited accomplices in the United States to register fictitious corporations and open bank accounts that received money from victims. In addition, Ponmaran laundered the funds received, transferring them to accounts in India and the United States.
In addition to the prison sentence, 36-year-old Ponmaran, an Indian citizen, will have to pay more than $ 6 million in damages.
Ponmaran's co-conspirators, Roman Leyva and Ariful Haq, were convicted by a court in 2022 after pleading guilty. Leyva received 100 months in prison. The court ordered her to return more than $ 4.5 million received from criminal activities and pay compensation in the amount of more than $ 2.7 million. Hack received a year and one day in prison. The court also ordered him to return more than 38 thousand dollars and pay compensation in the amount of more than 470 thousand dollars.
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In the Southern District of New York, the trial of Vinot Ponmaran, the organizer of a large fraudulent scheme with technical support, has ended. The court sentenced him to seven years in prison for defrauding more than 6,500 people in the United States and Canada. Using social engineering and technical tricks, the criminal group headed by him stole a total of over $ 6 million.
The fraud scheme was carefully thought out and aimed mainly at the elderly: pop-ups appeared on the computer screens of victims claiming that their device was infected with a virus. In the windows, you were prompted to call the specified number for technical support. In some cases, victims were threatened that restarting or shutting down the computer could cause serious system damage and complete data loss. In order to give the appearance of legitimacy, some pop-up windows used logos of well-known technology companies without their permission. In fact, there were no viruses on the victims computers, and the technical support phone numbers indicated in the windows were not related to legitimate companies.
When victims fell for the trick, they paid for "repairs" that included remote access to their computers and running a free antivirus tool available on the Internet. Thus, the victims were forced to pay for non-existent services.
Ponmaran played a key role in this criminal scheme. He ran a call center in India that provided bogus tech support services to victims. He also recruited accomplices in the United States to register fictitious corporations and open bank accounts that received money from victims. In addition, Ponmaran laundered the funds received, transferring them to accounts in India and the United States.
In addition to the prison sentence, 36-year-old Ponmaran, an Indian citizen, will have to pay more than $ 6 million in damages.
Ponmaran's co-conspirators, Roman Leyva and Ariful Haq, were convicted by a court in 2022 after pleading guilty. Leyva received 100 months in prison. The court ordered her to return more than $ 4.5 million received from criminal activities and pay compensation in the amount of more than $ 2.7 million. Hack received a year and one day in prison. The court also ordered him to return more than 38 thousand dollars and pay compensation in the amount of more than 470 thousand dollars.
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