Phisher caught with 21 month jail term
Microsoft scores its first victory against MSN phisher
A 23-year-old phishing site operator from Iowa has been sentenced to a 21 month jail term and has to pay $57,294 in restitution. Following his release, Jayson Harris will be subject to supervised release for three years.
Harris had earlier pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud and fraud.
Harris between January 2003 and June 2004 operated a phoney MSN billing website. He guided visitors to the site through spam email messages, asking MSN customers to visit the website and update their account information and credit card numbers in exchange for a 50 per cent discount for the next month's MSN service.
Microsoft tracked down the phishers and forwarded the information to the FBI for further investigation, leading to his conviction.
"We hope this sentencing will help to keep our customers safe online and serve to have a deterrent effect on phishers and would-be phishers who consider profiting in this way," Aaron Kornblum, an internet safety enforcement attorney for Microsoft, wrote on a company blog.
Microsoft is known for hunting down online criminals, but its actions have mostly resulted in the arrest and conviction of botnet operators. The Harris case marks the first time that the company assisted in the conviction of a phisher.
Reproduced from an article published by vnunet.com
© vnunet.com
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http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2158925/phishing-site-operator-gets-21
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