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Phisher Man Arrested -- Discovers He Now Owes $3 Million To Bill Gates
from the oops dept
While there have been lawsuits filed against the various people behind phishing scams, actually tracking them down isn't very easy. With a little legwork, however, Microsoft and federal officials were able to track down a man who had run a phishing scam targeting Microsoft users. Microsoft had filed the "John Doe" case against this guy two years ago, and the courts gave Microsoft a default judgment in the case for $3 million. Of course, all that time, they didn't actually know who the guy was -- which might seem a bit unfair, since he was unable to defend himself. Either way, Microsoft recently figured out who he was, and passed on the info to federal authorities who tracked him down earlier this week. The $3 million he apparently owes Microsoft is probably the least of his problems now, however. He's being charged with 75 counts of wire fraud, and each count can lead to 20 years in jail or a fine.
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Going to sound petty, but...
I can't help but wonder which statement best explains this situation:
1) Bill Gates and Microsoft are truly concerned about the safety of their customers and go to great lengths to ensure this.
2) Bill Gates and Microsoft feel that misleading people and ripping them off is their exclusive domain and they don't like competition, so they're using the courts to eliminate them.
I'd like to believe it's #1, but the little devil on my shoulder is assuring me that it's really #2.
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Re: Going to sound petty, but...
Yes, that was petty.
The correct answer is
3) Microsoft found themselves having a negative reputation and are working to turn that negative to a positive.
Honestly... If you had their reputation, and you thought it was hurting sales, woudln't you try to fix it?
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Microsoft's reputation
[Microsoft] "are working to turn that negative to a positive"
Mission Impossible, eh? ;)
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Re: Going to sound petty, but...
Yeah, I'd try to fix it but you should know by now that that isn't how M$ operates. Think of the least logical thing you would do then mask it to look like something else and that, my friend, is exactly what M$ will do. Pretty much the same in politics, religion and other human institutions, eh?
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Re: Going to sound petty, but...
Calm down, if all of Microsoft's software worked as it was advertised, the ones that sell software to make Microsoft's work would be out of business and the Fed's would would really be down Microsoft's throat for having a real monopoly.
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Re: Going to sound petty, but...
Are you sure it's not just a corporation doing things which are easy as hell to do and what any legal department would probably do anyway regardless or if it was microsoft or not? I mean people tend to treat microsoft as if it was a single entity, and apple and ibm and intel and everything single corp throws out lawsuits like candy and nobody complains about that....
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Phishing
THere is a great tool to stop phishers www.inspectorbrown.com
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No Subject Given
How dare Microsoft be in business to make money. How dare Microsoft go after people who ruin the user's experience. How dare Microsoft.
You guys need to get off the anti-Microsoft band wagon...
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Re: No Subject Given
I agree with above. You guys all need to STFU. If you don't like microsoft don't use it. There are PLENTY of alternatives and if you don't know them, then don't be mad for being stupid. Stupid.
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Re: No Subject Given
You guys need to get off the anti-Microsoft band wagon...
How about Microsoft shipping products that work as advertised?
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Re: No Subject Given
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