Caught at JFK: Bank Account Holder in a "Microsoft" Tech Support Scam Pleads Guilty

But before you board, the FBI shows up.

That's how this story starts.

So what happened?

On August 24, 2020, Abrar Anjum, 34, an Indian national, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in federal court in Providence, Rhode Island, before Chief Judge John J. McConnell, Jr. The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the plea.

According to the DOJ, the scam ran out of call centers in India. Here's how it worked:

• Call center operators falsely claimed to be associated with Microsoft Corporation.
• They told victims malware or viruses had been detected on their computers.
• They offered "services" to remove the malware.
• Along the way, members of the conspiracy got access to victims' online banking usernames and passwords, and took money from victims' accounts.

Anjum's role? He let the conspiracy use bank accounts under his control in the United States to receive the stolen funds. He kept a cut and sent the rest to co-conspirators in India, he admitted.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested him on February 3, 2020, before he boarded a flight to India from JFK. He was arraigned the next day in Providence and stayed in federal custody. Sentencing was set for October 21, 2020.

The charge carries up to 20 years in federal prison, 3 years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.

Here's the thing ...

Everybody focuses on the guy in the call center. But the scheme doesn't work without a U.S. bank account to catch the money.

So the bank account guy is part of the scam. Full stop.

I don't know about you, but "I just let them use my account" sounds like a terrible thing to say to a federal judge.

Why should you care?

If you're in the call business, tech support is the vertical that keeps showing up in DOJ press releases. Fake Microsoft affiliation. Fake virus warnings. Remote access. Drained bank accounts.

If any of your traffic looks like that, you're not in a gray area. You're in the evidence file.

What to do this week

• Never claim a brand affiliation you don't have. Microsoft didn't hire you.
• Kill any script that "detects" problems without an actual diagnosis.
• Treat remote access as a red flag in any campaign you didn't build yourself.
• Never let anyone run money through your accounts. Ever.

Look, protect the people calling in. They trusted the number. That's it.