Three individuals have been arrested on charges related to running tech support scams for several years. The victims were mostly elderly who stated they were tricked into paying for fake computer repair services.
Allegedly pretending to be affiliated with major tech companies, Gunjit Malhotra, Gurjet Singh, and Jas Pal accessed victims' computers and caused them to malfunction in order to convince that repairs were required.
This scam was allegedly being conducted for about seven years, between 2013 and 2019, and used multiple companies to charge for the fake computer services, making in excess of $1.3 million.
Classic tech-support swindle
In a complaint filed by FBI Special Agent Carie Jeleniewski, the trio engaged in cold calling the victims, a tactic typical for tech support scams, claiming to be from world-known computer companies and warning the victims that their computer was infected with a virus.
They also waited for victims to call them, most likely after seeing fake messages falsely alerting hem that their computer systems had been infected. This was also a common tactic and relied on users' clicking the wrong link and landing on fraudulent websites.
After establishing contact, the scammers deceived the victims with offers of repair and disinfection services and convinced them to give remote access to their computers.
The complaint further stated that three people opened bank accounts for the following entities: "22nd Century ITC," "Pro Advisor Solutions," "NY Software Solutions Inc," "Seasia Consulting Inc," "Sav IT," and "Reussite Technologies." Checks from the victims were paid to these companies and others.
Victim falls for thousands of dollars
Most of the victims paid amounts between $225 a ..
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