First MSN Phisher Gets Jail Time
An Iowa man has become the first to be convicted of perpetrating a phishing scam against Microsoft’s MSN portal customers.
Jayson Harris of Davenport IA received a 21-month sentence on Friday after entering a guilty plea to fraud and wire fraud charges relating to a scan to dupe MSN customers with a spoof MSN Web site that captured credit card numbers and other personal data.
The Microsoft Internet Safety Enforcement Team discovered the ruse, located Harris’ address, and referred the case to the FBI for investigation. FBI agents executed a search warrant and seized Harris’ computers, which held records of the phishing exploits.
“Today marks a new milestone in Microsoft’s global phishing enforcement initiative,” said Aaron Kornblum, Microsoft Internet Safety attorney. “It’s about taking the fight to the phishers.”
To date, Microsoft has filed 125 lawsuits against phishers and has taken down more than 2,000 phishing Web sites targeting Microsoft, MSN and Hotmail users since January 2004.
