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View Full Version : Microsoft Investigates Software Fraud!


Chanelle Stevenson
07-28-2003, 07:46 PM
PI Members,

This story aired on local television here in Atlanta, Georgia yesterday. Fred Williams of Peachtree City was caught selling fake Microsoft® software on the Internet.

Hopefully none of our members purchased any packages from this guy. He was successful is selling $80K worth of fake software.

Microsoft investigated Willimas themselves, and contacted the FBI and they tracked him down. He has been arrested and will appear in court to face the charges at a later date.

The exact process that Microsoft discovered him was not indicated, however, it can be easily assumed that anyone attempting to register the software or seeking technical assistance would have to give a valid key code would encounter difficulties. The time frame of the investigation was also not given. The web sites name resembled (zbestdeals.com or thebestdeals.com.)

Anyone experiencing any difficulty with software that may have been purchased from a site similar to one of these names should contact Microsoft immediately.

Good job for internal investigations.

Chanelle Stevenson
Computer Forensics Private Investigator Trainee

:)
Edward Taguba
07-29-2003, 11:55 AM
wow thanks for sharing.
Don Menard
07-29-2003, 02:13 PM
WOW. Excellent. Thank you Chanelle.
Kathleen Padgett
07-31-2003, 10:33 AM
Cool, glad they got this guy! Thanks for sharing this story Chanelle.
Michael Harris
08-01-2003, 02:09 PM
I try to buy my software directly from the manufacturer unless I get it bundled with the computer.

A large firm I worked for had its employees targeted in one of these frauds.:o
Jeff Creedon
08-26-2003, 08:15 PM
What amazes me are all the different companies out there that commit fraud like this by "ghosting" hard drives and not paying for the licensing for it.
Michael Harris
08-26-2003, 09:16 PM
Jeff,

It is so easy.

In the old days, you bought software and either ran it from the disk or had to put the disk in even though the software was on the hard drive.

Then life got easieer and you loaded the software on the hard drive and lost the disk (at lest I did).

Now, much of the software cannot be loaded without calling the manufacturer and getting a 'key' to unlock the features you just bought. And some of them have gone back to requiring the disk to be in the drive.

Inconvenience! And all because of crookks! :mad: