Tech Shout!

A 23-year-old phishing site operator from Iowa has been sentenced to a 21 month jail term and has to pay $57,294 in restitution. Following his release, Jayson Harris will be subject to supervised release for three years. Microsoft tracked down the phishers and forwarded the information to the FBI for further investigation, leading to his conviction.

Harris had earlier pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud and fraud.

Harris between January 2003 and June 2004 operated a fake MSN billing website. He guided visitors to the site through spam email messages, asking MSN customers to visit the website and update their account information and credit card numbers in exchange for a 50 per cent discount for the next month’s MSN service.

“We hope this sentencing will help to keep our customers safe online and serve to have a deterrent effect on phishers and would-be phishers who consider profiting in this way,” Aaron Kornblum, an internet safety enforcement attorney for Microsoft, wrote on a company blog.

Software giant, Microsoft is known for hunting down online criminals, but its actions have mostly resulted in the arrest and conviction of botnet operators. This recently uncovered phishing case, marks the first time that the company assisted in the conviction of a phisher.