Post by Scumhunter on Nov 24, 2014 9:44:29 GMT -5
(Above: Top: Sam Jain; bottom: Daniel Sundin Photo Credits: fbi.gov)
Link to American Greed: The Fugitives Episode: (segment starts at 21:35 mark) www.hulu.com/watch/547533
Admin Note #1: According to the fbi.gov website, if you have any information on the whereabouts of Sam Jain or Daniel Sundin, contact your nearest FBI field office or embassy. Tips can also be submitted electronically to the FBI at tips.fbi.gov
If you've been on a computer any time since the year 2003, you've probably seen a "your computer may be infected with a virus" pop-up at least once. You may know now if you didn't back then that it was all a scam. What you may not know is that Shaileshkumar P. "Sam" Jain (pictured above: left), along with his co-conspirator, Bjorn Daniel Sundin (pictured above: right), are inventors of the "scareware", and are still on the run.
Here is a synopsis from the American Greed: The Fugitives episode. They interview Nate Mook, Jain's original co-partner in a legitimate company called e-front that started in 2000. Or at least a company Mook was trying to make legitimate. Even back then, says Mook, Jain stretched the boundaries, doing things that while not technically illegal, was morally in a gray area, such as harvesting e-mails to spammers, and even using the company's e-mails to sell to them.
In 2001, the company folds in large part thanks a public relations hit in regards to Jain. Someone hacks into his computer and finds conversations with him and Sundin, another man he'd meet at the company, and James Reno, a 17-year old code hacker at the time Jain would recruit. The conversations include Jain discussing his contempt for people (Jain is said to not be a people person). He is offered a small role from Mook after it's demise, but it doesn't fit Jain to accept that.
Sam soon reinvents himself exploiting fear and goes from breaking moral laws to breaking legal ones. He creates a website that sells gas masks after the anthrax mailings in 2001 and 2002, and soon starts a website one letter off from the INS's to trick people who need green cards into paying to applying for them.
But the big con would come in 2003, when people's awareness of "malware" on computers becomes mainstream. Jain teams up once again with Sundin and Reno. Jain first starts exploiting malware by creating counterfeit versions of Norton Antivirus. But eventually the start their own company "Innovative Marketing" with their own anti-virus software with names like "winfixer" for 39.95.
The trick is the anti-virus doesn't do anything. People will scan and find a pre-made animation warning them of 200 or so plus viruses on their computer, and that they need to purchase the full version to get rid of them. But it isn't just viruses, along with fake pop-ups and even faking the "blue screen of death" from some websites, they also trick users into thinking they have files from adult websites unknowingly installed on their computer. Some people did visit adult websites and therefore thought it was legitimate, but even those who didn't (or claimed they didn't, sorry trying to lighten the mood
) were tricked.Jain and his co-conspirators are even able to set up an 800 number for customer service, in which they instruct callers to uninstall the real anti-virus software and install their "legitimate" ones.
Eventually the con is found out. The FTC gets more than 1,000 complaints and by 2010, Jain, Sundin, and Reno are all invited on various charges related to their various manipulations in the 00's. (Jain for example is also charged with creating the counterfit anti-virus systems). (Because the fact the scam affected the country and probably world and they were indicted in different parts of the country is why national is the thread location title). In total, the men were said to have taken in over 160 million dollars.
Although Reno was at the time of the American Greed airing in 2013 facing his charges, Jain and Sundin are still on the run and still listed on the FBI's website. Jain faced as many as 20 years in prison. Reports are that Sundin is in Sweden but no arrests have been made. Jain had an office in the Ukraine and is believed to possibly be there. However, Jain also has spent a lot of time in Brazil, likes the beach and likes warm weather. As a Wired Magazine reporter says on the show "If you have a choice between Ukraine and Brazil, where would you go?"
Thoughts? I like most of us have seen those pop-ups. I knew better than to give my credit card information at least, but it shows just how expansive this scam was. Although Brazil is nicer than the Ukraine, I think the show failed to take extradition laws into account, as it will probably although I stress probably be easier to extradite Jain from Brazil than from Ukraine. Sundin seems to be in Sweden but it seems they still can't find him as it's always harder to find someone in their country of nationality.
www.fbi.gov/wanted/cyber/shaileshkumar-p.-jain/view
www.fbi.gov/wanted/cyber/bjorn-daniel-sundin/view
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