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Text Message Scammer Gets Five Years in Prison (reuters.com)
36-year-old Fraser Thompson is going to prison, according to Reuters, after receiving a five-year sentence for "defrauding" cellphone customers out of millions of dollars. An anonymous reader quotes Reuters:
Prosecutors said Thompson engaged in a scheme to sign up hundreds of thousands of cellphone customers for paid text messaging services without their consent. The customers were subsequently forced to pay more than $100 million for unsolicited text messages that included trivia, horoscopes and celebrity gossip, according to the prosecutors. They said the scheme was headed by Darcy Wedd, Mobile Messenger's former chief executive, who was found guilty by a jury in December but has not yet been sentenced. "They ripped off everyday cellphone users, $10 a month, netting over $100 million in illegal profits, of which Thompson personally received over $1.5 million," Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said in a statement.
Thompson was ordered to forfeit $1.5 million in "fraud proceeds," according to the article, and was convicted of conspiracy, wire fraud, identity theft and money laundering.
Seven other people also pleaded guilty to participating in the scam -- and one has already been sentenced to 33 months in prison.
Thompson was ordered to forfeit $1.5 million in "fraud proceeds," according to the article, and was convicted of conspiracy, wire fraud, identity theft and money laundering.
Seven other people also pleaded guilty to participating in the scam -- and one has already been sentenced to 33 months in prison.
You get signed up for a premium SMS "service" by someone else, with having done anything yourself to subscribe. If you ignore the message, instead of texting STOP, you start getting billed.
I experienced this several years ago. When I was signed up for a premium SMS by someone else, I called up Verizon and complained. Verizon told me they had unsubscribed me and put a premium SMS block on my account. Then they tried to bill me for it, anyway. I didn't end up paying that bill after another, angrier, call to Verizon about the issue.
The scam is that unless people opt out, they automatically start getting billed because someone else subscribed them without their consent.
perhaps you might want to read the whole thing. His cut was 1.5 million therefore he got fined what he stole (should have been at least double what he stole in my opinion, only losing what you gain is not sufficient penalty), the overall companies profits was 100 million for which many other people are also being prosecuted and I imagine the company will also face heavy penalties.