Man put ‘virus’ in older people’s computers to scam them out of US$10mil, US feds say

From March 2015 through December 2018, Ponmaran is accused of participating in a “fraud ring” that targeted older adults across the US and Canada and convinced them they had a virus in their computer, according to the indictment. — Photo by Christian Wiediger on Unsplash

A man is accused of playing a “leading role” in a US$10mil (RM44.53mil) computer virus scam that tricked older adults into believing their devices were infected, federal officials said.

Vinoth Ponmaran, 34, of India, was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud, according to a July 20 news release from the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.