Three city residents booked

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 31

Three city residents running two companies have been booked for allegedly duping people in the name of Microsoft Corporation.

Complainant in the case Arvind Gopal of Microsoft Corporation Pvt Ltd, New Delhi, has alleged that Geeks Technical Solutions and Mark Software Systems, both having their registered offices at Sector 7, Chandigarh, and operational office at Sector 82, Mohali, and its officials namely Kunal Bansal, Mohit Bansal and Amanpreet Singh had been misrepresenting themselves of being associated with Microsoft and thereby deceiving the customers of Microsoft and general public by extorting money from them using false pretences of providing technical support services by claiming to be certified by or associated with Microsoft.

The complainant has alleged that the accused persons were found to be involved in the unlawful transmission of false pop-up messages to the innocent public across the globe stating that their computer systems were infected with viruses and it posed security risks. If not rectified immediately, the said computer system would be at the risk of getting seriously damaged or hacked, which may in turn lead to personal and financial details of such victims being compromised. The ‘pop-up messages’ claimed to be from a ‘Microsoft business partner’ or ‘Microsoft authorised technical service provider.’ This false representation deceives the victim. The victim is coerced into believing the said ‘pop-up’ message.

As a result of this, the victim gets lured into believing that the Microsoft has sent the message after which the victim is coerced into following the command prompts and follow the website links stated in such ‘pop-up messages’ and ends up sharing the contact details with the agents of the said fraudulent companies. Then the employees of the accused persons make telephone calls from their call centre and impersonate themselves as experts from the technical team of the Microsoft or associate of Microsoft, thus coerce the victim into paying for bogus services.

Acting on the complaint, the UT police have registered a case under various sections of the IPC and the IT Act against the three accused at the Sector 26 police station.

False pop-up messages

The complainant has alleged that the accused persons were found to be involved in the unlawful transmission of false pop-up messages to the innocent public across the globe stating that their computer systems were infected with viruses and it posed security risks. If not rectified immediately, the said computer system would be at the risk of getting seriously damaged or hacked, which may in turn lead to personal and financial details of such victims being compromised.