Two executives of Cyprus-registered call tracking firm C.A. Cloud Attribution have pleaded guilty to knowingly providing telecommunications infrastructure to tech support scammers. Adam Young, the company's former CEO, and Harrison Gevirtz, former Chief Security Officer, admitted to selling phone numbers, call recordings, and call-forwarding services to India-based operations running fake technical support scams between early 2017 and April 2022. The Department of Justice prosecution reveals how legitimate-appearing business services can enable large-scale fraud operations.
The scams followed a standard pattern: victims received fake pop-up warnings about computer infections, then called numbers provided in the alerts. Fraudsters impersonating Microsoft and Apple technicians would charge hundreds of dollars for fictitious repairs, and in some cases gained remote access to victims' computers to steal financial information. Prosecutors say the executives actively coached their criminal clients on operational security, advising them to rotate through large pools of phone numbers to prevent any single account from accumulating enough complaints to trigger termination.
The two executives went beyond passive facilitation. According to court documents, they instructed their own sales staff to pursue businesses they knew were fraudulent and occasionally brokered introductions between different fraud operations to facilitate call trading. Young and Gevirtz also operated their own call center in Tunisia from 2016 to April 2022, where staff allegedly conducted fake tech support scams directly. The executives deliberately kept their company's details off the pop-up alerts to maintain a low profile while profiting from the fraud infrastructure.
Both men pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony (concealing knowledge of a crime), which carries a maximum sentence of three years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. Notably, prosecutors did not pursue wire fraud conspiracy charges, which carry sentences up to 20 years. This case follows a 2023 Federal Trade Commission action against payment processor Nexway, which paid $650,000 after allegations it processed payments for tech support scammers who represented roughly 25 percent of its revenue.
The relatively light potential sentences raise questions about deterrence for infrastructure providers tempted to profit from fraud operations. FBI Boston Special Agent Ted E. Docks stated the executives "willfully profited from telemarketing and tech support scammers who preyed on the elderly, exploited the vulnerable, and drained victims of their life savings." Sentencing for both defendants is scheduled for June 16, 2026. Security experts continue to advise users to verify any unsolicited technical support requests independently before providing access or payment information.
Source: https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/2026/05/scammers-pretending-to-be-microsoft-had-help-from-us-executives