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Brit IT firms wound up by court order after fooling folk into paying for 'support' over fake computer errors

Companies were puppets to Indian biz Underpin Services Private Limited

Two Kent-registered IT companies have been wound up in the High Court of England and Wales for trying to scam punters with fake pop-ups to generate tech support cons.

The court heard that Msinfosys Support Ltd and MS Global Support Ltd, both operated by the same director, generated unsolicited pop-up error messages that appeared on people's computers.

When those folk called to check what was wrong, they were led to believe there was a fault with their tech. Some even paid money to fix the bogus issues.

The court heard how the victims of the scam were led to believe they were dealing with "well-known software companies."

Investigators found that the director, Vikram Singh, had no real control of either company and work was outsourced to a company in India called Underpin Services Private Limited.

Vikram Singh admitted both companies were Underpin's businesses and allowed Underpin to trade in the UK, the High Court was told.

Neither Msinfosys Support nor MS Global Support was authorised to act on behalf of the larger software suppliers and both were wound up "in the public interest" in the High Court on 9 March.

Although the case was heard in March, the Insolvency Service has only just issued a formal statement on the case, explaining there was a pause on government communications due to the purdah period before local and national elections in May.

In a statement, Edna Okhiria, chief investigator at the Insolvency Service, said: "Msinfosys Support Ltd and MS Global Support Ltd deliberately used false pretences to deceive consumers, with many paying the companies on the belief they were dealing with well-known software companies or their authorised representatives.

"In reality, both companies were controlled by an overseas company with the director recognising he had no knowledge of what the company informed consumers.

"The court recognised the severity of this misconduct and both have been removed from the business environment to protect the public from further harm."

The Insolvency Service started confidential investigations into both companies following complaints from customers. ®

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