Microsoft thanks FBI for nabbing scammer

Microsoft has thanked the FBI and the US Attorney's Office following the successful prosecution of an email scammer who passed himself off as its online service, MSN.

The company stressed that it had cooperated with the investigation that resulted in Matthew Thomas Guevara pleading guilty last week to wire fraud.

The case centred on fraudulent email messages designed to appear as official MSN communications, which attempted to solicit personal account and financial data from MSN customers.

The US Attorney's Office and Microsoft said they would contact the "approximately 180 MSN customers who, evidence indicates, were compromised by this crime".

"Microsoft is committed to protecting its customers from consumer fraud and other internet scams like the one in this case," said Brad Smith, Microsoft general counsel.

"We will continue to do whatever we can to support law enforcement to see that those who commit crimes on the internet are caught and convicted."

The case highlighted the need for consumers to be wary of any communication that attempts to solicit personal information such as credit card details or Social Security numbers, however legitimate it may appear to be.