Four Year Prison Sentence in "Phishing" Scheme

A West Haven man has been sentenced to four years in prison, plus three years probation, in a phishing and spamming scheme targeting customers of America On Line. . . Prosecutors say 25 year old Charlie Blount Junior pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit fraud.

They say he conspired with others to harvest AOL customers' e-mail -- then sent counterfeit e-mails to those accounts which tried to infect the subscriber's computer with a "block" purportedly from AOL which required security information in order for the customer to access the account. Once the defendants obtained that information, they used it to produce counterfeit debit cards which they used online, at ATM machines and at stores.

In addition to the prison time, Judge Alvin Thompson ordered Blount to pay more than $33,000 restitution to his victims.

Another conspirator, Michael Dolan, was sentenced to a seven-year sentence in the case.