A Charlotte man has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for his role in a multi-million-dollar international tech support scam that targeted thousands of victims.
Nachiket Banwari received a 30-year sentence. His co-defendants — Hunter Mello of Massachusetts and Richard Nolan of Colorado — were sentenced to 40 months and 24 months in prison, respectively.
All three men will serve three years of supervised release and must collectively repay $3,711,000 in restitution.
According to court documents, the scheme involved deceptive internet pop-ups that froze victims’ computers, falsely warning them that their systems had been hacked. The pop-ups directed victims to call a listed phone number for technical support.
Those calls were routed to call centers in India, where operators allegedly posed as employees of Microsoft. Victims were then convinced to pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars to fix computer problems that did not exist.
Banwari worked for Capstone Technology, a Charlotte-based business that authorities say used the malicious pop-ups and overseas call centers to defraud victims. Court records indicate the company collected approximately $7 million from thousands of people.
In a related case, another North Carolina man connected to Capstone was sentenced in 2019 for conspiring to defraud hundreds of victims out of more than $3 million.
Authorities say the case highlights the widespread impact of tech support scams and the serious legal consequences for those involved.
