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2021-07-01T00:25:56Z

Reverted 1 edit by 174.96.164.220 (talk): No source

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{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}
{{short description|British YouTube personality and scam baiter}}
{{Infobox YouTube personality
| name = Jim Browning
| logo = Jim Browning logo.png
| logo_size = 120
| image =
| image_size =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date =
| birth_place =
| nationality =
| occupation = {{Flatlist|
* Scam baiter
* Software engineer}}
| website =
| pseudonym =
| channels = [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBNG0osIBAprVcZZ3ic84vw Jim Browning]
| years_active = 2014–present
| genre = [[Scam baiting]]
| subscribers = 3.25 million
| views = 205.06 million
| network = |
| silver_button = y
| silver_year = 2018
| gold_button = y
| gold_year = 2020
| stats_update = 30 June 2021
}}
'''Jim Browning''' is the [[Internet]] [[Pseudonym|alias]] of a [[London]]-based [[software engineer]], [[YouTuber]], and [[grey hat]] hacker from [[Northern Ireland]]<ref>{{Cite web|last=Wertheimer|first=Doug Shadel and Neil|title=Inside an International Tech-Support Scam|url=https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-2021/international-tech-support-scam-exposed.html|access-date=18 May 2021|website=AARP|language=english}}</ref> whose content primarily focuses on [[scam baiting|scambaiting]] and exposing scam call centres.

==Scambaiting==
A software engineer by trade, Browning began looking into scammers after a relative lost money to a [[technical support scam]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Bhattacharjee |first=Yudhijit |date=27 January 2021 |title=Who's Making All Those Scam Calls? |work=The New York Times |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/27/magazine/scam-call-centers.html |access-date=27 January 2021 }}</ref> He has since carried out various investigative [[Scam baiting|scam baits]], in which he infiltrates [[computer network]]s run by scammers claiming to be technical support experts<ref name="aarp">{{cite news |title=Inside an International Tech-Support Scam |url=https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-2021/international-tech-support-scam-exposed.html |author=Doug Shadel |work=AARP Bulletin |publisher=[[AARP]] |date=April 2021}}</ref> or [[IRS impersonation scam|posing as US IRS agents]], through the use of [[remote desktop software]] and [[Social engineering (security)|social engineering]].<ref name="gelinas">{{cite web |last1=Gelinas |first1=James |title=How some consumers are fighting back against robocalls |url=https://www.komando.com/privacy/robocall-revenge-how-some-consumers-are-fighting-back-and-you-can-too/573696/ |website=Komando.com |access-date=8 March 2020 |date=20 June 2019}}</ref><ref name="Jones">{{cite news |last1=Cellan-Jones |first1=Rory |title=Tech Tent: Shutting down the software scammers |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-50187088 |access-date=5 March 2020 |work=BBC News |date=25 October 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Tech support scammers hacked back by vigilante |url= https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2020/03/04/tech-support-scammers-hacked-back-by-vigilante/ |website=Naked Security |date=4 March 2020}}</ref><ref name="cbs">{{cite news |title=Robocall revenge: Meet the techies turning the tables on scammers |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/robocall-revenge-meet-the-techies-taking-down-scammers/ |access-date=5 March 2020 |work=CBS News |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|author=Carlos Christian|title=Confessions of a call-centre scammer|date=8 March 2020|website=The Union Journal |url= https://theunionjournal.com/confessions-of-a-call-centre-scammer/|archive-url= https://archive.today/20201030202537/https://theunionjournal.com/confessions-of-a-call-centre-scammer/ |archive-date=30 October 2020 |access-date=30 October 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> Such scams have involved unsolicited calls offering computer services, or websites posing to be reputable companies such as [[Dell]] or [[Microsoft]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name="aarp"/>

===BBC ''Panorama'' investigation===
Browning was featured in a March 2020 episode of the British documentary series ''[[Panorama (British TV programme)|Panorama]]'', in which a large-scale [[Technical support scam|technical support scamming]] operation was infiltrated and extensively documented by Browning and fellow [[YouTuber]] [[Karl Rock]]. The two recorded [[Quadcopter|drone]] and [[CCTV]] footage of the facility in [[Gurgaon|Gurugram]], [[Haryana]] and gathered incriminating evidence linking alleged scammer Amit Chauhan, who also operated a fraudulent travel agency called "Faremart Travels<nowiki>''</nowiki>, to a series of scams targeting [[computer illiteracy|computer-illiterate]] and [[elderly]] people in the [[United Kingdom]] and [[United States]].<ref name="mooney">{{cite news |last1=Mooney |first1=John |title=Northern Irish hacker exposes call centre scam in India |date=8 March 2020 |url= https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/ireland/northern-irish-hacker-exposes-call-centre-scam-in-india-8ks69lwkx |access-date=8 March 2020 |work=The Sunday Times |location= London}}{{registration required}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=VIDEO: Briti häkker avaldas salvestised petukõnekeskuses toimuvast |url= https://maailm.postimees.ee/6913784/briti-hakker-avaldas-salvestised-petukonekeskuses-toimuvast |access-date=5 March 2020 |work=Postimees |date=3 March 2020 |language=et}}</ref><ref name="McCarter">{{cite web |last1=McCarter |first1=Reid |title=Hacker breaks into scammers' CCTV cameras and computer records |url=https://news.avclub.com/tech-scammers-try-to-rip-off-hacker-get-their-cctv-cam-1842091672 |website=[[The A.V. Club]] |access-date=5 March 2020 }}</ref> During a private meeting with his associates, Chauhan was quoted as stating that "We don't give a shit about our customers", expressing apathy towards his victims. A number of [[call centre]] agents under his command were recorded [[schadenfreude|laughing]] at a British man who admitted to suffering from [[depression (mood)|depression]] while being conned into paying for a non-existent computer problem.<ref name="panorama">{{cite news |title=Panorama - Spying on the Scammers |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000fzx2/panorama-spying-on-the-scammers |access-date=5 March 2020 |work=BBC News}}</ref> They were also recorded conning a blind woman with diabetes into paying to fix a bogus computer virus.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Spying on the Scammers: Part 3 |url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTXN9iTKHc8}}</ref> Although Chauhan denied the allegations in a phone interview with the [[BBC]], he was subsequently arrested along with his accountant Sumit Kumar in a raid after the exposé was aired.<ref name="amitbusted">{{cite news |title=Scam call centre owner in custody after the exposé |url= https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-51740214 |access-date=5 March 2020 |work=BBC News |date=4 March 2020}}</ref><ref name="Dhankhar">{{cite news |last1=Dhankhar |first1=Leena |title=Udyog Vihar call centre duped at least 40,000 in 12 countries; 2 arrested |url= https://www.hindustantimes.com/gurugram/udyog-vihar-call-centre-duped-at-least-40-000-in-12-countries-2-arrested/story-vsGBr7p13IF3whT3OTBVwK.html |access-date=5 March 2020 |work=Hindustan Times |location=New Delhi |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200305014851/https://www.hindustantimes.com/gurugram/udyog-vihar-call-centre-duped-at-least-40-000-in-12-countries-2-arrested/story-vsGBr7p13IF3whT3OTBVwK.html |archive-date=5 March 2020 |url-status= dead |date=4 March 2020}}</ref>

===''New York Times'' interview===
Browning was also the subject of a 2021 article by [[Indian Americans|Indian-American]] journalist Yudhijit Bhattacharjee of the ''[[New York Times]]'' where they confronted a small-scale refund scam operation based in [[Kolkata]]. Bhattacharjee, who is also a native of Kolkata prior to moving to the United States, documented a scam baiting operation Browning carried out in December 2019 where he intercepted and intervened with a refund scam involving an elderly woman named Kathleen Langer. Langer, who grew suspicious of the call, told the scammer that she would cease further contact with him, only for the scammer to turn belligerent and lock Langer out of her computer using a small utility called Lock My PC; Browning was able to contact the woman and help her with unlocking her computer which was previously compromised. Bhattacharjee later flew to India in hopes of confronting the scammer whom Browning identified and documented as the person who attempted to con Langer out of her money.<ref name=":0"/>

===AARP report===
The April 2021 issue of the [[American Association of Retired Persons]] (AARP) Bulletin contains an 11-page article by the director of AARP's Washington state office, centering on Browning's work fighting cyber scams.<ref name="aarp"/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{youtube|c=UCBNG0osIBAprVcZZ3ic84vw}}
*{{twitter|JimBrowning11|Jim Browning}}

{{Authority control}}
{{Scams and confidence tricks}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Browning, John}}
[[Category:Activists from Northern Ireland]]
[[Category:British computer specialists]]
[[Category:British software engineers]]
[[Category:British YouTubers]]
[[Category:English-language YouTube channels]]
[[Category:Fraud in India]]
[[Category:Hackers]]
[[Category:Hacking in the 2010s]]
[[Category:Hacking in the 2020s]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Male YouTubers]]
[[Category:Technology YouTubers]]
[[Category:Unidentified people]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]

Jim Browning (YouTuber) - Revision history

>Yeeno: Reverted 1 edit by 174.96.164.220 (talk): No source