Since 2004, Roger Davidson's basically been living in a twisted Dan Brown novel. It all started when a computer repair guy informed him that a virus on his computer was linked to Opus Dei, Polish priests, and death threats.
In August of 2004, Davidson, a wealthy composer, took his computer to Datalink Computer Products, a local computer repair shop. He was worried that a virus might destroy the music compositions he had saved on the gadget. Information from the shop's owner, Vickram Bedi, left him with far worse worries though: His life was in danger.
According to what Bedi told Davidson, the virus was not only so devastating that it damaged the machines in the repair shop, but it was also part of an elaborate international conspiracy:
The conspiracy allegedly involved a mysterious hard drive in a remote village of Honduras and a plot to infiltrate the United States government by Polish priests linked to Opus Dei.
For whatever reason, Davidson believed this inane tale and agreed to "pay the computer shop not only for data retrieval, but for personal protection." Since that time, Davidson has paid somewhere between six and twenty million dollars to Datalink Computer Products, Vickram Bedi, and Helga Invarsdottir, a Datalink Computer Products employee.
The scammers have finally been arrested this week and charged with first-degree grand larceny. There's no word on whether the arrest has helped Davidson sleep any more easily at night. [NYT via Network World via Net-Security via Slashdot]
Photo via Roger Davidson Music