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A COMPUTER genius scammed more than £1.5 million from unsuspecting clients, a court has heard.
Peter Francis-Macrae, nicknamed Weaselboy, turned nasty when investigated, prosecutors claimed - threatening to bring the economy to its knees and making bomb threats to police.
Francis-Macrae, 23, from Bedford Street, St Neots, is charged with two counts of fraudulent trading, one count of transferring criminal property, threatening to destroy or damage property, four counts of threats to kill and one count of blackmail, all of which he denies.
Peterborough Crown Court heard yesterday (Tuesday, 11 October) that he traded under the company name of "Ultra Technologies Ltd" which was an umbrella company for three enterprises, two of which - EU Registry Services and Domain Renewal Services - are the subject of the charges.
Rupert Mayo, for the prosecution, explained that EU Registry Services was supposedly set up so customers could order an internet domain name ending in ".eu".
That domain name has not been released for sale as yet by the European registry of internet domain names, and Francis-Macrae has never been registered as an official .eu domain name supplier.
It is claimed he took payments from customers for domain names which he could never have supplied.
Under Domain Renewal Services, he allegedly targeted people whose domain names were due for renewal.
He sent renewal notices warning their domain name would expire unless they made a payment.
Payments were made to an address in Regents Street, Cambridge.
Mr Mayo, told the jury how Francis-Macrae began threatening civilian police and Cambridgeshire Trading Standards staff when he came under investigation.
At one point, he told Cambridgeshire Police to sweep the car park of their headquarters at Huntingdon for bombs.
He told other members of staff that they should "watch out" and that they should die.
When internet policing group Nominet posted warnings of Francis-Macrae's alleged internet scams on their website, the defendant allegedly responded by saying he would attack Nominet servers.
Mr Mayo explained that if that threat was carried out, all email and web traffic for the UK would have been paralysed, costing the economy millions of pounds an hour.
Mr Mayo said: "He had been found out and the feathering of his nest looked like it had come to an end."
The prosecution claimed accounts showed Francis-Macrae made a total profit of £1.6 million, not including more than 3,000 cheques from potential customers which were seized by police.
The trial continues.
http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/huntingdon/2005/10/12/e3816457-e6e5-42ae-92a3-c1a7cc0eadf6.lpf
Peter Francis-Macrae, nicknamed Weaselboy, turned nasty when investigated, prosecutors claimed - threatening to bring the economy to its knees and making bomb threats to police.
Francis-Macrae, 23, from Bedford Street, St Neots, is charged with two counts of fraudulent trading, one count of transferring criminal property, threatening to destroy or damage property, four counts of threats to kill and one count of blackmail, all of which he denies.
Peterborough Crown Court heard yesterday (Tuesday, 11 October) that he traded under the company name of "Ultra Technologies Ltd" which was an umbrella company for three enterprises, two of which - EU Registry Services and Domain Renewal Services - are the subject of the charges.
Rupert Mayo, for the prosecution, explained that EU Registry Services was supposedly set up so customers could order an internet domain name ending in ".eu".
That domain name has not been released for sale as yet by the European registry of internet domain names, and Francis-Macrae has never been registered as an official .eu domain name supplier.
It is claimed he took payments from customers for domain names which he could never have supplied.
Under Domain Renewal Services, he allegedly targeted people whose domain names were due for renewal.
He sent renewal notices warning their domain name would expire unless they made a payment.
Payments were made to an address in Regents Street, Cambridge.
Mr Mayo, told the jury how Francis-Macrae began threatening civilian police and Cambridgeshire Trading Standards staff when he came under investigation.
At one point, he told Cambridgeshire Police to sweep the car park of their headquarters at Huntingdon for bombs.
He told other members of staff that they should "watch out" and that they should die.
When internet policing group Nominet posted warnings of Francis-Macrae's alleged internet scams on their website, the defendant allegedly responded by saying he would attack Nominet servers.
Mr Mayo explained that if that threat was carried out, all email and web traffic for the UK would have been paralysed, costing the economy millions of pounds an hour.
Mr Mayo said: "He had been found out and the feathering of his nest looked like it had come to an end."
The prosecution claimed accounts showed Francis-Macrae made a total profit of £1.6 million, not including more than 3,000 cheques from potential customers which were seized by police.
The trial continues.
http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/huntingdon/2005/10/12/e3816457-e6e5-42ae-92a3-c1a7cc0eadf6.lpf
