At the end of May 2021, the media circulated news about an impostor who, posing as a Microsoft employee, convinced the authorities of an African country to pay him a huge sum in exchange for lifelong maintenance of the operating system. We checked to see if this was the case.

Here's what you can learn from the news.

A man claiming to be John Duson contacted the Zimbabwean government in October 2019. He identified himself as a Microsoft employee and told officials that he was allegedly sent by Bill Gates to conclude a one-time deal to service the company's products. Thanks to the collaboration, Duson said, the country's leaders could stop worrying about monthly software bills. John promised to upgrade the Microsoft Office suite and the Windows 7 operating system (to Windows 10). The country's leadership believed the man and allowed him access to their computers. John updated the programs and conducted a three-day workshop: he taught IT people how to do the same thing correctly. After finishing the work, Duson took $40 million and flew away on a private jet.

Imagine the surprise of Zimbabwe's leaders when, a year later, Microsoft billed them again. The politicians realized that they had been deceived, contacted the corporation office and found out that they did not know any John Duson there. Moreover, the company did not send its employees on business trips to Africa. It turned out that all of Duson’s work amounted to updating Windows to version ten. True, Microsoft provided this opportunity to all its users free of charge and without the help of Duson.

At the moment, politicians have no clue where to look for John, and the police continue to search. Officers believe Duson may be in South Africa.

With certain details, this text was distributed by such Russian-language resources as Medialeaks, Geekville, "Notebook", iGiuides and a row others sites. Some of them referred to a publication on an English-language resource bokdaily, from which they also borrowed a photograph of the swindler.

And indeed, on at least four foreign resources (bok daily, MadyCap, Global Nea, Ihlayanews) the same text appeared on May 24, earlier than on any of the Russian sites. And nowhere else. No similar news even when searching in Zimbabwean language Shona.

A more detailed study shows that the above news was first posted on Global Nea, but in practice this makes no difference. The fact is that if we go through all four sites, we will see that the headlines and other materials presented on them are the same. For example, “A monkey whose brain was chipped by Elon Musk’s head exploded after several hours of video games.”. Or: “One Trump supporter left a four-foot turd on the floor of the Capitol. A DNA test will determine its real owner.". Or: “Four-year-old girl accidentally donated $500,000 to Nigerian spammers using her father’s credit card.”. As you probably guessed, we are dealing with another satirical news site and its mirrors. The most famous similar Russian resource is News Agency "Panorama" - does not hide his humorous nature, but things often happen to him incidents in the form of reprints by more serious sites. Of course, such a thing does not bypass fate and materials from Global Nea where there is no corresponding warning.

However, attentive readers might suspect that the news about Zimbabwe was fictitious based on other indirect signs. For example, it is obvious that a sovereign and relatively peaceful country should have its own official representation Microsoft (even if sometimes responsible for several countries at once) and officials do not need “a man from Bill Gates.” In addition, these days such operations can be carried out on the Internet - in particular, the corporation has page for those living in Zimbabwe. The country also participates in other projectsrelated to Microsoft.

The amazingly clear photograph of the scammer is very similar to those automatically generated by special sites. In addition, it was mirrored and presented as a “second” within the same material. $40 million weighs even in 100 dollar bills 400 kg, and in general it is unlikely that the computers of one or several buildings, even over decades, may require expenses of this order. And finally, John Doeson (as the surname is written in the original news) is, after all, “son of John Doe”, that is, an anonymous person in foreign document flow. However, the last fact could theoretically come from the swindler himself.

So, the news that caused a stir in a number of Russian media, as we have seen, is satirical.