Drug Cartels Selling Counterfeit Microsoft Software

Nobody likes drug cartels. Even the people who love drugs have no trouble admitting that the cartels are crazy, blood-thirsty murder-faces. No one wants to support these people. But you may be, if you're purchasing counterfeit software from the wrong shady street vendor. Microsoft recently announced that a Mexican drug cartel has been found selling Windows software on "the streets".

Above: Cash seized from the Familia cartel after an unrelated bust.

In one example, an Office 2007 disk was found stamped with the logo of Mexico's Familia cartel. They are believed to have 180,000 points of sale around the globe. That's $2.2 million sold every single day, with much of that money going back home to fund more terrible things.

Buying counterfeit software isn't just shady as all hell, it's also likely to load your computer up with viruses and spyware. Torrents have that same risk, but at least they don't directly fund mass murderers. Be smart kids. If you're going to break the law and steal software, at least avoid giving money to psychopaths.

[Via The Microsoft Blog]