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Court Shuts Down Alleged $120M Tech Support Scam
wiredmikey writes A federal court has temporarily shut down and frozen the assets of two telemarketing operations accused by the FTC of scamming customers out of more than $120 million by deceptively marketing computer software and tech support services. According to complaints filed by the FTC, since at least 2012, the defendants used software designed to trick consumers into believing there were problems with their computers and then hit them with sales pitches for tech support products and services to fix their machines.
According to the FTC, the scams began with computer software that claimed to improve the security or performance of the customer's computer. Typically, consumers downloaded a free, trial version of the software that would run a computer system scan. The scan always identified numerous errors, whether they existed or not. Consumers were then told that in order to fix the problems they had to purchase the paid version of the software for between $29 and $49. In order to activate the software after the purchase, consumers were then directed to call a toll-free number and connected to telemarketers who tried to sell them unneeded computer repair services and software, according to the FTC complaint. The services could cost as much as $500, the FTC stated.
According to the FTC, the scams began with computer software that claimed to improve the security or performance of the customer's computer. Typically, consumers downloaded a free, trial version of the software that would run a computer system scan. The scan always identified numerous errors, whether they existed or not. Consumers were then told that in order to fix the problems they had to purchase the paid version of the software for between $29 and $49. In order to activate the software after the purchase, consumers were then directed to call a toll-free number and connected to telemarketers who tried to sell them unneeded computer repair services and software, according to the FTC complaint. The services could cost as much as $500, the FTC stated.
did this take so long to occur. It amazes me both that people fall for this, and that the credit card companies allow these services to operate under merchant accounts.
If we consider the aggregate harm of these scams, they're on the order of mass murder, possibly up there with actual war. Thus the punishment should fit the crime. It's not even like these people have the Moist von Lipwig excuse of scamming the scammers.
Just change a few words and multiply the numbers:
Typically, consumers downloaded a free, trial version of the software. The business analysts always identified numerous suboptimal business processes, whether they existed or not. Consumers were then told that in order to fix the problems they had to purchase the paid version of the software for between $290,000 and $490,000. In order to customize the software after the purchase, consumers were then directed to call a certified partners network and connected to consultants who tried to sell them unneeded upgrades and tools. The services could cost as much as $500 per hour.
...and you get a typical SAP implementation scenario.
lucm, indeed.
Given that: 1) people were actually spending money with strangers who called them on the phone, and 2) how many home Windows machines are infested with malware, this shows that you could make a hell of a lot of money by modifying the operation just slightly--have people download legitimate scanning software which would only report real problems. You trade away some of your profit margin in exchange for not going to jail. (Granted, you might still run afoul of telemarketing regulations, but that's a whole lot less serious than fraud, civil vs criminal.)
I kind of figure something was up when PC Cleaner said my linux machine had currupt entries in the registry;
Wait a year or two. They're just getting ready for systemd.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
BOTH of this shit companies have damaged clients of mine and cost them insane amounts of money to repair the crap they broke.
Luckily they never got far enough in with my customers that they could damage their backups. So actual business data loss was minimal...
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
"Hello I am being Jim and I am with the Microsoft. I am calling you to tell you that your computer is infested with the viruses."
Alternately it's "The Internet" rather than "The Microsoft". (For some reason, you have to include the "The" both for Microsoft and viruses.)
Man, they're annoying. I'm not sure why I find them more unbearable than the usual offshore telemarketer. Perhaps because the lies are so brazen. The last time, I asked him if his mother knows he cheats people out of money for a living? He insisted no, he's trying to help me! He got really excited about it. Probably because he desperately needed this call's rupee for food that night.
Surveying friends and family (including a couple hundred facebook friends), calls at first seemed random, but in more recent months, appear to specifically be targeting people over 50. The most recent calls have asked for me by name. This leads me to believe that they're using someone's pilfered (or purchased?) address list. Has AARP had any breaches lately?
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
This isn't free speech. Freedom of speech means that you can stand on a street corner, speak your mind, and the government can't say "We don't like your opinion so we're sending you to jail." Freedom of speech doesn't mean that you can lie to people to get money from them. This is called fraud and is illegal. Try claiming "free speech" if you are on trial for fraud and you'll see how quickly the judge brings the hammer down on you.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
That we don't prosecute enough false advertising and deception with intent to defraud claims!
It's hard to blame the root cause of the problem on anything but the current levels of corruption infesting our Government. Instead of agencies built to enforce regulations doing what they are intended, they are investigating bullshit to make corporations more and more money and keep the cronies in office so that their circle continues to have revenue while the "common" people suffer.
Yup, stories like yours are a shame. These scams have been known about for at least 4-5 years (if you don't remember the my clean PC bullshit.. well, you could be a n00b), but instead of putting these shitbags out of business we have agencies focusing on Youtube videos that have background audio of a song, or grandma downloading a free MP3 file, or heaven forbid a goddamn whistle blower that must be lambasted and castrated.
Don't get me wrong, "Greed" is a problem but it's a problem we have known about for at least as long as we have been able to write and read. The whole point of Government is to enforce regulation and prosecute snake oil salesmen to protect the populace from greedy fucks that gain power (in some/any form). The fact that this shit has gone on for this long demonstrates that our Government is a failure. Massive bureaucracies are a failure! (The problems with journalism today, or more properly the lack thereof, fall into these categories so I can't blame them separately).
I'll get off my soap box now.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
This kind of fraud is much like multi-level marketers and other spammers.I'm afraid that those fradulent companies which are even less traceable, and have overseas offices to avoid US prosecution, will fill the ecological niche very quickly.
freedom of speech does not extend to the right to commit fraud.
Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
been here too. Someone walks in with a computer and a subscription to some nanny software (big name, can't remember it. Net Nanny? No, one of the other ones). Says it's riddled with pop ups. Five minutes in and I've isolated the problem to a redirect to a proxy (clearly in an attempt to get around the softwall), I tell her, "This should have been blocked by the software you've got installed." Asked ME for her money back, I'm like, "You didn't buy it off me, I'm not a software vendor for a start and for two, I don't have a support contract with these guys."
At which point, she takes her computer and leaves, comes back three hours later with a trading standards officer in tow. I tell him what I told her. Not my problem, she's trying to get her computer fixed for free after the software she paid for elsewhere failed to do what she expected.
TSO leaves.
Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
...in his ear. He said a problem was detected on my Window's computer. Being every box in my house is running one Linux distro or another I had a problem picking myself up off the floor. Just think of how many people would fall for these scams if everyone really had Window's on some device in their house.
Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.
As recently as this week I've still been getting one of those goddamn calls every couple days. I just hang up on them, usually after saying something along the lines of "Do me a favor and kindly jump up your own ass."
My father gets them too... He likes to string the bastards along for a while though. Constantly asking them stuff like where they're calling from and why, requesting specifics until he catches them contradicting themselves and then tells them off and hangs up. (Personally, it drives me nuts listening to him do that, I'm just like "Oh my god hang up on those assholes already!") He does the same thing to the medicaid scam phonecalls but those are far less frequent.
Friend: "The NIC is misconfigured..." Me: "No prob, I'll just telnet in and fix it." *Silence*