FTC Claims Two Bogus Tech Support Firms Conned Customers Out Of $120M

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
At the behest of the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), a federal court has ordered a pair of telemarketing firms to be shut down, accusing them of scamming customers out of $120 million by providing bogus technical support.
According to Hayley Tsukayama of The Washington Post, the FTC’s action comes against two different Florida-based companies: one against the firm that makes and markets PC Cleaner software, and another doing business as Boost Software Inc. and OMG Tech Help.
In a statement, the FTC said that it had received complaints dating back to at least 2012 accusing the defendants of using software to trick consumers into believing that there were problems with their computers, then subjecting those individuals to “high-pressure deceptive sales pitches” for services to fix those non-existent problems.
“These operations prey on consumers’ lack of technical knowledge with deceptive pitches and high-pressure tactics to sell useless software and services to the tune of millions of dollars,” said Jessica Rich, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection “There’s no excuse for it, and we are pleased the court has taken steps to temporarily shut down these scams while our lawsuit proceeds.”
The court order places a temporary freeze on the defendants’ assets, and orders that both firms be placed under the control of a court-appointed receiver, the Commission said. The cases mark the third in a series of actions brought by against purveyors of computer repair schemes, following a law enforcement sweep of cases in 2011 and action brought against a New York-based scammer earlier this year, FTC officials added.
“Offering false technical support is an all-too common way that scammers prey on computer users – often older computer users – who fear their computers have been infected with malicious software,” Tsukayama explained. “In a standard scam, criminals will call and claim to have found a virus on a person’s computer and ‘prove’ it to the call recipients by instructing them to navigate to harmless but little-used menus that they claim are evidence of a virus. From there, scammers then convince users to pay them to remove the ‘virus.’”
The scams perpetrated by these companies were similar in nature, Reuters reporter Diane Bartz noted, involving salespeople who called homes to convince people to download and run a so-called free computer security scan. That scan would typically discover several non-existent issues, and the caller would urge customers to purchase software for $29 or $49 – though the FTC said that in some cases, customers were scammed for tech support services of up to $500.
According to Jon Brodkin of Ars Technica, the FTC and the State of Florida are accusing both companies of violating the Telemarketing Sales Rule of the FTC Act and the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. The Commission is seeking permanent injunctions to prevent future violations, as well as refunds for all victims of the schemes and reimbursement for the government’s cost of bringing the actions.
The defendants in the first case include PC Cleaner Inc.; Netcom3 Global Inc.; Netcom3 Inc., also doing business as Netcom3 Software Inc.; and Cashier Myricks, Jr. The telemarketing defendants include Inbound Call Experts LLC; Advanced Tech Supportco. LLC; PC Vitalware LLC; Super PC Support LLC; Robert D. Deignan, Paul M. Herdsman, and Justin M. Wright.
The defendants in the second case include Boost Software Inc. and Amit Mehta, and the telemarketing defendants include Vast Tech Support LLC, also doing business as OMG Tech Help, OMG Total Protection, OMG Back Up, downloadsoftware.com, and softwaresupport.com; OMG Tech Help LLC; Success Capital LLC; Jon Paul Holdings LLC; Elliot Loewenstern; Jon-Paul Vasta; and Mark Donahue.
Rich McCormick of The Verge reported that Boost Software’s website was still in operation as of late Wednesday night, promoting several software products claiming that they can keep your computers safe. One of those products was PC Healthboost, the company said can speed up your machine by “216 percent,” he added, and the company claimed to be “the 646th fastest growing company in the US,” with 2013 revenues of $11.5 million.
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