FTC Temporarily Shuts Down Massive Tech Support Scams

H

HardOCP News

[H] News
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
0
It's nice to see the Federal Trade Commission shut these guys down.

At the request of the Federal Trade Commission and the State of Florida, a federal court has temporarily shut down two massive telemarketing operations that conned tens of thousands of consumers out of more than $120 million by deceptively marketing computer software and tech support services. The orders also temporarily freeze the defendants’ assets and place the businesses under the control of a court-appointed receiver.
Click to expand...
 
This has been a well known scam for a while now. They could have shut them down at any time before. Why now? I thought they were overseas and we couldn't do anything about it. Knowing they were in the US and nothing was done for so long..... wtf....

But, Jose has a dime bag? No knock warrant, shoot your dog, flashbang your baby. Everything done in a few hours....
 
Are these the "Speed up m PC" and the like assholes?
 
TechLarry said:
Are these the "Speed up m PC" and the like assholes?
Click to expand...

I thought it was the ones that called you. I was wrong.

SourceArticle said:
According to the FTC’s complaints, each scam starts with computer software that purports to enhance the security or performance of consumers’ computers. Typically, consumers download a free trial version of software that runs a computer system scan. The defendants’ software scan always identifies numerous errors on consumers’ computers, regardless of whether the computer has any performance problems.

The software then tells consumers that, in order to fix the identified errors, they will have to purchase the paid version of the software. In reality, the FTC alleges, the defendants pitching the software designed these highly deceptive scans to identify hundreds or even thousands of “errors” that have nothing to do with a computer’s performance or security. After consumers purchase the “full” version of the software at a cost of $29 to $49, the software directs them to call a toll-free number to “activate” the software.
Click to expand...

It's malware. I clean this crap off PC's all the time. Of course, the customer did download something to install that stuff... Still, pretty crappy and has been going on for a long time.
 
TechLarry said:
Are these the "Speed up m PC" and the like assholes?
Click to expand...

Yep, they used to run these stupid TV commercials with stupid paid actors touting the benefits of the software. A couple commercials show BSOD on a Macbook, A MACBOOK!

each scam starts with computer software that purports to enhance the security or performance of consumers’ computers
Click to expand...
 
The FTC and Florida are moving at the speed of light I see, it only took them two years to act.
 
Now if they could just put the leaders of these other 2 scams in front of a firing squad, we would be much better off:

1. Phone call scam where they say they are from Microsoft and they are calling you because your computer has lots of errors.. and then they ask you to check for a registry key that every windows OS has.. and then ask you to go to a site and install their software so they can remote in and fix it.

2. Government grant scam phone call where they tell you that you have been selected to receive a $7,000 grant.
 
I have a really, really hard time believing the people on the phones didn't know it was a scam. They're trained to say certain things, to convince people to buy stuff. The whole company, top to bottom, should be criminally prosecuted for it. Perhaps the lowbies should get lighter sentences, but they should definitely get prosecuted.
 
Nice to see the FTC patting itself on the back for something it could have easily done years ago. These companies are a huge problem, there are literally hundreds if not thousands more out there, and the ones they nailed are the little fish in the pond. The worst cruise phone number lists for names like "Gladys" or "Dorothy" and cold call them. They convince grandma to give them remote access support, and con them into $250-$500 ($29-$49? WTF FTC get with the times) support "contracts". I have seen them create Paypal and email accounts with the target's information, and if the target refuses I have seen them enable syskey or the hidden admin account and lock out the user.

Instead of that user paying a local company to provide actual tech support that money leaves our economy for god-knows-where, and users trust in tech support goes down even more.
 
dgingeri said:
I have a really, really hard time believing the people on the phones didn't know it was a scam. They're trained to say certain things, to convince people to buy stuff. The whole company, top to bottom, should be criminally prosecuted for it. Perhaps the lowbies should get lighter sentences, but they should definitely get prosecuted.
Click to expand...

They are telemarketers, not technicians, so not too high up on the morality scale. And yes, I do believe they know exactly what they are doing.
 
Ur_Mom said:
This has been a well known scam for a while now. They could have shut them down at any time before. Why now? I thought they were overseas and we couldn't do anything about it. Knowing they were in the US and nothing was done for so long..... wtf....

But, Jose has a dime bag? No knock warrant, shoot your dog, flashbang your baby. Everything done in a few hours....
Click to expand...

You might be surprised by just how many outfits states and the Feds are currently investigating for fraudulent behavior, often for years as it does take time to gather enough evidence that will hold up in court. I'm not saying that a better job can't be done but there's a lot of scams going on and there's worse ones than this out there.
 
I downloaded one of these programs once. I got the call, I then proceeded to jerk on the guys chain for 2 hours asking increasingly assinie questions about things that had nothing to do with any computer and the guy kept saying, yep our software will fix that right up for you. I remember asking one question about if it would patch a hole in metal roofing. He assured me it would..... Too bad I didn't have a bunch of people over could have put the call on speaker phone and muted the mic and had one hell of a drinking game going.
 
the-one1 said:
Yep, they used to run these stupid TV commercials with stupid paid actors touting the benefits of the software. A couple commercials show BSOD on a Macbook, A MACBOOK!
Click to expand...

I seem to recall the woman on the commercial had a very thick Russian/Eastern European type of accent, if that wasn't enough to scare people away... :D
 
Ur_Mom said:
I thought it was the ones that called you. I was wrong.



It's malware. I clean this crap off PC's all the time. Of course, the customer did download something to install that stuff... Still, pretty crappy and has been going on for a long time.
Click to expand...

Ah. the ol scareware. Like I'm dealing with on a users machine right now.

At least it's not another case of Cryptowall.
 
sfsuphysics said:
I seem to recall the woman on the commercial had a very thick Russian/Eastern European type of accent, if that wasn't enough to scare people away... :D
Click to expand...

Ees yowr compyuter actink hweird?

Yep I remember that one.
 
Sadly, we probably all know people that fell for this and paid money for nothing...

Does anyone else wonder about what the motivation behind something like this is? Do you just wake up one morning and think, "I know a great way to scam people out of money! Now how long can I keep it up before I get caught?"

I also find it interesting that there are so many of these people that get an operation like this up and running, but then never plan far enough ahead to have an exit strategy. It is like being a dictator: you know it will all come crashing down at some point, so make sure you put some effort into your escape plan...Yet so many of them never do.
 
Ur_Mom said:
This has been a well known scam for a while now. They could have shut them down at any time before. Why now? I thought they were overseas and we couldn't do anything about it. Knowing they were in the US and nothing was done for so long..... wtf....

But, Jose has a dime bag? No knock warrant, shoot your dog, flashbang your baby. Everything done in a few hours....
Click to expand...

The ones that cold call do tend to be overseas. This is specifically the ones that get you to install some utility, which then tells you to call another number to activate it or for further assistance. some of the companies also got people by purchasing adwords that people think is the legit number to Microsoft and etc.

Anyhow, it seems like they handle these in batches. They also shutdown a debt collection agency this week near Atlanta. They used harassment and fear of arrest to get people to pay, and most of the debts wasn't even valid.
 
MrCaffeineX said:
Does anyone else wonder about what the motivation behind something like this is? Do you just wake up one morning and think, "I know a great way to scam people out of money! Now how long can I keep it up before I get caught?"

I also find it interesting that there are so many of these people that get an operation like this up and running, but then never plan far enough ahead to have an exit strategy. It is like being a dictator: you know it will all come crashing down at some point, so make sure you put some effort into your escape plan...Yet so many of them never do.
Click to expand...

It's greed combined with a complete lack of morals.
Anything is ok, as long as you don't get caught.

Maybe we should borrow an idea from the middle east and remove a few of their fingers. At least it would make if more difficult for them to use a keyboard/computer.
 
MrCaffeineX said:
Does anyone else wonder about what the motivation behind something like this is? Do you just wake up one morning and think, "I know a great way to scam people out of money! Now how long can I keep it up before I get caught?"
Click to expand...

The love of money is the root of all evil. Best explanation I know of.
 
Ur_Mom said:
I thought it was the ones that called you. I was wrong.

It's malware. I clean this crap off PC's all the time. Of course, the customer did download something to install that stuff... Still, pretty crappy and has been going on for a long time.
Click to expand...
I do this all the time, as well. The one laptop I cleaned was so crippled by this crap that you could literally do nothing else with it but "scan." Ran like a dream after it was removed.
 
These are popping up all over the place. Between these and the insane amount of pyramid/MLM schemes out there, the FTC has their work cut out for them.
 
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.”
Click to expand...

OK, so why is Apple still in business of selling Macs?...;)
 
my family gets these calls all the time, usually once or twice a month.

'we have detected problems with your computer...'

the really strange thing is, it seems to be the same guy with the same hindi accent reading the same dumbass script each time. none of us buy into his scam, so i have no idea what his game is or why he keeps harassing us.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top