The Federal Trade Commission announced Wednesday that it has stopped six “massive” tech support scams that may have duped consumers out of millions of dollars.
According to an FTC release, telemarketers tricked people into buying a “service” to remove non-existent viruses and other malware. Users were also convinced to grant telemarketers remote access to their machines. The FTC called the scams “outrageous and disturbing.”
Federal Trade Commission, Plaintiff, v. Pecon Software Ltd., also doing business as Pecon Services LLC, Pecon Services, Inc.; Pecon Infotech Ltd.; Pecon Software UK Ltd.; Mahesh Kumar Shah, also known as MK Shah; Prateek Shah; Sujoy Roy; Zulfiquar Ali; and Vikas Kumar Gupta, Defendants (United States District Court for the Southern District of New York) Case No. 12 CIV 7186 FTC File No. 1223118
Federal Trade Commission, Plaintiff, v. PCCare247 Inc.; PC Care247 Solutions Private Limited; Connexxions Infotech Inc.; Connexxions IT Services Private Limited, also doing business as Connexxions InfoTech Services Pvt. Ltd.; Vikas Agrawal, also known as Vikas Agarwal; Navin Pasari; Anuj Agrawal; Sanjay Agarwalla; and Parmeshwar Agrawal, Defendants (United States District Court for the Southern District of New York) Case No. 12 CIV 7189 FTC File No. 1223243
Federal Trade Commission, Plaintiff, v. Zeal IT Solutions Pvt Ltd. and Kishore Ghosh, Defendants (United States District Court for the Southern District of New York) Case No. 12 CIV 7188 FTC File No. 1223244
Federal Trade Commission, Plaintiff, v. Lakshmi Infosoul Services Pvt Ltd., Somenath Das, and Piyush Kheria, Defendants (United States District Court for the Southern District of New York) Case No. 12 CIV 7191 FTC File No. 1223245
Federal Trade Commission, Plaintiff, v. Mikael Marczak, also known as Michael Marczak, also doing business as Virtual PC Solutions, First PC Solution, Direct PC Solution, Virtual IT Supports, and Global Innovative Services, and Wahid Ali, Defendants (United States District Court for the Southern District of New York) Case No. 12 CIV 7192 FTC File No. 1223246
Federal Trade Commission, Plaintiff, v. Finmaestros, LLC, also doing business as technogennie, 24x7pchelp, 24x7pctech, and Transfront Solutions; New World Services, Inc., also doing business as Megabites, Solutions Inc., MegaBites Solutions, LLC, also doing business as Mega Bits, Inc.; Greybytes Cybertech P. Ltd., also doing business as Bluesystemcare, BSC, and 24x7 PCHelp; Shine Solutions Private Limited; Sanjeev K. Sood, also known as Sanjiv K. Sood; and Animesh Bharti, Defendants (United States District Court for the Southern District of New York) Case No. 12 CIV 7195 FTC File No. 1223247
From the prior day, the latest in almost four years of actions against another bunch of fake PC "fixers" operating through sneaky redirecting advertisement links: http://www.ftc.gov/os/caselist/0723137/index.shtm
My takeaways:
When you look at the damage award numbers it becomes harder to whine on these caller database sites that "the Do Not Call registry is useless" and "da gubment does nothing".
This can never be overstated: Security is a social problem; the shortfall is not technological.
These scams would not work at all if each internet user would at last "drive defensively" and use the malware detector found above the neck. People make a *choice* to use weak "luggage code" passwords, to blindly click "OK" and "YES" to everything, and to spread their private information like the jolly man on the parade float who throws candies to the crowd.
The FTC said if they can identify the victims of the scam calls and recover more of the assets they may be able to return some of the money. That just shows you should make every effort to report being scammed, just in case you can get some back, someday.
Yeah, pretty good chunk of change, right? If only the FTC would fine debt collectors even half so much.
We should all be reporting violative calls for the simple reward of helping our neighbors, but you're right that sometimes a surprise restitution comes months or years later. Typically no one gets every dollar lost, but like my Dad says, "Half a loaf of bread is better than none."
+1
quebert
| 3 replies
This was a criminal enterprise pure and simple. I want to see a criminal prosecution here. These guys will plead poverty on appeal and get the judgment reduced (it ALWAYS happens in FTC cases) and it will be business as usual from some Caribbean island--permanent injunctions be damned. Until the USDJ gets serious on the criminal aspects of these schemes and starts locking people up, this baloney will never end.
Not that I've had time to read all the docs on these cases, but federal judgments against phone scammers often stipulate that principals will be shadowed and more closely monitored for signs of "business as usual", even if they try to pull up tent stakes and rebrand. The fact of getting smacked with a huge penalty at all will also haunt them.
I do concede that a red face and negotiated money loss are not enough. A few years at Hotel Ironbar could do wonders to change the scammers' outlook and put some fear into their criminal friends and competitors.
+1
Quentin
If I read "The Do not call list doesn't work" or "Why do I get calls, I'm on the DNC list", I will scream! The above defendants are criminals, correct? Then why would they follow the DNC list? In the 2 minutes it takes to whine here, file a complaint with the Government.
0
Payback
Good news, and this is a good start. Something tells me these companies are outsourced. Outsourced or established here, if they break our laws, they will have to pay the price. I hope the FTC helps the entire victims of this scam and other scams. To those that said reporting to the FTC is pointless, no reporting with evidence actually helps. So do continue reporting any frauds that calls you.
Of course they should be treated like criminals. They knew what they got themselves into and they continued scamming people. If a guy who robs a store or a home can get jailed, then these frauds that robbed and cheated so many people should get jailed as well.
Criminals with intent to defraud people will show up with their legit visas and passports, set up a company here and start defrauding people. I blame our own criminals for working with them. They are the enablers. I call it a joint venture scam. These worthless human beings would even rob their own parents.
0
vkmo
The same defrauding technique was applied to me. I had to report them.
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