Microsoft combats tech support scammers with lawsuit

>>> On Thursday, Microsoft's Digital Crimes Unit filed a civil lawsuit in the Central District of California against a company called Omnitech Support and other firms for "unfair and deceptive business practices and trademark infringement." <<<

Thank you for this report!

I'd bet Microsoft wins this one if I had to bet on the outcome. They probably didn't bring it sooner because they were trying to find all of the parties involved in the scam before some statute of limitations took effect for this lawsuit. (Note the defendants include "Does 1-10," as in "John Doe"). A quick reading of the Complaint suggests that this might be a weakness to the complaint, but I don't know one way or the other.

Whether this will put an end once and for all to these scam calls is another question.

Are they going to sue allinonetech.net and all its affiliates too? They freeze your internet browser when you visit some websites and ask you to call them to fix the problem for $190.  It is not exactly a ransomware but almost! Do not trust these guys. Report them to authorities. They have established many Internet Support websites under different names. The phone number 1-844-887-6788 is also the same scammers. Company website: allinonetech.net and all its affiliates. Their address is a Po Box in Herndon VA and another one in India. they may have connections to http://www.prosoftgroup.com/ in Westmont, IL 60559. Use task manager to close your browser or turn your computer off and clean cache, cookies and history. Then run microsoft Security Essentials (Available for free at Microsoft website)

Thank you for posting this!  I have had this type of advertising on my computer and did not realize it was a scam before clicking on it.

Yipeee!!! Thanks for posting!

Love it! Thanks for posting this! :)

AWESOME NEWS!  Happy Friday everyone!!!

Update/New Article... Alleged tech support scammers come up with all kinds of alibis to counter complaints:
http://www.computerworld.com/article/2863886/alleged-tech-support-scammers-come-up-with-all-kinds-of-alibis-to-counter-complaints.html

Quote:

Better Business Bureau records show companies blamed scammers, customers' Internet connections and new software for consumer grievances.

Companies sued by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Microsoft for allegedly defrauding consumers with worthless Windows technical support have spun tales involving flakey Internet connections, it's-not-us-it's-scammers, new management software and unanswered emails to counter hundreds of consumer complaints this year, Better Business Bureau (BBB) records showed.

The four companies sued by the FTC in November and by Microsoft this month were reported to the BBB at least 318 times in the last 12 months, according to the organization's website.

What I found even more disturbing is the article's revelation that these scams are both routine and lucrative.  For example, " … Microsoft estimated that losses to U.S. consumers run $1.5 billion annually, and that a third of those contacted by scammers fall for the ploys."

A THIRD OF THOSE CONTACTED BY SCAMMERS FALL FOR THE PLOYS.  Let THAT resonate in your head for a while.  I had been making the (unsupported) assumption that perhaps somewhere between one in a thousand to perhaps a couple per hundred people would be falling for scams like this, and that even those estimates, while lucrative to a scammer, overstated his "take."  Apparently, I have dramatically overestimated the intelligence of the average telephone and computer.  

I've sometimes said that the use of certain technological devices -- including computers connected to the Internet -- should require a license, and to get a license, a technical test should be given and passed.  Apparently the same should be said about owning and using telephones, and there should be a special test for those who use both telephones and computers.

Just remember we have smart phones now so that we don't have to be.  It seems that is proven more and more every day now.

Too true.  Those who are the least tech savvy are hit the hardest.  I have an elderly aunt for whom we set up a little lap top so she could skype with her great grandchildren.  Within a month she'd been solicited by no fewer than 12 "charities" and was once contacted by a scammer in Jamaica telling her about his plight and his desire to become a priest. Her children stopped her before she sent a money order to him for $200.00.  Do "other" countries have the same problem?  Just wondering if the US is the global target for these scams and if so, why?

>>> Apparently, I have dramatically overestimated the intelligence of the average telephone and computer. <<<

I present myself as proof.  Er … maybe I should have inserted "user" at the end of that sentence. m

LOL!  smiles!  :)

So much of this kind of fraud is coming out of India.   I wonder if Microsoft can make any headway with lawsuits over there.

>>> So much of this kind of fraud is coming out of India.   I wonder if Microsoft can make any headway with lawsuits over there. <<<

My guess is that they can.  They have the resources to do so, and, unless I am mistaken, they do business in India and thus ought to have access to their courts, unlike you or I.

If India's legal system doesn't support what it takes to give some level of security to large international business transactions, I doubt that they would remain solvent for very long.  Anyone remember Argentina?