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| -Lurid Crime Tales- |
| US court SHUTS DOWN 'scammers posing as Microsoft, Facebook support staff' |
| 2014-10-27 |
| [THEREGISTER.CO.UK] The US Federal Trade Commission has shuttered a New York-based tech support business, after scammers allegedly hoodwinked Facebook and Microsoft users into paying hundreds of dollars for tech advice from Pairsys Inc. So far, so good. I spent several hours last night cleaning the viri off my game-playing grandson's computer. According to court documents filed by the consumer protection agency, the firm was accused of violating the FTC's rules on unfair or deceptive acts and misrepresentations or deceptive omissions in relation to commerce. Sounds pretty open and shut. Download a "game" called Blasteroids and then try and get rid of it. Be prepared to spend lots of time and maybe even some money. It was claimed that Pairsys tricked consumers into believing that they had security or performance issues with their computers, such as viruses, spyware or system errors. The company apparently duped computer users with cold calls and misleading ads. The popups that say "Your system is at risk" tell you you've been infected. But Pairsys will be happy to sell you PC Optimizer. Costs vary depending on the size of your wallet. All of which amounted to deception, the FTC alleged. No! Really? The agency's Jessica Rich added: âThe defendants behind Pairsys (Uttam Saha and Tiya Bhattacharya) targeted seniors and other vulnerable populations, preying on their lack of computer knowledge to sell âsecurityâ software and programs that had no value at all. I'm usually against such things on principle, but if called on to vote whether to chop their heads off I'd likely be a yes. âWe are pleased that the court has shut down the company for now, and we look forward to getting consumersâ money back in their pockets.â Their website is still up and running. The FTC said that folk were told to pay between $149 and $249 for bogus warranty programs and software that was freely available online. It added that, in some cases, the defendants demanded $600 from the consumers they had fooled. "What's no longer in your wallet?" It was alleged that Pairsys made nearly $2.5m from the scams since the start of 2012. The FTC hopes to see the company put out of business permanently. Do they really? What about the other 12,000 similar businesses? The case covered two years. Two years from now we'll see the same story, possibly with the same defendants (now residing in British Columbia or Yorkshire). The agency said: "The defendants have agreed to the terms of a preliminary injunction issued by the court that prohibits the defendants in the case from making misrepresentations to consumers about what company they represent or whether consumers have viruses or spyware on their computer." But fraud's been a crime since before I was weaned. So why not give Uttam and Tiya enough jug time to grow old gracefully? They are also banned from deceptive telemarketing practices, and may not sell or rent their customer lists to any third party. The injunction requires that their websites and telephone numbers must be shut down and disconnected, and their assets be frozen. The site's still up. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #14 Just today I got a Microsoft call and an IRS one. The gov didn't succeed in shutting down anything. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2014-10-27 18:15 |
| #13 Some of the 'paid-for' virus protection software are just as bad as Viruses. You have 'on access scan' which, along with Windows search bringing your system to a crawl - and then 'full scans' which beat your disks for hours - during the day. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2014-10-27 17:49 |
| #12 Free software protection products? You get what you pay for. In my experience some of the free so called virus protection packages that you can download from the internet are viruses in their own right. Go to a reputable software/techie store and plunk down some actual money for a reputable software protection product. Get only one of them. Remove, if you can, the free products. If you have more that one of these packages they will go to war against each other and make your computer unworkable. Unfortunately, I don't know any of them that will protect you from Microsoft. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2014-10-27 17:00 |
| #11 #10 Your system was infected when you installed Windows on it. That's more true than you might know. My computer came with Windows 8 installed. I did my usual and downloaded and installed a couple of free software protection products. They found a major trojan horse in the "recovery" partition. Took me forever to get to where I could keep it from loading. I just hope I don't have to re-install my software any time soon. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2014-10-27 15:42 |
| #10 Your system was infected when you installed Windows on it. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2014-10-27 15:07 |
| #9 Been getting calls from these p*f*rs for months - judging by the consistent accents, they might be part of the Patel crime family. |
| Posted by: Clem Cheans2431 2014-10-27 13:52 |
| #8 How do you get fresh bloodstains out of a carpet? By strange coincidence, that information just became really interesting. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2014-10-27 13:34 |
| #7 Demand if they knew the deceased and where were they 30 minutes ago. Remind them anything they say can be held against them. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2014-10-27 13:24 |
| #6 When they call - ask them if they know how to get fresh blood stains out of carpet. Usually solves the problem. |
| Posted by: Bangkok Billy 2014-10-27 10:05 |
| #5 However, the court is fine with scammers masquerading as MoH winners or Navy SEALS to gain influence, positioning, money, et al all for personal gain at the expense of others. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2014-10-27 08:52 |
| #4 Do they work for NSA?? |
| Posted by: AlanC 2014-10-27 07:34 |
| #3 Ah, the beauties of open borders... |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2014-10-27 06:56 |
| #2 My parents are under strict instructions to keep these people on the line as long as possible while changing nothing. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2014-10-27 05:55 |
| #1 What is their kickback arrangement with ATT and calls. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2014-10-27 00:36 |