Posted on 12/06/2020 8:48:32 AM PST by weston
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, December 29, 2020
District Court Enters Permanent Injunction Shutting Down Technical-Support Fraud Scheme
A federal court entered an order of permanent injunction against an individual and five companies in a case against a large-scale technical-support fraud scheme alleged to have defrauded hundreds of elderly and vulnerable U.S. victims, the Department of Justice announced today.
The order bars Michael Brian Cotter, 59, of Glendale, California, and four companies — Singapore registered Global Digital Concierge Pte. Ltd., formerly known as Tech Live Connect Pte. Ltd., Nevada registered companies Sensei Ventures Incorporated and NE Labs Inc., New York registered KeviSoft LLC — from selling technical-support services or software via telemarketing or websites.
“The department is committed to protecting vulnerable Americans, particularly America’s seniors, from those who seek to steal their hard earned savings,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert Clark for the Civil Division. “The department is grateful for the cooperation of foreign law enforcement, including India’s Central Bureau of Investigation, in investigating, disrupting, and prosecuting technical-support fraud schemes and other schemes originating abroad and directed at the American public.”
“The Postal Inspection Service is committed to investigating all types of elder fraud,” said Damon Wood, Inspector in Charge of the Philadelphia Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. “Fraudsters who scam the elderly and others online use fear and pressure tactics to prey on our most vulnerable Americans from the safety of a computer screen. The Inspection Service is proud of our domestic and international partners who extended the reach of our investigative efforts, shutting this scam down once and for all, and protecting American citizens.”
The complaint filed in October 2020 alleged that Cotter worked with co-conspirators in India from at least 2011 to 2020 to operate a technical-support fraud scheme. The scheme allegedly contacted U.S. consumers via internet pop-up messages that falsely appeared to be security alerts from Microsoft or another well-known company. The pop-up messages fraudulently claimed that the consumer’s computer was infected by a virus, purported to run a scan of the consumer’s computer, falsely confirmed the presence of a virus and malware, and then provided a toll-free number to call for assistance. When victims called the toll-free number, they were connected to India-based call centers participating in the fraud scheme. Call center workers asked victims to give them remote access to their computers and told victims that they detected viruses or other malware on their computers. Eventually, the call center workers would falsely diagnose non-existent problems and ask victims to pay hundreds of dollars for unnecessary services and software.
The complaint asserted that Cotter worked with co-conspirators in India to operate the scheme, including registering website domains, setting up shell companies, and entering into relationships with banks and payment processors to facilitate the collection of funds from victims of the scheme. Individual victims payed hundreds to thousands of dollars to the scheme for unwanted and unnecessary technical-support services.
Under the terms of the consent decree of permanent injunction entered today, the defendants agreed to be permanently barred from, among other things, offering for sale via telemarketing or website any technical-support service or software and advertising via computer pop-up messages. The consent decree also transfers ownership of 19 domain names alleged to have been used as part of the technical-support scheme to the United States, so that those domains can no longer be used as part of the fraud scheme.
The widespread fraud allegedly committed in this case was brought to the attention of the Transnational Elder Fraud Strike Force by Microsoft, which often is impersonated by those engaged in technical-support fraud schemes.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Clark thanked the Postal Inspection Service for its investigation of the case, and the FBI’s Economic Crimes Unit and Legal Attaché’s Office in Delhi, India, for their substantial coordination efforts. He also expressed appreciation to Microsoft for apprising the Strike Force of the alleged offenses. The U.S. case is being handled by Trial Attorney Ann Entwistle of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch and Assistant U.S. Attorney James Weinkle of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Florida.
Since President Trump signed the bipartisan Elder Abuse Prevention and Prosecution Act (EAPPA) into law, the Department of Justice has participated in hundreds of enforcement actions in criminal and civil cases that targeted or disproportionately affected seniors. In January 2020, the department designated “Preventing and Disrupting Transnational Elder Fraud” as an Agency Priority Goal, one of its top four priorities. Later, in March 2020, the department announced the largest elder fraud enforcement action in American history, charging more than 400 defendants in a nationwide elder fraud sweep. The department has likewise conducted hundreds of trainings and outreach sessions across the country since the passage of the act.
The department’s extensive and broad-based efforts to combat elder fraud seek to halt the billions of dollars senior lose to fraud schemes, including those perpetrated by transnational criminal organizations. The best method for prevention, however, is by sharing information about the various types of elder fraud schemes with relatives, friends, neighbors, and other seniors who can use that information to protect themselves.
If you or someone you know is age 60 or older and has been a victim of financial fraud, help is standing by at the National Elder Fraud Hotline: 1-833-FRAUD-11 (1-833-372-8311). This U.S. Department of Justice hotline, managed by the Office for Victims of Crime, is staffed by experienced professionals who provide personalized support to callers by assessing the needs of the victim, and identifying relevant next steps. Case managers will identify appropriate reporting agencies, provide information to callers to assist them in reporting, connect callers directly with appropriate agencies, and provide resources and referrals, on a case-by-case basis. Reporting is the first step. Reporting can help authorities identify those who commit fraud and reporting certain financial losses due to fraud as soon as possible can increase the likelihood of recovering losses. The hotline is staffed 7 days a week from 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. eastern time. English, Spanish and other languages are available.
I love that! Thanks!
I hope they pay you extra for wotking holidays. Holiday pay plus time and a half.
😂😂🤣
Right on!
Good observation.
Great! Is this an EO or law?
https://www.westernjournal.com/dozens-house-members-will-challenge-ec-vote-jan-6-says-rep-mo-brooks/
NEWS
Dozens of House Members Will Challenge EC Vote on Jan. 6, Says Rep. Mo Brooks
House Republicans do not plan to sit back quietly when the time comes for Congress to certify the results of the Nov. 3 presidential election, according to Republican Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama.
Brooks spoke about his plans in an interview Monday on Fox News.
“The evidence is overwhelming and compelling that there has been serious voter fraud and election theft in this election in a number of different ways,” Brooks told “Fox & Friends.”
Thank you for posting.
Is an EO a law?
Executive Orders state mandatory requirements for the Executive Branch, and have the effect of law. They are issued in relation to a law passed by Congress or based on powers granted to the President in the Constitution and must be consistent with those authorities. ... Executive Orders may amend earlier orders.
What it is, what it isn’t
An executive order is a signed, written, and published directive from the President of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. They are numbered consecutively, so executive orders may be referenced by their assigned number, or their topic. Other presidential documents are sometimes similar to executive orders in their format, formality, and issue, but have different purposes. Proclamations, which are also signed and numbered consecutively, communicate information on holidays, commemorations, federal observances, and trade. Administrative orders—e.g. memos, notices, letters, messages—are not numbered, but are still signed, and are used to manage administrative matters of the federal government. All three types of presidential documents—executive orders, proclamations, and certain administrative orders—are published in the Federal Register, the daily journal of the federal government that is published to inform the public about federal regulations and actions. They are also catalogued by the National Archives as official documents produced by the federal government. Both executive orders and proclamations have the force of law, much like regulations issued by federal agencies, so they are codified under Title 3 of the Code of Federal Regulations, which is the formal collection of all of the rules and regulations issued by the executive branch and other federal agencies.
Executive orders are not legislation; they require no approval from Congress, and Congress cannot simply overturn them. Congress may pass legislation that might make it difficult, or even impossible, to carry out the order, such as removing funding. Only a sitting U.S. President may overturn an existing executive order by issuing another executive order to that effect.
They Rigged the Voting Machine Software so Donald Trump Could Never Win.
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3919806/posts
“In Santa Clara County, officials say COVID-19 is having a disproportionate impact on the Latinx community and also on the hospitals that serve it.”
The WHOLE Santa Clara County has changed since I lived there from 1961-1979. It was all pretty much white and where my husband taught in Sunnyvale was all white. Now the whole area is Latinx and Asian.
Where I am living now in Eastern WA it has become mostly Latinx and even though the health dept. doesn’t report which culture is getting and dying from the Covid 19 I know it is the mostly the Latinx.
Middle Pa. U.S. Attorney David Freed announces resignation https://t.co/JfRZDIqCgG— 𝕄𝔾 𝕊𝕙𝕠𝕨 (@intheMatrixxx) December 29, 2020
Bummer. But I know your patients appreciate you.
Mountain View Walmart looks like Asylum Camp. Hijab on full display. In the 90s it was good, now it’s a total run down. You can see a lot of Islamic Charity bags as shopping bags.
I never thought of blowing the pictures up. But that would be great, one room in my house could be a cat room, devoted to all my furbabies, past and present.
OOPS
https://twitter.com/michaeldelauzon/status/1343977883895623680?s=12
So the explosion in Nashville was not a RV bomb. There is proof on super slow motion video it was a missile or DEW. Proof is you can see the missile or DEW trail before it hits. And the explosion is 1/4 block from the RV. I watched the vid on TikTok. Will post soon.
“OMG! that would keep Cotton busy for years. White on White on White. :-)”
But I could do it now! My vision is great. In fact I just picked up my first pair of post cataract surgery glasses. Because I need the progressive lenses to read and use the computer. It was a lot of fun having to take readers on and off in order to see various distances. Not!
My little glasses are so tiny. The lenses are so thin and light I’m likely to throw them across the room because I expect it to be like my heavy coke bottle glass lenses.
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