Posted on 10/05/2012 3:03:41 PM PDT by JoeProBono
Acting on a Federal Trade Commission complaint, a federal court has imposed a $163 million judgment on a woman who allegedly helped run a scareware ring that tricked over one million consumers across six countries into purchasing fake security software.
That decision, announced by the FTC Tuesday, came after a two-day bench trial last month. U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett, who presided over the case, also wrote in his related judgment that the defendant, Kristy Ross, "shall be permanently restrained and enjoined from the marketing and sale of computer security software and software that interferes with consumers' computer use as well as from engaging in any form of deceptive marketing."
The fake software in question--often referred to as scareware, fake antivirus, or fake AV--is part a social-engineering scam designed to trick users into thinking their PC contains viruses, system errors, spyware, or pornography. The software then advertises information security software to help, which is available for immediate download. But in reality, the results of the system scan, as well as security software's cleaning power, is fake.
According to the FTC, Kristy Ross, together with defendants Sam Jain, Daniel Sundin, Marc D'Souza, and James Reno, served as officers and directors of two businesses: Belize-based Innovative Marketing, Inc. (IMI), and a subsidiary, Cincinnati-based ByteHosting Internet Services. The businesses were used "to conduct a massive 'scareware' scheme that marketed a variety of computer security software via deceptive advertising."
According to the FTC, the operation "used elaborate and technologically sophisticated Internet advertisements placed with advertising networks and many popular commercial websites," which purported to display the results of a "'system scan' that invariably detected a host of malicious or otherwise dangerous files and programs on consumers' computers." The scanner then urged consumers to buy software, priced between $40 and $60, to remediate the issue.......
give me a half hour alone with them and a baseball bat...
It’s called fraud and, yes, it is illegal.
and they GIVE you a virus to boot
How many are still doing this out there?
No there are any number of FReepers who (if they got the cajones) explain to you that this is free enterprise and just part of the way the free market works and the government putting this poor woman out of business and on trial is just the government’s attempt to control the markets and swamp business with needless regulation. All business are honest as long as they are taking someone else’s money.
Fake antivirus includes most commercial products out there, not least my old and murderous enemy Norman.
Good. Now they can go after Rachel of Card Services.
I assume this is another class action lawsuit with the bulk payment going to the attorneys and not the victimized consumers.
“give me a half hour alone with them and a baseball bat...”
Thou art a kind and forgiving soul.
I humbly suggest staking them (and all malware writers) out on a fire ant mound, but removing the bachelor’s chillen before death. Repeat as long as possible.
Lol. It wouldn’t surprise me, the incest in these outfits are worse than the Saudi family.
Norman bought a ceo from symantec a couple years ago, that was basically a case of the Beagle Boys throwing out Granny and getting a Gambino.
Threw him out again, back to the Oracle hand in the till.
+1 !
Some of those programs were a royal pain to remove- the first one I encountered took me three hours to clean out as most of them block the installation of AV software. I did earn a fair chunk of change, though, because at one point I was getting several calls a week to clean infected PCs. Nice as that was, I’d rather be doing something productive.
The scanner then urged consumers to buy software, priced between $40 and $60, to remediate the issue....
I assume this is another class action lawsuit with the bulk payment going to the attorneys and not the victimized consumers.
***
Still better than them getting away with it scot-free.
LOL - Thanks; that’s a good laugh.
I’ve dealt with this one on 2 different machines - it’s a royal pain to get rid of.
My mother clicked on some similar deal several years ago and the damn thing was almost ineradicable from her computer. I’d say that qualifies as a rootkit virus itself.
Don’t remember the name, but none of these was the one. I’ve been wondering if these “Clean my Pc” ads lately aren’t something similar.
All forms of virus, rootkits and trojans should qualify their developers for the death penalty.
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