On May 12th, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the office of the Florida Attorney General announced their plans concerning a major consumer fraud enforcement initiative in the state of Florida. The initiative involves filing complaints against companies allegedly involved in tech support scams, whereby consumers are tricked into believing their computers have been infected with viruses and malware so that they will fraudulently pay out money to solve the problem.
The scam works like this: pop-up ads disguised as computer virus alerts (usually from the more well-known tech companies like Microsoft or Apple) instruct consumers to call a call center for help, which then connects them to a sales agent who convinces them that their computer is infected and they need to purchase unnecessary and expensive technical support services and/or software products to solve the problem.
Companies Implicated
The companies named in the complaints include:
- GoReadyCalls Marketing, LLC,
- E.A. Worldwide, LLC,
- Capital Investments, LLC,
- Cutting Edge Outlook, LLC,
- Kradanomic Solutions, LLC,
- Secure It Digital Solutions, LLC,
- Software Pros, LLC,
- Teamkeen, LLC,
- Us Software Experts, LLC,
- Us Software Pros, LLC,
- Wizard Tech Solutions, LLC,
- Adam Lennox, Evan Keen;
- Learn More Media, Inc. and Elesha Aflalo;
- Vylah Tec LLC d/b/a Vtec Support, Express Tech Help LLC,
- Tech Crew Support LLC, and
- Angelo Cupo, Dennis Cupo and Robert Cupo.
Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act
Each of these companies has been accused of violating the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, which declares that unfair methods of competition, unconscionable acts or practices, and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the conduct of any trade or commerce are unlawful.
In these cases, the allegations involve defendant companies representing that they have identified problems on consumers’ computers; representations which were in fact false or misleading and likely to mislead consumers acting reasonably. The Office of Attorney General is seeking to freeze their assets as well as gain immediate access to their premises and the appointment of a receiver. In some instances, the Office is also seeking preliminary and permanent injunctions, consumer restitution, disgorgement of ill-gotten funds, and attorneys’ fees and costs.
“Operation Tech Trap”
Filing these complaints isn’t all that the agencies (both the Federal Trade Commission and state partner Florida Attorney General) did: they also announced a nationwide and international crackdown on tech support scams, as well as settlements, indictments, and guilty pleas against such tech operations.
Contact our Boca Raton Consumer Fraud Protection Attorneys
At Lavalle, Brown & Ronan, P.A., we have a combined 130 years of experience working in commercial law in Florida and protecting consumers who are victims of consumer fraud. If you’ve been the victim of a consumer fraud activity; there are commercial laws available to protect you. Contact us today for a free consultation to find out how we can help you.
For more information and in depth analysis, please contact Attorney Ken Ronan at kronan@bocalaw.com and Case Manager Richard Bagdasarian at rbagdasarian@bocalaw.com.
Resources:
myfloridalegal.com/newsrel.nsf/newsreleases/93E45FCE4E10B67E8525811E0058CA2C
ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2017/05/ftc-federal-state-international-partners-announce-major-crackdown
pymnts.com/news/security-and-risk/2017/ftc-to-announce-national-consumer-fraud-program/
