Payments firm accused of aiding 'contact Microsoft about a virus' scammers must cough $650k
- Reference: 1681842853
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/04/18/us_company_accused_of_helping/
- Source link:
The Justice Department and the Feds [1]claim [PDF] Nexway, along with a web of related companies based in France, Switzerland, Germany, and the US, violated the FTC Act and the Telemarketing Sales Rule by processing payments for India-based Tech Live Connect and "other foreign clients" that commit telemarketing fraud via tech support scams all over the world, although the agency and the department are regulating the United States side of things.
Nexway's CEO and its chief strategy officer, Victor Iezuitov and Casey Potenzone, are also named in the complaint.
[2]
An earlier monetary judgment ordered the payment of $49.5 million, but the FTC said that if the defendants pay the $650k, it will suspend this, adding that they had "agreed to court orders that prohibit them from any further payment laundering and require them to closely monitor other high-risk clients for illegal activity."
[3]
[4]
According to the complaint
[5]PDF
, filed on April 3 in the DC district court, the companies and the execs are at the "center of a technical support scam." The complaint alleges they "worked with telemarketers who made misrepresentations to consumers about the performance and security of their computers in connection with the sale of bogus technical support services."It also claims that collectively, Nexway’s “premium tech support” clientele accounted for a quarter of all of its business between 2016 and 2019, citing the minutes of a July 11, 2019 leadership meeting at Nexway, which it said included Iezuitov and Potenzone.
[6]
The filing goes on to allege:
Since at least August 2016, Nexway provided its foreign tech support scammer clients, including Tech Live Connect Pte Ltd, Saburi TLC, and Sensei Ventures, Inc., which collectively did business as Tech Live Connect and Premium Techie Support ... substantial assistance and surreptitious access to the United States credit card system, thus allowing the tech support scammers to charge and obtain money from duped consumers.
The filing describes how Tech Live Connect used "deceptive pop ups to ensnare consumers," showing the type of thing it displayed to marks both in the US and further afield in the screenshot below. Consumers who called reached call centers in India and were convinced to pay for "repairs" and the consumers' credit card charges were processed by Nexway's credit card merchant account, the FTC claims. It alleges that Nexway "received a commission for each charge."
[7]
One worried consumer apparently told the Better Business Bureau: "My computer locked up and a siren went off and an alert came up on the screen saying contact Microsoft about a virus, along with a phone number."
[8]Tech scammer who fooled Cisco, Microsoft and Lenovo out of millions jailed for more than seven years
[9]FCC calls for mega $300 million fine for massive US robocall campaign
[10]Tech support scams subside somewhat, but Millennials and Gen Z think they're bulletproof and suffer
[11]In America, tech support conmen get a mild slap. In Blighty, scammers get the book thrown at them
Fake tech support 'scam' husband and wife banned FOR LIFE from computer repair world [12]READ MORE
Windows-flavored support scams are as old as the OS itself. In 2018, Microsoft said it [13]received 150,000 complaints about con artists calling about supposed dodginess in a user's system, prompting a long tradition of techies [14]trolling scammers .
"Companies like Nexway that knowingly launder charges for scammers are breaking the law and helping scammers cheat money from consumers," said Samuel Levine, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection. "The FTC will not hesitate to use its law enforcement powers to stop them."
We have asked Nexway for comment.
Have you ever trolled a tech support scammer? Make our Tuesday and add your best gags in the comments below. ®
Get our [15]Tech Resources
[1] https://regmedia.co.uk/2023/04/18/nexway_order_14_april.pdf
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZD8TCaW75LILs8myKyuS4AAAAMo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZD8TCaW75LILs8myKyuS4AAAAMo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZD8TCaW75LILs8myKyuS4AAAAMo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://regmedia.co.uk/2023/04/18/nexway-complaint.pdf
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZD8TCaW75LILs8myKyuS4AAAAMo&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://regmedia.co.uk/2023/04/18/windows_virus_popup.png
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/04/tech_scammer_doj/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/22/fcc_robocalls_fine/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/23/microsoft_tech_support_scam_research/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2018/01/31/tech_support_scammers/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2017/10/30/tech_support_scam_settlement/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2018/04/23/tech_support_scams_on_the_rise/
[14] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpBKUk6t5aQ&ab_channel=LogicLounge
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: They've tried calling me before
I went to the effort of setting up a Windows 98 VM so that I could be on a Windows computer and still all their stuff wouldn't work (and I wouldn't have to dive into my memory to simulate what 98 would have done in response to their instructions). I still don't get any tech-themed scam calls. It is weird to be disappointed by not having criminals calling.
I used to get some more basic scams which started with a robot trying to weed out unlikely targets before the expensive humans got involved. I'm not sure whether my response to that was instrumental in getting them to stop or if they would have gone away anyway, but in case others want to test it, I followed the following process:
1. Answer any call from an unknown number.
2. Make a noise from your end, but it doesn't have to be hello.
3. If it's a human, they'll assume you greeted them and will start the conversation.
4. If it turns out to be a bot, just say nothing and wait for them to disconnect. If they call back, do it exactly the same way again.
Only $650K... the rest suspended... I'd have nailed them for everything, and made them chase down the suspects in India.
The rules are different for you and me. Notice how the company was accused of "knowingly" sending money to criminals?
Now see what happens if you get accused of a crime. Ignorance is no defence for us.
" "The FTC will not hesitate to use its law enforcement powers to stop them."
Well clearly that's not true, or the fine would not have been reduced from $49.5 million to $650,000. Because $650,000 is just the cost of doing business for a scammy parment processor on a %.
Was refunding victims also required?
Story time.
5 years ago at work (I'm IS) talking with two people about phone scams when the network guys gets a call, says hey IS we got one. I take the phone and say how can I help you. The fake tech tells me our computer is infecting the internet. I say that must be my son, I make it sound like Im yelling at my son for doing something with his PC. tech trys to tell me what is happening, I tell him to hold on we are turning on the computer. they direct me to log files and say "see those errors that is your computer infecting the internet" THEN - I tell the tech it will never happen again and make sound of smashing a PC, then we make noise like I am beating him - the tech on the phone is going "Sir Sir, stop you don't have to"I reply in a stern voice This will never happen again, and we resume the fake beating as we hang up on the scammer. We had a great laugh.
$650k
So in America an accomplice to a crime just has to pay a small fee and promise not to do it again and start to earn an honest living and there will be no significant consequences.
Wow. It's a good job they don't do anything else serious there, like, you know, letting everyone carry a gun if they want.
Still at least they have the libraries under control.
They've tried calling me before
I've had a couple of calls like that.
Oddly they didn't get very far:
Scammer:
"Just press the Windows key and...."
Me:
"I can't see a Windows key on my keyboard"
Scammer:
"What is the make of your computer?"
Me:
"Erm... It says BBC Microcomputer"
Strangely he asked several more questions trying to identify my "PC" before the penny dropped LOL