FTC to Issue Refunds Following Tech Support Scam

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is notifying victims of a tech support scheme who are eligible for partial refunds, the commission announced today. Hundreds of thousands of people were deceived in an operation that ran from April 2012 to November 2014.

Eligible consumers purchased tech support products and services from a company called Advanced Tech Support, which also operated under the name Inbound Call Experts. The FTC claims operators behind the scam lied to consumers by saying their machines were infected with malware and viruses, then used high-pressure marketing to sell tech support.

The defendants paid $10 million as part of a settlement with the FTC. Their deal also prohibits defendants from misrepresenting the fact that they diagnosed problems on consumers' machines, and from making other misrepresentations while selling tools and services.

Those eligible for refunds will have until October 27, 2017 to submit a request.

Read more details here.