04 October 2012

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Tech Support Scam US crackdown on six online fraud schemes operating from India

Tech Support Scam US crackdown on six online fraud schemes operating from India

The complaints were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

1.
Federal Trade Commission, Plaintiff, v. Pecon Software Ltd., also doing business as Pecon Services LLC, Pecon Services, Inc.; Pecon Infotech Ltd.; Pecon Software UK Ltd.; Mahesh Kumar Shah, also known as MK Shah; Prateek Shah; Sujoy Roy; Zulfiquar Ali; and Vikas Kumar Gupta, Defendants
(United States District Court for the Southern District of New York)

2.
Federal Trade Commission, Plaintiff, v. PCCare247 Inc.; PC Care247 Solutions Private Limited; Connexxions Infotech Inc.; Connexxions IT Services Private Limited, also doing business as Connexxions InfoTech Services Pvt. Ltd.; Vikas Agrawal, also known as Vikas Agarwal; Navin Pasari; Anuj Agrawal; Sanjay Agarwalla; and Parmeshwar Agrawal, Defendants
(United States District Court for the Southern District of New York)

3.
Federal Trade Commission, Plaintiff, v. Zeal IT Solutions Pvt Ltd. and Kishore Ghosh, Defendants
(United States District Court for the Southern District of New York)

4.
Federal Trade Commission, Plaintiff, v. Lakshmi Infosoul Services Pvt Ltd., Somenath Das, and Piyush Kheria, Defendants
(United States District Court for the Southern District of New York)

5.
Federal Trade Commission, Plaintiff, v. Mikael Marczak, also known as Michael Marczak, also doing business as Virtual PC Solutions, First PC Solution, Direct PC Solution, Virtual IT Supports, and Global Innovative Services, and Wahid Ali, Defendants
(United States District Court for the Southern District of New York)

6.
Federal Trade Commission, Plaintiff, v. Finmaestros, LLC, also doing business as technogennie, 24x7pchelp, 24x7pctech, and Transfront Solutions; New World Services, Inc., also doing business as Megabites Solutions; Megabites Solutions, LLC, also doing business as Mega Bites, Inc., and Mega Bits, Inc.; Greybytes Cybertech P. Ltd., also doing business as Bluesystemcare, BSC, and 24x7 PCHelp; Shine Solutions Private Limited; Sanjeev K. Sood, also known as Sanjiv K. Sood; and Animesh Bharti, Defendants
(United States District Court for the Southern District of New York)

At the request of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC),
a US District Court Judge ordered a halt to six alleged tech support scams pending further hearings, and has frozen their assets.

The defendants have been charged with violating the FTC Act, which bars "unfair and deceptive" commercial practices, breaching the Telemarketing Sales Rule and illegally calling numbers that are on the National Do Not Call Registry.

According to the FTC, five of the six used telemarketing boiler rooms to call consumers.

The FTC charged that the operations – mostly based in India – target English-speaking consumers in the United States, Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and the U.K.

The sixth lured consumers by placing ads with Google which appeared when consumers searched for their computer company’s tech support telephone number.

FTC papers filed with the court alleged that the scammers hoped to avoid detection by consumers and law enforcers by using virtual offices that were actually just mail-forwarding facilities, and by using 80 different domain names and 130 different phone numbers.

The FTC charged the defendants with violating the FTC Act, which bars unfair and deceptive commercial practices, as well as the Telemarketing Sales Rule and with illegally calling numbers on the Do Not Call Registry.
It asked the court to permanently halt the scams and order restitution for consumers.

One group of individuals, according to the FTC, are based in West Bengal; the other group of Indians charged operate from Rajasthan.

The guardian investigation team reported that one gang was using locations and accounts in Canada to transfer money from the scams back to India.

The FTC cases targeted 14 corporate defendants and 17 individual defendants in 6 legal filings,

1)  
Pecon Software Ltd

2)  
Finmaestros LLC

3)  
Zeal IT Solutions Pvt Ltd

4)  
Virtual PC Solutions

5)  
Lakshmi Infosoul Services Pvt Ltd

6)  
PCCare247, Inc

and individual defendants in each of the cases; majority of whom are Indians and based in India.

The companies whose assets have been frozen are:

1) Pecon Software

2)PC Care247

3)Connexxions Infotech

4)Connexxions IT Services Private Ltd

5)Zeal IT Solutions

6)Lakshmi Infosoul Services Private Ltd

7)Virtual PC Solutions

8)First PC Solution

9)Direct PC Solution

10)Virtual IT Supports

11)Global Innovative Service

12)24x7pchelp

13)24x7pctech

14)Transfront Solutions

15)New World Services

16)Megabites Solutions

17)Mega Bits

18)Greybytes Cybertech

19)Bluesystemcare

20)Shine Solutions Private Ltd

How the scam was operated what was the method of scam?

The scam stars used voice-over-internet phone lines to make them appear to be calling from inside the country being targeted, when in fact the caller was in India.

The companies involved had US locations which were used to funnel money back to India. Some also have UK offices.

However the FTC asserts that the companies used "virtual" offices which were in fact just mail-forwarding facilities.

you get a call from someone pretending to be from a major computer company who dupes you into thinking you have a virus on your computer.
after getting the consumers on the phone, the telemarketers allegedly claimed they were affiliated with legitimate companies, including Dell, Microsoft, McAfee, and Norton, and told consumers they had detected malware that posed an imminent threat to their computers.

To demonstrate the need for immediate help, the scammers directed consumers to a utility area of
 [ event viewer ]their computer and falsely claimed that it demonstrated that the computer was infected.

The scammers then offered to rid the computer of malware for fees ranging from $49 to $450

When consumers agreed to pay the fee for fixing the “problems’’, the telemarketers directed them to a Web site to enter a code or download a software programme that allowed the scammers remote access to the consumers’ computers.

Once the telemarketers took control of the consumers’ computers, they “removed” the non-existent malware and downloaded otherwise free programmes

About FTC –
The Federal Trade Commission works for consumers to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, visit the FTC's online Complaint Assistant or call 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357). The FTC enters complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 2,000 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.

Reality views by sm –

Thursday, October 04, 2012

Tags -  FTC Tech Support Scam India USA


4 comments:

Usha October 12, 2012  

80 Domains and 130 phone numbers...this is massive scam network...I wonder how they mastermind such cheating business plans..no conscience left in their hearts.Good that they are now caught. We must stay alert about all phone calls.Here in USA too many such scam companies operate. How they manage to survive no idea.

CareSoftSolution October 29, 2012  

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