Security News > 2023 > April > Payments firm accused of aiding 'contact Microsoft about a virus' scammers must cough $650k
Two execs and a multinational payment processing company must pay $650k to the US government, says the FTC, which accuses them of knowingly processing credit card payments for Microsoft-themed support scammers.
The Justice Department and the Feds 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.
According to the complaint [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."
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.
Tech scammer who fooled Cisco, Microsoft and Lenovo out of millions jailed for more than seven years FCC calls for mega $300 million fine for massive US robocall campaign Tech support scams subside somewhat, but Millennials and Gen Z think they're bulletproof and suffer In America, tech support conmen get a mild slap.
Have you ever trolled a tech support scammer? Make our Tuesday and add your best gags in the comments below.
News URL
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/04/18/us_company_accused_of_helping/