A telemarketing scam through which consumers were scammed out of millions of dollars when they were lured into purchasing worthless tech support software which they did not need has been halted by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) which has entered into a settlement with the scammers who will be paying 10 million dollars to the FTC to be returned to victims of the scam.

The scam began when the victims downloaded free phony security software that promptly informed the victims about serious security issues with the victims’ computers that, in truth, did not exist. The software then prompted the victims to call the scammers who convinced the victims to buy the full version of the  useless software as well as tech support services that totaled as much as $500.

TIPS

As provisions are made by the FTC to make payments to the victims of this scam, I will report it to you here in Scamicide.

This scam is a common one.  Everyone should have security software installed on all of their electronic devices including smartphones.  There even are some good security software programs that are free, but regardless of whether you are using free security software or paying for it, you should only do business with established companies that you can trust, such as McAfee, Malwarebytes or Symantec.