The Federal Trade Commission will send refunds to tech support scams totaling US$1.7 million. The scam operated under Click4Support, claiming to be from companies like Apple and Microsoft.
The FTC will begin providing 57,960 refunds averaging about $30 each to victims of the scheme. Most recipients will get their refunds via PayPal, but those who receive checks should deposit or cash their checks within 60 days, as indicated on the check.
Check It Out: FTC Sends Refund Checks to Victims of Tech Support Scams
Andrew:
The USA has to be one of the very few countries that will pay victims of this type of fraud for their losses, particularly when there have been warnings, whether posted online or pushed out via the media, about such scams. Still, this is a good thing.
These calls about infected computers appears to have abated, at least in my experience. I used to be able to stump the group from Mumbai (at least that was their regional accent – I know it well) when I would ask them, once they claimed they had ‘helped’ me before what system I used, and they would always say, ‘Windows’. No one ever seemed to write it down, ‘This guy uses a Mac’. Perhaps they valued consistency over accuracy or truth. Perhaps they’ve moved on to political office. The Dutch group were more coy and focussed on the MS Office suite (which every user has at one point or another had to trouble shoot).
Still, I haven’t had any hits in over two years, going on three. Then again, this could be a function of iOS 13 helping to filter out those calls that are not in my database.