WASHINGTON (CN) — The Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint Thursday to stop online tech support scams that bilk tens of millions of dollars from consumers, particularly older people.
Reimage Cyprus Limited has operated two supposed computer repair tools since January 2018, Restoro and Reimage, which the company markets primarily via deceptive pop-up ads or internet ads offering a free scan for viruses or an “update” to the consumers’ computers.
“Regardless of the computers’ actual health, the scan or update inevitably finds purported performance or security issues requiring repairs,” attorney Russell Deitch wrote in the FTC’s complaint.
The pop-up ads are intended to scare consumers, warning that their computers have been damaged or infected by viruses, in some cases even using the Microsoft Windows’ logo to appear more credible.
FTC investigators made four “undercover” purchases of Restoro and Reimage services, using a computer with an antivirus program already installed and without any performance or security issues.
In all four purchases, the investigators conducted an initial scan, then were invited by Restoro or Reimage to purchase software and received a phone number to call and “activate” the services. In the calls, telemarketers falsely claimed the investigators’ computer had performance or security issues and pushed them buy repair services from a “technician.”
According to the FTC, the Restoro scan identified 552 issues requiring repairs, while the Reimage identified 1,244 issues, including “PC privacy issues,” “junk files,” “crashed programs” and “broken registry issues.” The scans, both on the same computer, were conducted just over a month apart, first on June 29, 2022, and the second on Aug. 3, 2022.
Following the scans, both sites directed the investigators to choose between three “PC Repair Plan[s],” ranging between $27 and $58. After purchasing a plan, they were next directed to call a telemarketer to activate the software.
In those calls, the telemarketers said the computer had issues that could not be fixed by the software on its own and attempted to upsell them with repair services done by a technician that would cost hundreds of dollars.
The “technician repair plans” ranged from $200 to $500.
Throughout these calls, the telemarketers would use Microsoft Windows’ Event Viewer to watch the investigators’ screens, pointing to a series of errors and warnings that they claimed were proof of problems with the computer.
But those messages are typical while using a computer, and normally indicate routine events like failing to log in because of an incorrect password, completed antivirus scans and other “mundane system details.”
Schemes like Restoro and Reimage have scammed hundreds of thousands of Americans out of their hard-earned cash. According to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, in 2023 the center received 880,418 complaints, more than 80,000 reported in 2022, which cost a total of $12.5 billion — a 22% increase.
Older Americans are particularly vulnerable, with a large portion of reports coming from those 60 and older with 101,068 reports in 2023. Younger age groups, particularly those 30-39 and 40-49, also filed a considerable number of complaints, 88,138 and 84,052, respectively.
But the 60 and older group suffered the heaviest financial losses, reporting over $3.4 billion lost to scams. The second closest group, 50-59, reported losses totaling $1.7 billion from 65,924 complaints.
According to the FTC, Reimage Cyrpus Limited has continued the schemes despite multiple warnings from credit card networks like Visa and companies providing payment processing services to Reimage and AppEsteem, a company hired by Reimage, to certify their services. These third parties have issued multiple warnings since October 2018, to no avail.
The FTC asks the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to permanently block Reimage from further violations of the FTC Act and the Telemarketing Sales Rule.
Reimage did not respond to requests for comment.
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