Fergie's Tech Blog

Scareware Peddlers Will Only Fork Over $116,000 of $1.9M Settlement

Michael Cooney writes on the NetworkWorld "Layer 8" Blog:

Two defendants charged in a massive scareware scheme will reconcile Federal Trade Commission charges and give up more than $116,000 in assets as part of an original $1.9 million settlement.

The two settling defendants -- James Reno and ByteHosting Internet Services, LLC -- were allegedly part of a massive deceptive advertising scheme that tricked more than a million consumers into buying rogue computer security products, including WinFixer, WinAntivirus, DriveCleaner, ErrorSafe, and XP Antivirus, according to the FTC's complaint. The scheme allegedly relied on deceptive advertisements featuring bogus computer "scans" that falsely claimed to detect viruses, spyware, and illegal pornography on consumers' computers.

The settlement imposes a judgment of nearly $1.9 million but under a court agreement, all but $116,697 of the judgment will be suspended based on the defendants' inability to pay the full amount, the FTC stated.

posted by Fergie @ 6/25/2009 12:54:00 PM