FTC Sues Alleged Spyware Distributors
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The US Federal Trade Commission last week filed a legal complaint against two companies that allegedly infected computers with spyware and pop-up advertising, then tried to sell their owners spyware-blocking software.
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As part of a renewed effort to curb false weight-loss claims, the Federal Trade Commission said on Tuesday it has sued six companies that sold products ranging from cellulite cream to diet teas and patches.
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The U.S. government has sued a New Hampshire man in its first attempt to crack down on Internet "spyware" that seizes control of a user's computer without permission.
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(InfoWorld) - Three U.S. agencies have initiated more than 100 law enforcement actions against bogus business-opportunity peddlers and work-at-home scams, including several Internet-based schemes. The Project FAL$E HOPE$ crackdown, announced Tuesday but in operation for most of the year, targeted scammers in 11 states, including California, Texas, Florida and Maryland. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Department of Justice (DOJ) and Postal Inspection Service worked with law enforcement agencies in those states to take action against the alleged fraudsters. Project FAL$E HOPE$ includes new cases announced Tuesday, developments in existing cases, criminal convictions, and state actions. The project also announced new education material for advertising sales staff, aimed at helping screen ads for bogus business opportunities. Included in nine cases the FTC announced Tuesday: -- The Results Group: Working out of what the FTC called a boiler room in Phoenix, the operation charged between $99 and $599 to build and host Web sites "affiliated" with the sites of large retailers such as Amazon.comÂ and Overstock.com, the FTC said. Consumers could supposedly make money when those retailers paid commissions for sales made through the consumersâ Web sites. In fact, the large retailers were unaware of any such affiliation, and consumers made no money. The FTC accused the operation of falsely representing that purchasers would receive substantial income as well as substantial assistance from an expert staff, and using false and misleading statements to encourage consumers to buy the business opportunity. -- Money Making Secret: These defendants promised "Top 12 Programs to Make Big Money!" and charged consumers between $47 and $129 to access a "members only" Web site with "money-making secrets," the FTC said. The Internet-based programs that were offered varied, including online survey programs, free government grant money programs, mystery shopper programs, and online data-entry programs. However, these programs did not exist, or did not offer easy money with little time or effort, as promised, the FTC said. The FTC's complaint charges the defendants with making false and unsubstantiated earnings claims. The FTC also has new guidance for publishers, offering them help to screen out deceptive ads for business opportunities. The alert, "Ads for Business Opportunities: How to Detect Deception," suggests advertising sales staff to give an extra look at ads that make claims such as: "No risk! Guaranteed" "Quick and Easy!" "Earn $2,000 a month." The FTC alert warns that legitimate business ventures involve risks, and start-up businesses require a lot of work to get off the ground. The law requires earnings claims in ads be accompanied by the number and percentage of previous purchasers who achieved the income, the FTC said.
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Companies are accused of infecting PCs, and then selling spyware-blocking software.
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The world&#39;s largest computer software manufacturer filed suit Tuesday in US District Court against a local software retailer it claims is selling and distributing counterfeit software labels.
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Suit alleges illegal kickbacks to Dell from Intel were concealed.
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Malicious-toolbar distributor pays more than $2 million in federal settlement.
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StopBadware.org and Center for Democracy and Technology file FTC complaint against FastMP3Search.
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The Federal Trade Commission formally announced yesterday its first assault against spyware - bits of computer code that surreptitiously install themselves on the computers of Internet users
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Scammers are sending out virus-laden e-mails claiming to have information on complaints filed with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, the FTC warned Monday.The e-mail appears to come from frauddep@ftc.gov -- a spoofed address -- and it includes a malicious attachment that downloads keylogging software, which is used to steal sensitive information such as passwords and account numbers.&quot;While the e-mail includes the FTC seal, it has grammatical errors, misspellings, and incorrect syntax,&quot; the FTC said in an alert , released Monday. &quot;Recipients should forward the e-mail to spam@uce.gov and then delete it.&quot; E-mail sent to this uce.gov address goes into the FTC&#39;s spam database, which is used by investigators.Online scammers often masquerade as government agencies such as the Internal Revenue Service in the hopes of tricking unsuspecting victims into clicking on attachments or visiting malicious Web sites.
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The Software & Information Industry Association has filed nine lawsuits against software sellers for allegedly selling pirated software on eBay.
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Sold trade secrets for $20, Feds allege
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The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has begun mailing claim forms to more than 1,400 identity theft victims who spent money to clear up identity-theft problems due to a security breach at data broker ChoicePoint announced in early 2005.
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Sanctions against botnet operators The Federal Trade Commission, the US consumer rights watchdog, has succeeded in shutting down four illegal spamming operations judged to have breached federal anti-spam laws. Targets of the lawsuits included an operation that offered the supposed chance to "date lonely wives" and two outfits that allegedly bombarded unwilling recipients with lurid ads for pornographic web sites, sent via compromised PCs.â¦
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Eight businesses, seven individuals named as defendants in suit alleging distribution, sales of counterfeit programs.
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Symantec is suing a group of software vendors claiming they distributed several unauthorized versions of security and backup software, including Norton AntiVirus and Veritas Backup Exec.