Several fake-Microsoft employees have been sued for scamming people to pay for non-existing technical problems with their computer. They reportedly scammed ten thousands of victims and made them pay several millions of dollars.
The scammers called people at home and told them they were support employees of Microsoft, Apple or other technology companies. They then told them they noticed problems with the victim's computer and then made the victims pay for solving the non-existing issues. They also showed popups and advertisements that tried to convince users that their computer had issues and that they should call a phone number to resolve them.
Ten thousands of people paid for the unnecessary support and the American Federal Trade Commission (FTC) started a case against the phone scammers. The suspects are accused of money laundering, processing credit cards, opening bank accounts and other activities to facilitate phone scams.
Previously 14 companies and 14 individuals, who pretended to be Microsoft or other tech companies employees, received a fine of $5.1 million.
