FTC Settles With Tech Support Scammers; Defendants Permanently Banned From Tech Support, Telemarketing

release Tuesday. The FTC filed suit against Pairsys and its owners, Tiya Bhattacharya and Uttam Saha. It alleged they cold-called consumers pretending to be representatives of Facebook or Microsoft, bought deceptive online advertisements that led consumers to believe they were a legitimate technical support company, and engaged in high-pressure sales pitches to consumers to give the company remote access to their computers allegedly to repair dangerous malware and viruses last year, the release said. “The scammers would then pressure consumers into paying for computer security or technical support services, usually at a cost of $149 to $249, though in some cases the defendants charged as much as $600.” Under the settlement, Bhattacharya and Saha “are required to turn over multiple real estate properties as well as the contents of numerous bank accounts, and to give up the leases on two luxury cars,” and are banned from selling any technical support services to consumers, participating in telemarketing, misrepresenting goods or services to consumers, and from collecting money for any technical support services, the release said. The commission vote approving the stipulated order was 5-0, it said. The order was filed in and entered by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York.