Microsoft has filed a lawsuit against a consortium of firms involved in exploiting unsuspecting Windows users.
After receiving over 65,000 complaints about tech support scams in the last six months alone, Microsoft has finally decided to take legal action against the involved parties. These tech support scammers often gain remote access to people"s computers and trick them into paying for resolving non-existent issues.
Some of the companies involved go by names such as OmniTech Support, FixNow and TechSupport Pro. Most of them are based out of the United States while an Indian company called C-Cubed Solutions has also been listed. Microsoft carried out investigations by visiting the sites offering tech support services.
According to Microsoft"s own findings, the scammers offer to fix "made-up" issues with the victim"s computer for a $149.99 fee and continue to charge the victim at every stage of the scam while installing spyware and keyloggers on their computers.
Microsoft has asked the District Court of California to ban the involved parties from using the company"s trademarks and will be seeking damages as well. There have been numerous scams that have been doing damage to Microsoft"s brand over time but the company has struggled to stop it mostly due to unawareness among most users.
Source: Microsoft via GigaOM | Scam image via Shutterstock