WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) — Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Federal Trade Commission have announced PC Cleaner, Inc., Netcom3 Global, Inc., Netcom3, Inc. and Cashier Myricks, the principal of the three corporations, will pay more than $29 million to settle allegations of deceptive marketing.
“Personal computers and laptops play an integral role in the daily lives of most Floridians, and scammers are constantly trying to exploit this dependence on technology,” Bondi said. “That is why I am working with our federal partners to shut down tech support scams that aim to bilk consumers out of millions of dollars every year.”
According to Bondi’s office and the FTC, the defendants would reel consumers in by offering free trials of “PC Cleaner Pro.” The program would then allegedly run on consumers’ computers, identifying a host of fake problems and exaggerating minor issues. To clear the computer of these issues, the defendants offered the paid version of the program for $29.99. Between 2011 and 2013, the programs were downloaded more than 450,000 times.
In addition to the monetary settlement, the defendants are permanently banned from misrepresenting consumer computer issues, using misleading statements to induce consumers to make purchases, and perform any acts that violate FDUTPA, Chapter 501, Part II, Florida Statutes.