AUSTIN, Texas (Legal Newsline) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Dec. 8 the Travis County District Court has temporarily barred operators of an alleged tech support scam from conducting businesses.
The defendants are HPC Techs LLC, Escutcheon Technologies LLC, The Rhombus Techs LLC, as well as nine other tech support companies, and four individuals who own and operate them. The defendants’ business assets have been frozen, which will secure as much money as possible for future distribution of consumer restitution funds. Two of the individual defendants have also had their personal assets frozen.
According to Paxton’s office, the defendants convinced consumers to buy unnecessary computer repairs after sending pop-up messages to their devices. These deceptive messages would allegedly tell consumers their devices were infected by malware and that to destroy the malware, they needed to purchase products made by the defendants. Consumers were purportedly pressured into paying hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars for unneeded computer fixes.
“My office will not tolerate deceptive sales tactics, especially those that utilize fear to make a buck,” Paxton said. “We will do what is necessary to hold these fraudsters accountable for duping Texans out of their hard-earned money.”