WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) — The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced Jan. 10 that the assets of the operators of an alleged tech scam will be used to reimburse consumers victimized by the scheme.
A total of $1.3 million in consumer restitution had been held by a court-ordered receiver. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania stated the $1.3 million was acquired by the defendants “through fraud and other improper means.” The court ordered the funds to be used to benefit consumer victims.
The alleged scheme had involved utilizing Internet ads and popups alleging to come from major tech companies like Microsoft and Apple to fool consumers into purchasing tech support services from the defendants.
Last May, the FTC worked with Connecticut and Pennsylvania to reach a settlement with the defendants. Under terms of the agreement, the defendants are banned from marketing technical support services and must pay $554,000 in penalties, as well as forfeit the $1.3 million.
The defendants in the case are Bruce Bartolotta, Click4Support LLC, Spanning Source LLC, George Saab, Chetan Patel and Niraj Patel, as well as Innovazion Inc., Innovazion Research Private Limited, Abhishek Gagneja and Rishi Gagneja.