Answer "Yes" Once, Get a Malware Warning: Office Depot and Support.com Pay $35 Million

So what happened?

In March 2019, the FTC announced that Office Depot, Inc. and its tech support software provider, California-based Support.com, Inc., agreed to pay a total of $35 million to settle charges in federal court in the Southern District of Florida (case no. 9:19-cv-80431). Office Depot paid $25 million and Support.com paid $10 million.

The "PC Health Check"

According to the FTC's complaint, Support.com worked with Office Depot for nearly a decade selling tech support services in its stores. The tool they used was a program called PC Health Check, marketed as a free "PC check-up" or tune-up to improve performance and look for viruses and security threats.

Here's the thing ... the FTC says the results had nothing to do with the scan.

At the start, customers were asked four questions:

• Does your computer run slow?
• Do you get virus warnings?
• Does it crash often?
• Do you see pop-up ads or other problems that keep you from browsing?

Answer "yes" to just one, and the program reported that it found malware symptoms or infections. Then it showed a "view recommendation" button for tech services that could cost hundreds of dollars. Support.com did the tech services remotely.

Read that again. The "scan" was a questionnaire.

People inside knew

This is the part that gets me. The FTC says both companies were aware of concerns and complaints about PC Health Check since at least 2012. One OfficeMax employee wrote to corporate management that year: "I cannot justify lying to a customer or being TRICKED into lying to them for our store to make a few extra dollars."

According to the complaint, Office Depot continued to advertise and use the program until the end of 2016 and pushed store managers and employees to generate sales from it.

Read the FTC's complaint against Office Depot.

How it ended

Under the settlements:

• Office Depot is prohibited from misrepresenting the security or performance of a customer's device and must ensure that its software providers do the same.
• Support.com cannot make, or give others the means to make, misrepresentations about device performance or security detection.

And in February 2020, the FTC sent 541,247 refund checks averaging $63.35, totaling more than $34 million.

Why should you care?

Look, the tech support scam is usually told as a tale about pop-ups and overseas call centers. This case shows how the typical playbook can be run inside a well-known retailer.

• A diagnostic has to diagnose. If the result is baked in, it's a sales script.
• Listen to your front line. When employees say they feel like they're lying, believe them.
• You own your vendors' tools. Office Depot was required to promise to police its software providers.
• Sales targets plus a rigged tool is how you end up with a $35 million problem.

It's not rocket science. Tell people the truth about their computer.