Pop-Ups, Remote Access and $3 Million: A Charlotte Tech Support Plea

You call. Now somebody's inside your computer.

That's the play in this 2019 case.

What happened?

On March 20, 2019, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that Bishap Mittal, 24, of Charlotte, North Carolina, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to access a protected computer. He entered the plea before U.S. Magistrate Judge David S. Cayer. No sentencing date had been set.

According to the information and plea agreement, Mittal lived in Charlotte with "Individual 1," the owner and manager of Capstone Technologies LLC. Capstone claimed to offer computer services and used a pile of other names, including Authenza Solutions LLC, MS-Squad Technologies, MS-Squad.com, MS Infotech, United Technologies and Reventus Technologies.

How the scam worked

• The conspirators bought blocks of malicious pop-up adware from publishers around the world.
• The pop-ups froze victims' screens and pushed them to call Capstone at the number shown.
• Calls went to a tech support center in India, where conspirators used remote access tools to take control of the computers.
• They "found" fake problems like malware or viruses and charged between $200 and $2,400 to fix them.

Prosecutors say the group defrauded hundreds of victims across the U.S., some elderly, of more than $3 million. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigated.

Here's the thing ...

Look at where the calls came from. Nobody dialed out. The victims called in.

A lot of people in performance marketing think inbound means safe. "They called us!" Yeah. Because you scared them with a fake warning. Am I right?

The pop-up was the lead source. The lead source was the fraud. If you're buying calls, you need to know exactly what ad made that phone ring. If you can't see the creative, you can't defend the call.

And buying "blocks of adware"? Come on. Have some dignity.

What to do this week

• Demand the creative. See every ad that drives calls to you.
• Ban scare tactics in your traffic rules, in writing.
• Kill sources that show up with fake virus or "your computer is locked" messages.
• Watch for remote access requests in your scripts. If a sales call ends with someone taking over a computer, ask why.

Know your traffic. It'll save you.