The Pop-Up That Screamed: How the FTC Shut Down Global Access Technical Support

That's the scheme the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) went after in Global Access Technical Support. And it's a great example of why the call is where these cases live.

So what happened?

In October 2016, the FTC sued a group of St. Louis-based defendants in federal court in the Eastern District of Missouri (case no. 4:16-cv-01556). The court temporarily stopped their practices and froze their assets.

According to the FTC:

• Affiliate marketers placed pop-up ads designed to look like they came from Apple or Microsoft, warning that the computer had viruses or malware.
• The ads were loud and sticky. They often had alarms or recorded warnings and "hijacked" browsers, so people couldn't close them.
• The ads pushed a toll-free number. Callers reached a call center in India with telemarketers who claimed to be affiliated with or certified by a major tech company.
• Remote access was the hook. Telemarketers had consumers grant remote access, then showed them harmless screens and directories as "proof" of problems.
• The bill was $200 to $400 for repairs that were at best useless and sometimes actually harmful.

The defendants included Global Access Technical Support, LLC (also doing business as Global S Connect, Yubdata Tech and Technolive), Source Pundit LLC (also doing business as OneSource Tech Support), Helios Digital Media LLC, VGlobal ITES Pvt. Ltd. and several individuals.

Read the FTC's complaint against Global Access Technical Support.

How did it end?

In June 2017, settlements:

• Banned the settling defendants from marketing or promoting any tech support products or services.
• Barred them from misrepresenting any product or service.
• Required them to turn over assets worth more than $1 million for victims.

"When tech support scams pop up, the FTC will take action," said Tom Pahl, then Acting Director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection.

In August 2019, the FTC issued checks and PayPal payments totaling more than $802,000 to 12,140 consumers. That was the first time the FTC used PayPal for refunds, for people it had no mailing address for.

Why should you care?

Here's the thing. If you buy or sell inbound calls, the traffic source matters. A pop-up that fakes a virus warning creates a phone call. And that call is the whole business.

So:

• Know what your affiliates are running. The FTC pinned the ads on the affiliate marketers and still pursued the company getting the calls.
• Never claim a brand you don't have. "Certified by Microsoft" is a lie if you're not.
• Watch remote access sales. Showing a scared person "proof" on their own screen is exactly what got cited here.
• If the ad has to scare people, kill the campaign.

Good calls come from honest ads. Period.