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The Commission’s expanded rules will protect consumers against these scam calls, even if they make the first call.
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has made amendments to its telemarketing rules to protect consumers against technical support scams that they were duped to initiate or engage in.
Often displaying as pop-up alerts on screens, scammers claim a consumer’s device is infected with malware or other problems in order to sell them bogus technical support services.
Once a consumer has engaged, scammers often ask them to pay for the bogus services by wire transfers, gift cards or other means of payments which can be hard to reverse.
The FTC said that to date in 2024, consumers reported losing more than $165m to technical support scams.
According to the FTC, those 60 years and older were five times more likely than younger people to lose money on these particular types of scams.
The FTC could already go after fraudster companies if they initiated calls to dupe consumers, however, now, its Telemarketing Sale Rule (TSR) – which defines technical support services as any service marketed to repair, maintain or improve any device including a computer, smartphone or smart home product – will protect consumers against these fraud calls even if the consumer, misled by the scammers, engages with them.
“The Commission will not sit idle as older consumers continue to report tech support scams as a leading driver of fraud losses,” said Samuel Levine, the director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.
“Expanding the TSR to make sure calls for tech support services are covered will help us hold businesses accountable and get money back for injured consumers.”
Earlier this year, the Commission amended the Rule to prohibit deception in calls between businesses, while in 2010, it addressed pre-recorded telemarketing calls and debt collection services.
An FTC report from last year revealed that US users have lost $2.7bn to social media scams since 2021.
Moreover, deceptive practices employing AI are becoming commonplace. As a response, earlier this year, the FTC started targeting companies who use AI to boost conduct that harms consumers, including going after an online legal service claiming to offer a ‘robot lawyer’ service.
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