The Federal Trade Commission (FTC from the Federal Trade Commission) filed lawsuits against two Cyprus-based companies on Wednesday, which it claims are behind a wave of malicious pop-ups that trick users into downloading fake anti-virus software.
The fake antivirus campaigns netted the administrators tens of millions of dollars, according to court filings.
The scam also involved misrepresenting results on VirusTotal by displaying harmless files as infections on the user's computer. The FTC announced that Restoro and Reimage will pay $26 million.
The move is the FTC's latest in a series of privacy and cybersecurity actions.
In January, the agency banned a data broker called X-Mode from selling sensitive location data after it was found to have collected location data from Muslim prayer and dating apps.
In the case of Cyprus-based companies Restoro and Reimage, the FTC went undercover to purchase the cheating software and had telephone conversations with representatives of the companies.
"Since at least January 2018, the defendants have operated a technical support scheme that has defrauded consumers, particularly elderly consumers, of tens of millions of dollars," the FTC's complaint states.
