The National Trial Lawyers
  • Home
    • Meet Our Team
    • Contact Us
    • Mission & Goals
    • FAQ
  • Webinars
  • News
  • Membership Directory
    • Top 100 Map – Civil Plaintiff
    • Top 100 Map – Criminal Defense
    • Top 40 Under 40 Map – Civil Plaintiff
    • Top 40 Under 40 Map – Criminal Defense
  • Top 100
    • Civil Plaintiff Officers / Executive Committee
    • Criminal Defense Officers / Executive Committee
    • Benefits
    • About
    • Top 100 President’s Message
    • Diplomat
    • Membership Renewal
    • Member Profile Updates
    • Top 100 Badge
    • Media
  • Top 40
    • Civil Plaintiff Officers / Executive Committee
    • Criminal Defense Officers / Executive Committee
    • Top 40 Under 40 Trial Academy Bootcamp
    • Benefits
    • About
    • Top 40 President’s Message
    • Membership Renewal
    • Member Profile Updates
    • Top 40 Badge
    • Media
  • Specialty Assoc
    • About
    • Shop
    • Officers
    • Membership Renewal
    • Member Profile Updates
    • Media
  • Nominate
    • Top 100
    • Top 40
    • Specialty Association
    • Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame
    • Trial Lawyer of the Year
    • Trial Team of the Year
    • America’s Most Influential Trial Lawyer
    • America’s Most Influential Law Firm
    • Lifetime Achievement Award
  • Shop
  • Magazine
    • A-List
  • Education and Networking Agenda
    • Trial Lawyers Summit
      • Summit Sponsors
    • Top 40 Under 40 Trial Academy Boot Camp
    • Mass Torts Made Perfect
    • The Lanier Master Class 5.0 Trial Academy 2021
    • Webinars
  • Hall of Fame
    • Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame

Fourth Circuit Upholds $163 Million Judgment Against “Scareware” Marketer

Posted on February 28, 2014 by Larry Bodine
legal news for consumers

Innovative Marketing sold the scareware under the names WinFixer, WinAntiVirus, and WinAntiVirusPro. It would trick consumers into thinking their computers were infected.

The Fourth US Circuit Court of Appeals imposed a judgment of $163,167,539 on the final defendant in the FTC’s case against Innovative Marketing, Inc., which used computer “scareware” to trick consumers into thinking their computers were infected with malicious software, and then sold them software to “fix” their non-existent problem.

The court order also permanently prohibits Innovative’s Vice President and founder, Kristy Ross, from selling computer security software and any other software that interferes with consumers’ computer use, and from any form of deceptive marketing. She personally had a hand in the creation and dissemination of the deceptive ads, and thus was held personally liable.

In 2008, as part of the FTC’s efforts to protect consumers from spyware and malware, the FTC charged Ross and six other defendants with conning more than one million consumers into buying software to remove malware supposedly detected by computer scans.

The FTC charged that the operation used elaborate and technologically sophisticated Internet advertisements placed with advertising networks and many popular commercial websites. These ads displayed to consumers a “system scan” that invariably detected a host of malicious or otherwise dangerous files and programs on consumers’ computers. The bogus “scans” would then urge consumers to buy the defendants’ software for $40 to $60 to clean off the malware.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland subsequently ordered a halt to the massive scheme, pending litigation.  Under a settlement announced in 2011, defendant Marc D’Souza and his father, Maurice D’Souza, were ordered to give up $8.2 million in ill-gotten gains. Two other defendants previously settled the charges against them; the FTC obtained default judgments against three other defendants.

The case is FTC v. Kristy Ross, No. 12-2340. To learn more about these kinds of scams, read the FTC’s “Free Security Scan” Could Cost Time and Money.

Posted in Blog

Comments are closed.

News Categories

Subscribe to Blog and VFJ via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog, the Voice for Justice and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Read about other Top Jury Verdicts

Pharmaceutical Giant Johnson & Johnson is Preparing $3.9B for Talc Settlements

Pharmaceutical Giant Johnson & Johnson is Preparing $3.9B for Talc Settlements

Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson has set aside $3.9 billion for talc-related litigation, according to a regulatory [Read More...]
Alaska Airlines Will Pay $3.19M Following the Death of a Passenger

Alaska Airlines Will Pay $3.19M Following the Death of a Passenger

Seattle-based Alaska Airlines has been ordered to pay more than $3 million to the family of a passenger of reduced mobility w[Read More...]
No thumbnail available

Keith Givens on the Trial Lawyers Summit and Lanier Trial Academy

https://vimeo.com/515910581 Michelle Swanner, Executive Director of The National Trial Lawyers, interviews Keith Givens[Read More...]
A $220M Settlement Reached in National Milk Producers' Herd Retirement Program

A $220M Settlement Reached in National Milk Producers' Herd Retirement Program

ST. LOUIS, Feb. 22, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- A $220 million settlement has been reached in a class-action law[Read More...]
Mountaire Farms Proposes a $65M Settlement for Contaminating the Millsboro-Area Groundwater and Air

Mountaire Farms Proposes a $65M Settlement for Contaminating the Millsboro-Area Groundwater and Air

It’s a lawsuit that’s been years in the making, but the class-action suit against Mountaire Farms may be approach[Read More...]

#LegalNews

@@TheNTLtop100

Contact Us | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy

Attorney information and content provided on this website is provided for the benefit of members of The National Trial Lawyers and as a public service by Legal Associations Management, Inc. The website and all data are the property of Legal Associations Management, Inc. Data, including without limitation attorney information and content, on the site may not be mined, sold, or used commercially for any purpose without the explicit written consent of Legal Associations Management, Inc. This site may not be accessed by any automated program for extracting data for any use. By accessing and using the site you agree that you will not develop, support or use software, devices, scripts, robots, or any other means or processes (including crawlers, browser plug-ins and add-ons, or any other technology) to scrape data or otherwise copy profiles and other data. Unauthorized use or attempted unauthorized use of this system may subject you to both civil and criminal penalties.