State AGs, Federal Agencies Target Tech Support Scams

State attorneys general joined federal agencies in a crackdown on tech support scams, the National Association of Attorneys General said Thursday. Scammers use pop-up messages, phone calls or websites to claim a consumer’s computer is infected, and then ask for personal information or remote access to a victim’s computer to fix the problem. More than 60 percent of consumers faced them last year, said NAAG President and Louisiana AG Jeff Landry (R). “Education, prevention, and enforcement are instrumental in addressing these tech scams.” Sweep participants are DOJ, the FTC and AG offices from Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Washington, D.C. The sweep includes "criminal charges, criminal proceed seizures, civil injunction lawsuits, and the execution of search warrants," said a DOJ fact sheet.