FTC: $10M in refunds coming in case

Feds say scam involving Boca firm falsely claimed to find viruses, malware on consumers’ computers.

Federal officials said this week they are ready to mail more than 36,000 checks totaling more than $10 million in a case involving a Boca Raton tech support company.

The money comes from a settlement with Inbound Call Experts LLC, doing business as Advanced Tech Support, and other defendants. The Federal Trade Commission called it a scam that used high-pressure sales tactics to market products and services by falsely claiming to find viruses and malware on consumers’ computers.

Average refund: $277.44. Deposit or cash the check within 60 days, officials advised. Also: Never pay money or provide account information to receive a refund check, the agency cautioned. Questions? Call the FTC’s refund line at 877-793-0908.

Other defendants in the case include PC Vitalware LLC, Super

PC Support LLC, Robert D. Deignan, Paul M. Herdsman and Justin M. Wright. Defendants neither admitted nor denied allegations in agreeing to the settlement, according to a court order.

Inbound Call Experts appears to be still in operation or at least maintaining a phone line under that company name. A call this week was not immediately returned.

It’s been a long road to refunds in a crackdown that began in 2014.

“Defendants operate a massive internet-based scheme in which they lure consumers, many of whom are senior citizens, to call an inbound call center and then dupe consumers into purchasing computer technical support services and unnecessary computer security software,” the FTC said in a suit then.

Federal agents and sheriff ’s deputies swooped in at Advanced Tech Support’s operations at 4800 T-Rex Ave. in Boca Raton, The Post reported at the time.

“There was a really loud sheriff ’s deputy in a tactical vest, screaming, ‘Get away from the computer!’” said James Malaspino, then an employee at Advanced Tech Support.