Microsoft Corp. today sued a Los Angeles company for allegedly using its name to trick customers into buying support services to fix nonexistent bugs and then stealing personal information.
In the civil complaint, filed in Los Angeles federal court, Omni Tech Support, a division of Customer Focus Services, is accused of misusing Microsoft’s name, registered trademarks and service marks in connection with alleged phony tech support services.
An operator at Omni Tech’s support line was unable to transfer a call for comment to the appropriate office.
The suit alleges the Microsoft trademarks and service marks were utilized by Omni Tech to enhance its credentials and confuse customers about its affiliation with Microsoft. Omni Tech then tried to convince consumers that their personal computers were infected with malware in order to sell them unnecessary security services to clean their computers, the complaint alleges.
In some instances, the lawsuit alleges, Omni Tech created security issues for customers by gaining access to their computers and installing malicious software, including a “password grabber” that could provide access to personal and financial information.
In one instance, detailed in the lawsuit, an Omni Tech employee allegedly agreed to fix a customer’s computer glitch for $250, then asked for an additional $610 to “fine-tune” the system.
Microsoft said it has received 65,000 complaints about this type of scam since May.
Omni Tech’s website says the company has “hundreds of Microsoft Certified Systems Engineers” on staff.
