14 DAY TRIAL // Philadelphia-based Ascentive, LLC, a company selling PC optimization software has settled with the Washington Attorney General's Office over accusations of misleading advertising that borderline on scareware practices.
Under the settlement, the company will refund $17.90 plus tax to around 5,500 of the over 19,000 Washington state residents who bought its products.
Through FinallyFast.com the company sells a number of applications that claim to improve PC and Internet connection performance.
These include ActiveDefender, ActivePrivacy, ActiveSpeed, PC ScanandSweep, PC Speedscan Pro, RAMRocket, Spyware Striker Pro and WINRocket.
The Attorney General’s Office accused the company of violating the Computer Spyware Act, Consumer Protection Act and Commercial Electronic Mail Act by making false representations about the capabilities of its products.
The complaint alleges that Ascentive used banner ads mimicking popup-us and alerts suggesting people's computers are at risk of harm and claimed that its software is recommended by Microsoft.
Furthermore, free scans offered by the company are said to have misrepresented harmless files as errors. This is a tactic commonly used by scareware pushers to sell fake antivirus programs.
But the company's unethical behavior did not stop here. It also bundled advertising applications with its installers and failed to disclose that to users.
In addition, additional products were deceptively added to orders during checkout and customers were not informed that their annual subscription will be automatically renewed.
"In today’s Internet marketplace, some companies have resorted to trickery to boost profits," Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna said.
"But consumer protection laws demand integrity to ensure consumers know what they’re buying and to create a level playing field for competing retailers. Today’s settlement makes it clear where we draw the line between aggressive marketing and deception," he added.
Under the settlement Ascentive agreed to pay a $20,000 civil penalty and an additional $150,000 one is suspended as long as the company mends its ways and respects the terms of the agreement.