FTC to Expand Telemarketing Sales Rule to Combat Tech Support Scams

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is a step closer to expanding its Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) to enable it to combat tech support scams.

After announcing the proposal in April and receiving public comment on it, the regulator approved final amendments to its TSR and included them in a final rule, the FTC said in a Wednesday (Nov. 27) press release. Most provisions of the final rule will take effect 60 days after publication.

The amendments extend the TSR’s coverage to “inbound” telemarketing calls made for technical support services, including calls made by consumers to companies that pitch technical support services through ads or direct mail, according to the release.

“Expanding the TSR to make sure calls for tech support services are covered will help us hold businesses accountable and get money back for injured consumers,” Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in the release.

Tech support scams often use pop-up alerts and other methods to falsely claim that consumers’ devices are infected with malware, according to the release. The scammers trick consumers into calling them and then try to sell the consumers bogus tech support services.

The FTC’s final rule published Wednesday includes the amendments largely as they were proposed in April, per the release. One change was made in response to public comments, modifying the definition of technical support services.

The FTC reported in February that imposter scams — which include tech support scams — accounted for the second-greatest share of fraud losses in 2023, behind only investment scams. Consumers reported losing $2.7 billion to imposter scams that year.

“These scams include people pretending to be your bank’s fraud department, the government, a relative in distress, a well-known business or a technical support expert,” Larissa Bungo, then a senior attorney at the FTC, wrote in an article posted on the time on the regulator’s website.

Tech support scams were the most widely reported form of elder fraud in 2023, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) said in May. During that year, 17,696 victims who were 60 years and older reported tech support scams.