$25M Tech Scam: Seven Florida Men Indicted

BOYNTON BEACH, FL – Seven men from Florida are facing federal charges after allegedly running a massive international “tech support” scam that bilked over 40,000 people out of more than $25,000,000. The scheme, operated through companies formerly known as First Choice Tech Support, LLC and currently as Client Care Experts, LLC, preyed on vulnerable computer users across the globe, including a significant number of victims right here in Southern Illinois.

Donald S. Boyce, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, announced the indictments this week, detailing a conspiracy that stretched from November 12, 2013, through at least June 29, 2016. The operation wasn’t some fly-by-night operation; it targeted victims in all fifty states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. territories, Canada, the United Kingdom, and other foreign countries. Locally, at least fifty-seven victims were identified in twenty-two counties within the Southern District of Illinois, with concentrated hits in St. Clair and Madison Counties.

The scam worked by flooding victim’s computers with alarming pop-up ads – the kind that lock up browsers and scream about viruses. These weren’t legitimate warnings, but bait. The pop-ups falsely claimed serious computer issues, threatened data loss, and prominently displayed a toll-free number. When victims called, they weren’t reaching tech experts, but high-pressure salespersons working for Client Care/First Choice. These sales reps then gained remote access to victim computers, pretended to find problems where none existed, and pushed unnecessary “tune-ups” and anti-virus software.

According to the indictment, the sales tactics were deliberately deceptive. The operators concealed that a simple reboot or unplugging the computer would have made the pop-ups disappear, and that they *paid* for those very ads that were terrorizing their victims. They routinely charged $250 for a bogus “tune-up” and another $400 for useless anti-virus software, all fueled by a commission-based sales model. The indictment paints a picture of calculated exploitation, designed to separate vulnerable people from their money.

The seven men charged are: Joseph Ralph Aievoli, IV, 25, of Boynton Beach, FL; Andrew Douglas Broad, 26, of Boynton Beach, FL; Ryan Stocker Carr, 23, of Boynton Beach, FL; Joshua Dennis Cortez, 37, of Lake Worth, FL; Nicholas James Davidson, 25, of Boynton Beach, FL; Patrick M. Dougherty, 35, of Boynton Beach, FL; and Anthony Vincent Ludena, 29, of Boca Raton, FL. Each is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Broad and Carr have already entered guilty pleas, with sentencing hearings pending.

Under the SCAMS Act, due to the telemarketing nature of the crime and the targeting of individuals over the age of 55, each defendant faces a potential sentence of up to 30 years in prison, followed by up to 5 years of supervised release. They also face potential fines of up to $250,000 and a court order to pay restitution to the thousands of victims they defrauded. This is a clear message: preying on the vulnerable will not be tolerated.