May 25, 2013
Local and national agencies say to be on the lookout for a scam that is "popping up" on computer screens across the country.
The Georgia Office of Consumer Affairs put out an alert warning people going online to watch out for some California companies that promote movie downloads over the Internet.
The sites are movieland.com, moviepass.tv, and popcorn.net.
The Federal Trade Commission and the attorney general of the state of Washington have filed lawsuits.
According to them, these companies capture consumers' computers with pop-ups accompanied by music.
The pop-ups demand consumers pay $29.95 to end the recurring pop-up cycle.
Hundreds of people complained to the FTC about this. Most said they never heard of the websites until the pop-ups started.
The FTC and the Georgia Office of Consumer Affairs have more on how to protect yourself:
http://consumer.georgia.gov/00/article/0,2086,5426814_38709348_63009789,00.html
