The Prosecutor General’s Office of New York fined the amount of $ 410,000 by the Patrick Hinchi, who, with the help of 16 companies, illegally promoted its observation tools.
The prosecutor’s office also ordered Patrick Hinchi to change the methods of marketing of their products and inform the owners of the devices that their phones are secretly monitored using one of its numerous applications – Auto Forward, Easy Utilities, Highster Mobile, Phonespect, Surepoint and Turbospy .
Khinchi Provading Client companies their spy programs that allow you to track other people without knowing users. In some cases, they are also used to monitor online active goals and collect confidential information about users, which can subsequently be used for blackmail or various malicious goals.
These observation applications allowed Khinchi customers to secretly track the actions of other people on their mobile devices, including:
- Location;
- The history of views;
- call magazines;
- text messages;
- photography and video;
- Email activity;
- Chats WhatsApp and Skype;
- Activity on social networks.
according to the agreement , some applications also allowed the user to remotely activate camera or microphone of the target device. According to the Prosecutor General, the applications copy information from the device and transmit it to the servers of the company where it is available to the client. Another service allows customers to explicit data from the ICLOUD target server if the client has access to the entry data.
To advertise his programs, the developer created supposedly independent websites with products of products, which published enthusiastic reviews about the advantages of using spy software. One blog message stated that the PhonesPector application allows the client to track the entire telephone activity of the target user without risk of being convicted. “
Advertising publications on Facebook*
In marketing materials, it was not mentioned that in the USA, as in most countries of the world, it is illegal to access and control an extraneous device without the consent of its owner.
Despite the promotion of spy products, the conditions and provisions on most marketing websites indicate that such use violates the laws of the state of New York and federal laws. Despite the illegality of surveillance without consent, the products themselves remain affordable, including to monitor the installation of a minor without his consent.
* META and the company’s products (Instagram and Facebook) are recognized as extremist organizations; Their activities are prohibited in the Russian Federation.