Brian Cotter - The Man Behind the PTS Scam

Scams Tech Support Scam
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I noticed back on Jim Browning’s Youtube video about PTS from ages ago that there was one American white dude who seemed to be the Mr. Cheese behind Tech Live Connect, aka “Premium Techie Support”.
Brian Cotter.

I think it’s interesting going back through the Federal court archives that I happened to learn a lot about Mr. Cotter. The most telling of all was a lawsuit he filed back in 2011 against Quattro, another big scammer we’re all familiar with.

In the online listings for TLC and PTS they have consistently listed an American location as Glendale, California. This appears to be where Brian lives, since he has some lawsuit history in California courts where he’s filed complaints affirming that he is a resident of Glendale.

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In this district suit he filed in '11, Cotter sued Quattro under California’s unfair competition law. He also claimed Quattro committed IP violations as well.

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So this is the fun bit. Cotter was a lowly executive at Quattro:

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Brian Cotter alleges that back in 2007, Quattro made him sign a non-compete agreement, which don’t hold water if you’re a resident of California.

When he left Quattro he went and launched “PC Visor”, a Delaware registered limited partnership that has only one partner, a company by the same name registered in Singapore. He likely did this to keep Quattro from finding out that he had moved to setup his own shop. Either way, Quattro found out about it and they sent him a cease and desist letter:

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Now, the lawsuit does not get into what business practices that Brian Cotter does that duplicate what Quattro does, but we already know Quattro very intimately here, and Jim Browning already documented how Tech Live Connect—which is what Brian wound up being the CEO of and has since become Premium Techie Support—was busy pushing malware by the name of Advanced System Care that is a phony system cleaner and reports false warnings to the user, as always–encouraging users to call that hotline, where PTS then gets a hold of the victim’s credit card.

I think if we want to make more headway in our fight against PTS, we need to connect victims and their attorneys to the identifying information that we’ve discovered so far about who is behind this massive scam; as they are by far one of the largest if not the largest tech support scammers around.

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If you haven’t seen @IceMugger 's own research into the tangled web of PTS and their network of entities they have setup to protect their scam, have a look at his research here:

https://www.icemugger.com/network-map-saburi-tlc-tech-live-connect-scam/

And of course, Jim Browning's direct evidence of PTS's illegal practices:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RY2IavxGbc

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I dug up my notes and I found these contacts of Brian Cotter:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/briancotter/
Brian Cotter (macoitir) on Myspace
Photo Storage
https://www.instagram.com/macoitir
x.com
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
+1 413 734 2834
+1 220 957 3837
[email protected]

He has a Facebook account, but I did not manage to identify it.

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Found him on Facebook

Redirecting...

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Whois details for www.softwaretruehelp.com which is part of PTS :
Registrant Name: Brian Cotter
Registrant Organization: NE Labs Inc
Registrant Street: 2005 Chilton Drive
Registrant City: Glendale
Registrant State/Province: California
Registrant Postal Code: 91201
Registrant Country: US
Registrant Phone: +1.3106991385
Registrant Email: [email protected]

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Link between PTS & Scientology:

Brian Cotter (and his wife Bette) have been donating to Scientology for over 30 years and have been lifetime members since 1993. In one year (2014) he donated an estimated $ 2 million to Scientology and in 2019 he donated $ 1.75 million.

He has been quoted as saying “I will continue to do all that is in my power to support the IAS and therein enable the most able group in history, the sea org, to lead the way in getting the job done”…and…“the end is near” (really!)

Scientology is a system of increasingly expensive courses, and only a minority of church members reach the highest levels of advancement. Only about 10 percent of Scientologists reach the “OT” levels. Brian Cotter and his wife have achieved “Gold Meritorious”, reserved only for the biggest donors (or ‘marks’ as Scientology’s critics call them).

So not only is Brian Cotter likely guilty of stealing millions through fraud, it seems he himself is also a victim of what most rational people think of as a fake quasi-religious cult designed to rid the gullible of their money. Now we know where the money goes…

VIDEO: Watch a Scientology spy get busted by Marc Headley in Las Vegas last night | The Underground Bunker (scroll down to find Brian’s “Patron Success” certificate).

Scientology’s biggest donors of 2019, so far: The whales giving millions to Miscavige | The Underground Bunker (scroll down to find Brian and Bette).

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@AussieScamBuster#108888 I have compared the Whois address via Google Street View with video of an address publicly posted on Brian Cotter’s Facebook page where he mentions his home. The front window frame design is unusual but identical.

I think it is safe to say that: 2005 Chilton Drive, Glendale, California, 91201 is Brian Cotter’s home address.

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Michael Brian Cotter (aka Brian Cotter) is the President of “Sensei Ventures Incorporated”, an active Company registered in Nevada with State ID: E0283712012-4, address: 9550 S Eastern Ave, Las Vegas, NV 89123. They also have offices at: 1315 N Central Ave, Glendale, CA 91202 (near Brian Cotter’s Glendale home). One of the Directors of Sensei Ventures Incorporated is Mr Anuj Jain, who is also the joint co-founder and CEO of “Tech Live Connect” with Brian Cotter. That is the Company that became PTS. Another SVI Director is Edward Renna. Siddharth Thakur is listed as Secretary for SVI.

The Web site for Sensei Ventures Incorporated is http://www.senseiware.com (another Technical Support ‘Servcie’) - which has a phone number of +1 800 912 9394 - This is EXACTLY the same number as “Premium Techie Support”.

Mr Anuj Jain is also Manager for “Substratum LLC”, also registered in Nevada with Edward Renna as Director. Edward Renna is also President of Ed Renna Enterprises, registered in California which also has an office located at 1320 Ruberta Ave, Glendale, CA 91201 (again near Brian Cotter).

Brian Cotter is also President of Foresees Enterprises Inc, registered in California with State ID 04196544. The Company address matches Brian Cotter’s home address of: 2005 Chilton Dr, Glendale, CA 91201. That address also matches the Whois data for the registrant of www.softwaretruehelp.com (one of the PTS websites).

Brian Cotter used to be President of Network Earth Labs Inc. and Networkearth LLC, but both companies are now inactive.

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@kenzo#108786 Thank you for your research.

Investigative report about Tech Live Connect Saburi TLC —Scare & Sell

Scare and sell: Here’s how an Indian call centre cheated foreign computer owners | Latest News India - Hindustan Times

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@FrankLee#109923 I wonder with this info if @IceMugger#108803 can find any more links through SenseiWare or Substratum that leads to more fake tech support. I would imagine that these guys will eventually ditch the PTS identity and brand and reboot their scam under a different entity and branding before too long. TLC only lasted a couple years before they borrowed the idea of spawning loads of different brands of the same scam, so if one entity gets too hot or we kill it they can go hide behind the other ones.

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@FrankLee#109923 What’s clear with the registrant data on softwaretruehelp.com—Brian’s identity (home address and name) are appearing on the spawned tech support sites in the TLC/PTS web of scams; that seems to indicate Brian has a lot more involvement in this than just being a source of funds for the scam, he could be managing it directly.

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@kenzo#109936 Yes I am sure you are right, Brian and his co-conspirators will “pump & dump” every phone number, company and domain that get’s too hot, that is their MO and they have done it before.

In October 2017 Brian Cotter (using his US home address in Glendale, CA) registered “Premium Techie Support UK Ltd.”, In January 2019 a “Notice for Compulsory Strike-Off” was sent to the UK Registered Office stating; “unless cause is shown to the contrary, at the expiration of 2 months from the above date the name of PREMIUM TECHIE SUPPORT UK LIMITED will be struck off the register and the company will be dissolved. Upon dissolution all property and rights vested in, or held in trust for, the company are deemed to be bona vacantia, and accordingly will belong to the crown.” In April 2019 the company was compulsory struck-off and dissolved. The documents can be seen here: PREMIUM TECHIE SUPPORT UK LIMITED filing history - Find and update company information - GOV.UK

Ice Mugger’s excellent Network Map is striking visual proof of the intricate web of obfuscation and deceit PTS has employed to obfuscate the fact that all these Scams lead back to one Call Center, One Company and Two CEO’s: Brian Cotter and Anuj Jain.

To answer your second question Kenzo, I am in no doubt that Brian was not just laundering money for PTS but directing their operations, in conjunction with Anuj Jain. Their partnership of fraud goes back to at least 2012, when they set-up “Sensei Ventures Incorporated” together, as well as “Tech Live Connect” where Brian can be seen admitting to be CEO and Co-founder and with Anuj Jain, at the call center in India, from Jim Browning’s excellent video.

The problem for Brian now however, is he has been sloppy. Despite trying to use his middle name we (and through us, his victims) are onto him. He has left a huge digital footprint online. Let us look at some facts:

Jim Browning’s original video and countless other testimonies make it quite clear PTS routinely uses deception and lies to defraud on a huge scale and right now they are trying to recruit and expand, seeking to hire japanese speaking call center agents.

Brian Cotter’s linked-in ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/briancotter ) also displays his status as CEO of Tech Live Connect Pte Ltd. and his job experience reveals clues to his Tech Support Scam roots. In 2003 he worked for a company focused on anti-malware technology. In 2007 he worked for an India based outsourcing/offshoring company.

Brian Cotter lives in $ 1.45 million house, donated $ 2 million to the Scientologists in 2014, and $ 1.75 million in 2019. Yet when he was listed as the US “Branch Manager” for “Tech Live Connect Pte Ltd.” at his Glendale offices, documents show a meager $ 64k turnover. So how was he able to buy that house in 2014 and make those huge donations to Scientology? Perhaps the Tax authorities and FBI could shed some light on that!

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Last week the FBI arrested two suspects on charges of running a massive tech support scam that made over $ 10 million in profit by targeting more than 7,500 victims, most of which were elderly.

Two arrested in $10 million tech support scheme that 'preyed on the elderly'

One of the suspects, Romana Leyva, lists herself on her LinkedIn as “Diagnostic Engineer / Sales Representative” for Tech Live Connect, 2013-2014.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/romana-leyva-bb7833b2

Thanks to @IceMugger for finding this info.