Aaron's Settles Charge of Webcam Spyware in Rented Computers

According to a statement issued Oct. 22 by the Federal Trade Commission, Aaron’s, Inc., a national, Atlanta-based rent-to-own retailer, has agreed to settle FTC charges that it "knowingly played a direct and vital role in its franchisees’ installation and use of software on rental computers that secretly monitored consumers including by taking webcam pictures of them in their homes" from 2009-2012.

Aaron's has 1,300 company-owned  stores and 700 independently owned franchised stores in the U.S, including Nashua.

You can read the full FTC statement, issued Tuesday, here.

According to the FTC’s complaint, Aaron’s franchisees used the software, which secretly tracked consumers’ locations, captured images through the computers’ webcams – including those of adults engaged in intimate activities – and activated keyloggers that captured users’ login credentials for email accounts and financial and social media sites.