Casper Couple Suing Over Spyware on Rent-to-Own Computer
PITTSBURGH (AP) — A Casper, Wyo., couple suing furniture renter Aaron's Inc., alleges that the spyware installed on leased computers secretly sent 18,500 emails to the company containing sensitive information.
The new allegations grew out of a Federal Trade Commission settlement last year and are contained in documents filed in U.S. District Court in Erie, Penn. That's where Brian and Crystal Byrd have sued Aaron's, Aaron's franchises and the spyware company in a class-action suit.
The couple's May 2011 lawsuit claimed the manager of the Casper store showed Brian Byrd a webcam picture of himself operating a rental computer after the manager activated the spyware in the process of trying to repossess the computer, which the manager mistakenly believed the Byrds hadn't paid off under their rent-to-own agreement.
Aaron's has denied knowing about the spyware.