Hundreds of thousands of consumers have sought chargebacks on their credit-card accounts, the FTC said. Credit card vendors Visa and MasterCard have fined the defendants and barred them from getting credit card billing systems under their own names, the agency said.

The defendants tricked banks into giving them continued access to credit-card billing systems by creating 51 shell companies with figurehead officers, and by providing the banks with phony "clean" versions of their websites, the FTC said.

The defendants threatened to report customers who asked for chargebacks to the website BadCustomer.com, which would result in member companies blocking the customers from making future purchases online, the FTC said in its complaint. BadCustomer.com is operated by a shell company of I Works, the FTC alleged.

In addition, the defendants posed as consumers and posted deceptive positive reviews and used deceptive testimonials that misrepresented the benefits of their services, the FTC alleged.

The FTC charged the defendants with violating the FTC Act by misrepresenting that government grants are available for paying personal expenses, that consumers are likely to obtain grants by using the defendants’ program, that users of their money-making products will earn substantial income and that their offers are free or risk free.