The founding father of a U.S.-based adware firm, whose surveillance merchandise allowed prospects to spy on the telephones and computer systems of unsuspecting victims, pleaded responsible to federal prices linked to his long-running operation.
pcTattletale founder Bryan Fleming entered a responsible plea in a San Diego federal court docket on Tuesday to prices of laptop hacking, the sale and promoting of surveillance software program for illegal makes use of, and conspiracy.
The plea follows a multi-year investigation by brokers with Homeland Safety Investigations (HSI), a unit inside U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. HSI started investigating pcTattletale in mid-2021 as a part of a wider probe into the business of consumer-grade surveillance software program, often known as “stalkerware.”
That is the primary profitable U.S. federal prosecution of a stalkerware operator in additional than a decade, following the 2014 indictment and subsequent responsible plea of the creator of a phone surveillance app called StealthGenie. Fleming’s conviction might pave the way in which for additional federal investigations and prosecutions towards these working adware, but in addition those that merely promote and promote covert surveillance software program.
HSI stated that pcTattletale is considered one of a number of stalkerware web sites beneath investigation.
A spokesperson for ICE didn’t instantly remark when contacted by TechCrunch, nor did a consultant for the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the Southern District of California, which introduced the fees towards Fleming.
Fleming’s lawyer Marcus Bourassa didn’t reply to a request for remark Tuesday.
pcTattletale was a distant surveillance app that had been beneath Fleming’s management since a minimum of 2016. Stalkerware apps like pcTattletale enable extraordinary shoppers to purchase software program able to monitoring folks and their knowledge with out their information, including romantic partners and spouses, which is prohibited in america and lots of different international locations.
As soon as bodily planted on an individual’s cellphone or laptop (often with information of the sufferer’s passcode or login), the app would constantly add a duplicate of the sufferer’s info, together with messages, photographs and site knowledge, to pcTattletale’s servers and make the information accessible to whoever planted the adware.
Fleming shut down pcTattletale in 2024 following an information breach, which noticed a hacker deface the company’s website and steal reams of data from its servers, together with identifiable info belonging to its prospects and their victims. Greater than 138,000 prospects who had signed up to make use of pcTattletale had their breached info shared with data breach notification site Have I Been Pwned.
On the time, Fleming informed TechCrunch that his firm was “out of enterprise and utterly completed,” after deleting the contents of pcTattletale’s servers.
Regardless of the shutdown, federal brokers have been already far into their investigation of Fleming’s unlawful adware enterprise.
Feds search founder’s $1.2M residence
HSI started investigating pcTattletale in June 2021 after discovering over 100 stalkerware web sites providing surveillance merchandise, lots of which marketed lawful makes use of of the software program, similar to monitoring kids or workers.
pcTattletale stood out as a result of it was particularly promoting its adware for “surreptitiously spying on spouses and companions,” wrote HSI particular agent Nick Jones in the 2022 affidavit in help of a search warrant for Fleming’s residence. The affidavit was unsealed in early December 2025 forward of Fleming’s anticipated plea listening to.
Crucially for investigators, Fleming was believed to be working pcTattletale from his residence in Bruce Township, Michigan, nicely inside attain of U.S. regulation enforcement — in contrast to many abroad stalkerware operators who will not be.
In contrast to some stalkerware operators who protect their identities to keep away from authorized and reputational dangers from working with adware, Fleming was brazen in how he marketed pcTattletale. In videos posted on YouTube, Fleming might be seen at his residence selling pcTattletale as its creator and founder.
In accordance with the affidavit, HSI obtained a warrant in 2022 permitting the search of Fleming’s electronic mail accounts. HSI stated the emails confirmed that Fleming “knowingly assisted prospects in search of to spy on nonconsenting, non-employee adults.”
Federal brokers later surveilled Fleming’s residence to substantiate it was actually him.
Jones additionally went undercover to gather proof, posing as an affiliate marketer beneath the guise of selling the adware in alternate for a lower of the proceeds. On account of this operation, Jones exchanged emails with Fleming, through which the pcTattletale founder offered pictures meant for banner adverts that promoted the adware as a technique to “catch a cheater,” which made it clear Fleming wished to market his product for unlawful functions.
By November 2022, HSI had obtained permission from a U.S. decide to go looking Fleming’s residence, which brokers raided quickly after, seizing an unknown variety of objects. Brokers additionally obtained data related to Fleming’s financial institution and his PayPal account, which had transactions totaling greater than $600,000 as of the top of 2021.
The search warrant was filed beneath seal amid considerations that Fleming might destroy or tamper with proof. Fleming has since bought the home for $1.2 million, per public records.
Fleming’s conviction is a win for privateness advocates and campaigners who work to counter the proliferation of stalkerware and lift consciousness to its risks.
Eva Galperin, the director of cybersecurity on the Digital Frontier Basis and the co-founder of the Coalition Towards Stalkerware, who has investigated and fought stalkerware for years, commented on Fleming’s responsible plea when reached by TechCrunch.
“Some of the placing features of this case is the extent to which stalkware corporations like pcTattletale function out within the open,” stated Galperin. “It is because the folks behind these corporations so not often face penalties for promoting instruments that they themselves say are explicitly for monitoring different folks’s gadgets with out their information or consent.”
“I hope that this case adjustments the chance calculus for makers of stalkerware,” stated Galperin.
Fleming is anticipated to be sentenced later this yr.
——
In the event you or somebody you already know wants assist, the Nationwide Home Violence Hotline (1-800-799-7233) gives 24/7 free, confidential help to victims of home abuse and violence. If you’re in an emergency scenario, name 911. The Coalition Against Stalkerware has sources if you happen to suppose your cellphone has been compromised by adware.
