SafeguardTLCsupprp

Trevor –

Victim Location 07731

Total money lost $129.95

Type of a scam Tech Support

I was seeking phone-based technical assistance with the installation of my Verbatim External Slimline CD/DVD Writer. I found what I thought was the help desk toll free number for this product via internet search. After I called the above number, I began what I thought was a help desk process by giving the technician (who went by the name of ANIK) access to my computer.

I was immediately told that before he could help me with the installation, he would need to do a virus/malware sweep on my computer.

Following the initial scan, I was told that I needed hundreds of dollars of work done before I could effectively install and use the new external drive.

He directed me to what was supposedly a Microsoft store site to prove his point. He then told me that if I bought their product, called PC Shield, it would only cost 139.99 for a lifetime protection plan. When this failed to persuade me, I was offered a sweep using their Hitman malware detection program. While this supposed sweep was working, I was directed to liutilities.com and shown how harmful the crss.exe programs in my computer could be. Anik and a co-worker told me that I had 136 traces, 4 critical errors and 863 malware objects (whatever all that means) in my computer.

They talked me into accepting and paying 129.95 for these sweeps with my credit card.

Because I did had not bought their software, I was directed up the chain of command from Anik’s supervisor to the "security supervisor" of their company (whose name also happened to be Anik). This is when I knew I was being scammed.

After requesting that they simply talk me through the installation, the "security" man offered to sell me the product for a one day only special price of fifty dollars!

I began to become very upset because I had been on the phone with them for over two hours, the largest part of this trying to get them out of my system. They kept saying, "this will only take about two more minutes" and the time kept piling up.

I told them that I wanted to be disconnected from their computer as I was "feeling very uncomfortable." The security man complied but told me that I had bought a week of "technical assistance" for my purchase. I was given a confirmation number for their "work" which I later realized was also their toll free number – 18779587560.

The following week my computer was hit by a virus which stated that my computer was locked. The background wall paper for this message was the lightbulb lying in the street from the "bug" scene of the first "Matrix" movie. As with all these extortion messages, it included a phone number to call for "assistance." I knew not to call.

When my REAL computer repair man arrived, he told me that this scenario was quite common and to cancel my credit card and change my passwords. He also told me I had the option to dispute the charge.