PCCleanerPro Scam?

[Dorkatron199]

Hello,

I am a gamer that was looking for a fix for a game and instead found a site that is throwing up some red flags. I haven't found a virus yet, and I may have been able to prevent getting one altogether, but I just want to mention the site so that someone can investigate. The site is

http://computerfixesfordummies.com/error-code-28-civilization-3-conquests.php

. Civilization three has a compatibility problem with windows 8 and this site promotes PCCleanerPro as a fix.The first red flag is that it seems to be trying to sell the software a bit much. Next, they mention that they are "Microsoft certified" but don't have a link to any Microsoft site. Finally, I went to leave a message (bad idea) requesting them to send me a link to a Microsoft site verifying their "certification". Upon clicking the send button, it sent me to their download site. From there I immediately clicked cancel in the Firefox download dialogue box. This is a gigantic, glowing red flag.Another dumb move I made was putting one of my eMails on the link for them to send it to. I used my secondary eMail, but it was still .a risky and dumb move on my part. Upon searching "PCCleanerPro" in Bing, I found a site that claimed that the program was a virus. (I actually looked this up before attempting to send the message. I went ahead and sent it because I also found many sites that claimed that it was a legitimate program, so I wanted to give them the opportunity to redeem themselves.) As an afterthought, I realized that I should have checked the URL the send button would have sent me to, so it is truly my bad.After being sent to the download site, I immediately canceled and exited the site. The next thing I did was run Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and Windows Defender. While they were scanning I made an account for this blog. With up-to-date virus/malware definitions, both came up with nothing. I figure, hope that I canceled it in time.So, my overall message is, please investigate the previously mentioned site. It could be, I figure, that there may be a legitimate version of the software and they're just offering it bugged. Either way, it could be a great security issue. Also, if, during the coarse of your investigation, you come across a fix to error 28, please let me know...

I think I may just contact Firaxis Games and cut the middle-man...

-Dorkatron199

[Dorkatron199]

UPDATE:

After contacting the Firaxis forums, I have also confirmed that they lied about what error 28 is. The error mentioned that it is a font issue, but they made it out to be worse. The solution can be found at: "

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=224200

". One problem down. Now we just need to get someone to shut that fake site down...

[CWB]

"found a site that is throwing up ..." and "PCCleanerPro as a fix" .

pretty much apropos and sums it up nicely .

[Dorkatron199]

Yeah...

What I did was I typed in "Civilization 3 error 28 fix" into a search engine and this came up, so if other people decide to type the error message into a search engine to find out what it is, it is likely that they could end up at this site. I just wanted to let people know in case this type of thing were to happen with some other game. Try the game company's site first, then use a search engine. I decided to search the error on the web first because most game sites tend to give you crappy, automated help sites instead of forums, but Firaxis had actual forums for their games providing a quick fix to the problem. In cases where the company has some crappy automated help site, it might be easier to just google/bing it.

Also, I don't seem to be infected, so I was able to get the heck out of there in time. I decided to mention this site in case someone wanted to look into it/report it should it be some kind of scam. Don't know who you'd report it to, but I thought I'd mention it just in case.

Anyway, thank you for your time.