BAD salesman

[aubery]

POOR. I was contacted by MALWAREBYTES who told me there was something wrong with my computer. (esp???) and told me to check my computer. I put in a special code given to me by them into my computer and told them what I saw. They said I had malware. They asked to check my computer and I gave them permission. They took control of my computer and temperarily cleaned my computer for free in order to sell me a $200 product. The salesman wouldn't take no for an answer and was pushy. He said "we are the only ones who do this, other companies are internet security and we are software security, you need this now" He wanted a credit card now, my mother's card, my friends credit card, it really didn't matter to him. I couldn't afford it so I went online to find a cheaper solution.

(the salesmans name is Neil Berkman employee ID #10655)

A while later, I noticed that after they had "fixed" my computer problem, that on many web pages of my search, Java was no longer working and a screen kept popping up saying the I needed Java to view the web page. So that didn't really work. I did web searches through Bing looking for reviews on a good product to get rid of my malware. I came across a page which sent me to on of Malebytes forums pages. And in their own words, they warn about other companies doing this to people. Here is their ad I found.

www.malwarebytes.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=6458

[MysteryFCM]

I would like to state on the record, that whoever called you, was NOT working for or on behalf of, Malwarebytes.

Chances are, the company that called you, are the people I documented at;

http://hphosts.blogspot.com/2009/03/suppor...ing-you-by.html

http://hphosts.blogspot.com/2009/04/suppor...ick-update.html

If you paid these people anything, I strongly urge you to call your credit/debit card company IMMEDIATELY, and have them do a charge back, this will recover any money you paid. I also recommend reporting this issue to your local law enforcement (FBI if you are in the US as this is classed as a Federal case) as this is known as fraud. If you did not write down the number of the people that called you, contact your phone company, they should be able to provide this information to you (the police should do this anyway).

[aubery]

ok you can delete my topic

[aubery]

I gave hime no money

[MysteryFCM]

Oks, no problem.

If you receive any more of these calls, please report them to the authorities.

[catscomputer]

That's a horrible thing to happen to you! It's horrible for Malwarebytes Anti-Malware too.

I'm so pleased that you didn't pay him anything, however occurs to me that if this guy (whoever the heck he was) has been able to work on your computer remotely, then you really may have an issue of malware on your machine - even if you didn't before this. I hope not. I do not really have any expertise or authority to give you advice, but the team here really are awesome if you do have concerns about being infected. Good luck.

[mountaintree16]

@ aubrey

Oh wow, I am so sorry that that happened to you. As Mystery and another user said, that was definitely NOT Malwarebytes!!!

I'm glad that you didn't pay them anything or give them any information!!

Did they do a fix of your computer by connecting with it by chance? I just hope that they didn't mess up anything further!!!

For the record, Malwarebytes would never ever never EVER do this to someone, nor would any other legitimate, ethical company!!

[aubery]

I found out that this guy works for BOTNURSE which is calling people selling MALWAREBYTES products.

[aubery]

POOR. I was contacted by MALWAREBYTES who told me there was something wrong with my computer. (esp???) and told me to check my computer. I put in a special code given to me by them into my computer and told them what I saw. They said I had malware. They asked to check my computer and I gave them permission. They took control of my computer and temperarily cleaned my computer for free in order to sell me a $200 product. The salesman wouldn't take no for an answer and was pushy. He said "we are the only ones who do this, other companies are internet security and we are software security, you need this now" He wanted a credit card now, my mother's card, my friends credit card, it really didn't matter to him. I couldn't afford it so I went online to find a cheaper solution.

(the salesmans name is Neil Berkman employee ID #10655)

....I found out that he works for BOTNURSE selling MALWAREBYTES products.....

A while later, I noticed that after they had "fixed" my computer problem, that on many web pages of my search, Java was no longer working and a screen kept popping up saying the I needed Java to view the web page. So that didn't really work. I did web searches through Bing looking for reviews on a good product to get rid of my malware. I came across a page which sent me to on of Malebytes forums pages. And in their own words, they warn about other companies doing this to people. Here is their ad I found.

www.malwarebytes.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=6458

[GT500]

I found out that this guy works for BOTNURSE which is calling people selling MALWAREBYTES products.

Marcin has been taking action against these types of scams as he finds out about them. If the name and phone number are not the same as the ones in MysteryFCM's links, then post them here, and we will make sure that Marcin is made aware of them.

We do not appreciate people using these types of sales tactics, and we will do whatever we can to make sure that they are no longer scamming people in our name.

[Bobc11]

That is NOT malwarebytes!

[hilander999]

They asked to check my computer and I gave them permission. They took control of my computer and temperarily cleaned my computer for free in order to sell me a $200 product.

No one else has brought this up, so I will.

By allowing them remote access to your computer, anything and everything on it could have been compromised. Any credit card info on the machine now needs to be issued new cards and there is also the chance that while he was in control of your PC he could have installed a rootkit or keylogger that collects and sends back information to any location he has chosen.

What you need to do now is allow the real maywarebytes team a chance to make sure your machine is still safe to use. This forum has the best support base I've even seen, and I've been working with PC's for over 25 years. Nothing will be done FOR YOU and there is never a remote connection made. You should ask for help and the mbam team here will tell you exactly what programs to download and install to make sure there is no malicious software on your machine, personally I'm worried that he may have setup a rootkit or keyloger which means none of your data will be safe for much longer.

[mountaintree16]

Hilander999

You are very right. I hope that she reads this.

[hilander999]

Hilander999

You are very right. I hope that she reads this.

If he does not post in a reasonable amount of time, someone from the staff should try to contact her to make sure she realizes the danger of what happened.

I really hate it when people are preyed on by vultures like this.

[aubery]

His name is

Neil Berkman (not sure is spelling is correct)

employee ID 10655

1-800-698-9034

BOTNURSE

all the info I have

[aubery]

and I'm a guy

Aubery is a guy's name

it means KING of all creatures real and imaginary

[hilander999]

and I'm a guy

Aubery is a guy's name

it means KING of all creatures real and imaginary

OOPS, sorry for the confusion.

Please consider having these guys check to make sure your system was not compromised by the remote session with botnurse.

[MysteryFCM]

His name is

Neil Berkman (not sure is spelling is correct)

employee ID 10655

1-800-698-9034

BOTNURSE

all the info I have

Thanks for posting it. The 1800 number is SupportOnClick's toll free number.

[YoKenny1]

Supportonclick scam spreading

Posted by ArtHack on Apr 11th, 2009

Scareware scammers are phoning up prospective marks in an effort to frighten people into buying software that has little or no value or utility.

http://www.arthack.org/supportonclick-scam-spreading.html

[aubery]

it may be support on clicks number, BUT

what he installed on my computer was MALWAREBYTES product

[MysteryFCM]

That doesn't surprise me .... but as mentioned, I can assure you that SupportOnClick were not acting on Malwarebyte's behalf, and the Malwarebytes CEO is having the lawyers take a look at this.

[catscomputer]

No one else has brought this up, so I will.

By allowing them remote access to your computer, anything and everything on it could have been compromised.

@ hilander

I brought it up in comment 6 (though I am not staff, obviously).

It was the first thing I thought of when I read the story, especially when he reported some functions were not working anymore. This kind of stuff makes me really angry too.

[hilander999]

@ hilander

I brought it up in comment 6 (though I am not staff, obviously).

It was the first thing I thought of when I read the story, especially when he reported some functions were not working anymore. This kind of stuff makes me really angry too.

This kind of thing really annoys me, so I probably did not read every word of your post the first time around.

The point is that at least now we know he has been warned to make sure the machine is clean and safe to use, so it's out of our hands unless he posts for help from the Staff here.

PS: I'm not "Staff" either but "I've been there and seen that", if you know what I mean.

[GT500]

it may be support on clicks number, BUT

what he installed on my computer was MALWAREBYTES product

A lot of people use and install our software.

It bothers us greatly when we see our software being used in a scam like this. We never intended our software to be used in such a way. That is why the free version will scan for and remove all of the same malware that the pro version will, with no limit on how long you use it or how much malware you remove with it. We are here to help people fight malware. We even offer free technical support for those who are infected with viruses and such, and we never sell them anything from our helpdesk.

If you would like, contact me in a private message on these forums, and we can go through the process of making sure that they did not install anything bad on your computer while they were working on it. I will walk you through using free utilities to gather logs and send them to me for analysis. These utilities will be the same ones used by security experts around the world.

[catscomputer]

... That is why the free version will scan for and remove all of the same malware that the pro version will, with no limit on how long you use it or how much malware you remove with it. We are here to help people fight malware. We even offer free technical support for those who are infected with viruses and such, and we never sell them anything from our helpdesk.

It's very unusual for the free version of a product to offer the degree of support and service that MBAM offers. You guys really do go the extra mile to help. Thank-you - it is much appreciated (especially by novice users like myself). I think that is why this scamming story makes me so mad!