Victim Location 71322
Total money lost $599.99
Type of a scam Tech Support
I purchased a firewall protection from this company on 4/17/17 and paid $149.99 for one year protection.
On 11/11/2017, I received a call from 611-636-6128 (Palmdale FLORIDA), identifying themselves as MSK. They asked me to verify my account number as they read it to me. THEY had information about my account without me telling them this account number. This is where I felt they were legit.
They stated my firewall was breached and they needed to refund my original payment from 4/2017 since the law stated that they did not hold up their part of their agreement to protect my computer. I later learned they never credited my credit card!
They stated I need to get an ITUNES card to total $150 for rebuilding the firewall. I purchased a ITUNE card for $150 and contacted them. I gave them the ITUNES card number and they stated it would not go through and then requested smaller increments. At that point, we came to an impass. I speaking to an Alex Wayne who stated that someone from Apple would call to refund the initial $149.99. That never happened.
On the same day, my credit card was compromised with purchases from Best Buy and Amazon. Transaction reported tho bank and card cancelled.
The next call from 661-636-6128 was during the last of November to try and "finish the business of rebuilding the firewall". I told them my card was cancelled and I had to wait for my new card. On Dec 2, I received my new card and contacted 12/4 to finish the transaction. (To credit my new account, refund my ITUNES card and pay for the rebuilding) They asked me then to purchase ITUNES cards totalling $150 in smaller increments. They were unhappy that I didn’t purchase cards from previous store. All along they’re telling me this would be credited. I returned to family dollar, where I originally purchased the $150 ITUNES card, and purchased $150 in smaller increments. The rep, George, was upset that the increments where too small and asked that I go back and get 2-$50s and 2-$25s. Each time I purchased the ITUNES cards, I had given them the card numbers not realizing what they were doing. They were always assuring me that these would be credited to my new credit card. By this time, the screen on the computer stated that they were rebuilding the firewall. I had given them access to my laptop for the repairs.
On the same day, 12/4, in the late evening, George called me back, upset and stated that he had made a huge mistake. He said he tried to credit my credit card, he had entered $4500 mistakenly, instead of $450. He was crying and said he would probably lose his job over this. He had given me a code, LODALE10BAR, and said a person named Rebecca would be helping me with the credits. I never spoke to this Rebecca.
I contacted my credit card company and learned that they didn’t see any money credited to my account, certainly not $4500 but that my card had been compromised again with purchases from Amazon and Best Buy.
I called them to let them know that no money had been credited but the person I spoke to said he was George’s manager and George was in a meeting with the Board of Directors and would probably lose his job. He also stated that George had 2 children and a pregnant wife and asked if I could help George out by sending $2000 to them and the company would put up the balance to get George out of trouble. I refused and he tried to make me feel bad by not helping this man and I asked, "are you legitimate?" and hung up realizing what had been happening. I am out $599.99!
On 12/14, my daughter tried to contact the support team at 1-844-444-4020 and was refused the opportunity to speak to the owner. She was asked for her full name and email address but refused, stating that she only wanted to speak by phone to the owner. Mike stated he was the supervisor but would need that info to reach the owner and have him contact her. She restated that she only wanted to give her first name and telephone number. Mike hung up on her. Afterwards, she received a caller from "No Caller ID" and when she answered they did not respond so she hung up. All of these representatives have had thick Indian accents!!!!