Norton Service or Scam

Archive
1

Last week, I called Norton on the phone and spoke to one of their rep’s. I asked why, after I do a scan, I do not see removal of tracking cookies.  Before that, I usually see 25+ cookies.  He told me he would have to take over my computer to check the program. I allowed him and if a few minutes, he stated no problem with Norton. He never did answer my question.  At that point, he began to show me  pages of files which he said were files by hackers to get into the computer. Next he stated he would turn this over to another tech who would go over ever file and folder in the computer and remove any suspicious files. This may take about two hours.  Then Norton would give me three years of Malware Bytes free.  All this took over 10 minutes, and then he dropped the bomb. The cost of this will be $299.   I declined the offer and hung up. 

I called back on Tuesday and asked a different rep if this was a Norton offer or a scam from the first rep I spoke to.  I asked the question several times and never did get an answer.     Finally, he promised to have a Supervisor call me, that never happened.

What do you think. Norton offer or scam ?  I hope someone from Norton reads this.

2

Been a couple weeks since my post  post, so I guess Norton will do nothing for this post.

3

OK, I give up since there seems to be no answer to the legit or scam from Norton.

4

Twice, first call was March 1st or 2nd, that was a live chat.  the second call was March 6th was on the chat line.  Both these calls were to  Norton  on their site using the phone number from that site. .  I know Norton Rep on  the second call on the chat line , deleted some of the lines of chat as I stated above.  If it was legit, why did  both reps evade an answer to my question.  I really don't care what they tried to do, I did not fall for the scam.  I just wonder how many callers did.

5

The chat you posted does look legit.

How many times in total did you contact support for this issue?

 

6

I guess there is on answer to this question.  Also, what is missing is the end of the chat, he asked for my phone number so his Supervisor could call me and I gave it to him.  That never happened.   Those posts are also missing.  If Norton would like to call me    <removed>

7

Thank you.  I just wish that I would have agreed to pay the $299 and asked how I was going to pay   My Norton account or give you a credit card number.  Monday morning quarterbacking. .Soarry, I keep adding to this post.  When I spoke to the second rep, i asked him what was the date of the last call, he gave me March 1st or 2nd. .  Later near the end, I asked again, and was told the last call was in 2017.  I looked at the chat, and some of the chats were missing, this was after he hung up.  Here is the second chat

3:23 PM Connecting...   March 6, 2018

3:23 PM Connected. A support representative will be with you shortly.

3:23 PM Application running as Windows system service

3:23 PM Support session established with Support Agent.

 

3:23 PM Support Agent: Hi, we are now connected here!

3:23 PM Support Agent: Please note your computer wallpaper will be temporarily disabled to further protect your privacy. Please also save any open files since the computer may be rebooted during the support session.

 

3:24 PM You have granted full permission to Support Agent. To revoke, click the red X on the toolbar or press Pause/Break on the keyboard.

3:24 PM Remote Control started by Support Agent.

 

3:25 PM Support Agent: Now running a live update.

3:26 PM Support Agent: Now applying the patch.,

3:31 PM Support Agent: I can see that you have Malware bytes installed on your computer. It might interfere with Norton. Shall I remove it before we proceed with Norton installation?

3:31 PM Support Agent I can see that you have Malware bytes installed on your computer. It might interfere with Norton. Shall I remove it?

3:32 PM Howard Grove: ok it usually finds PUP files that Norton does not

3:32 PM Support Agent: When there are two Security programs, they will clash with each other that is the reason why the ful potential of the Program can not be seen when there are two programs of same kind.

3:34 PM Howard Grove: ok why does Norton not find PUP''s  usually it fines 55+ PUP's

3:35 PM Support Agent: As its name might suggest, grayware is a category of software that sits in that ‘gray area’ – a sort of no-man’s land – between outright malware and legitimate conventional software.

3:35 PM Howard Grove: 25+ usually only when I connect to Netflex

3:36 PM Support Agent: There will be supporting PUPs for netflix that needs to be there to run the program efficiently.

3:36 PM Support Agent: Not all the PUP are malicious,

3:37 PM Howard Grove: OK delete them.  You uninstalled two games, i think there is a thire with the program

3:37 PM Howard Grove: I meant third

3:38 PM Support Agent: I can see that those are the traces of expired games that I have removed. The other is a active program. Shall I remove that too?

3:39 PM Howard Grove: yes

3:41 PM Support Agent: We need to restart your computer. As your computer shuts down please do not manually close any Windows as your computer will be saving settings that are required for us to reconnect. When your computer starts back up again we'll be able to continue to chat again in this chat window.

 

3:41 PM Remote Control by Support Agent stopped.

3:43 PM Connecting...

3:43 PM Connected. A support representative will be with you shortly.

3:43 PM Support session established with Support Agent

3:43 PM Remote Control started by Support Agent.

 

3:44 PM Support Agent: A rootkit scan is in progress.

3:50 PM Support Agent: Is there anything else I can assist you with?

3:51 PM Howard Grove: ?

3:52 PM Support Agent: The threats on your computer is resolved.

3:52 PM Support Agent: Is there anything else I can assist you with?

3:52 PM Howard Grove: Yes, how often should I run the eraser, I’ve look at it and was afraid to run it

3:53 PM Support Agent: You can run it once in a week.

3:53 PM Howard Grove: one more thing i need to ask again

3:53 PM Support Agent: Please./

3:55 PM Howard Grove: the first person showed me pages of files that would be remove after I paid the money. I want to know if this is Nortom or a scam. if you can not answer, please send thie to someone who can and call me with an answer

3:55 PM Support Agent: As discussed earlier, you have reached some scam support last time.

3:56 PM Support Agent: This is the proper Norton channel which you reach through Norton website.

3:56 PM Howard Grove: was the Norton employee trying to scan me out of $300

3:56 PM Support Agent: The person who you are in contact with is not a Norton Employee.

3:56 PM Support Agent: It is some scam support.

3:57 PM Howard Grove: does that mean he was

3:57 PM Howard Grove: what was the last date I called

3:58 PM Support Agent: You have contacted us on 7/23/2017 regarding the Norton Identity Protection.

3:58 PM Goshen S: Before that your contact with us is on 4/1/2017 regarding Vault.

3:59 PM Howard Grove:   i was talking about the one last week, it's in this chat .  If you can't answer this to cover for someone, I'm sorry and I will write a letter to the CEO nor norton for an answer.  you idd a great job for me.

4:00 PM Support Agent: We don't give any false information on chat.

4:00 PM Support Agent: Every chat is recorded.

4:01 PM Howard Grove: so, the $300 charge was for Norton. someone should view the chat to answer my question

4:02 PM Support Agent: The last charge you made to Norton is USD 69.99 for your Norton™ Security Standard  renewal and the order number is [Removed]  .

4:03 PM Support Agent: Even our Router costs just $199.99 and that is the costliest product we sell.

4:03 PM Howard Grove: i am talking about the person from Norton i spoke to last week, the one who requested the $33

4:03 PM Support Agent: May I know, if you have made a phone call or Chat?

4:04 PM Howard Grove: #00  to clean files

4:04 PM Howard Grove:    $300

4:04 PM Support Agent: May I know, if you have made a phone call or Chat?

4:05 PM Howard Grove: last week, a phone call which he then took over the computer like you did.  he showed me pages of files that they would remove and it may take two hours

4:05 PM Support Agent: May I know, the phone number that you have contacted?

4:06 PM Howard Grove: I found it on the Norton site, it was Norton since he did the same think you did to take over my computer

4:11 PM Support Agent: Could you please check and share the phone number that you have contacted so that it will be easier to determine the support call?

4:12 PM Howard Grove: sorry, i just took it off the site and did not write it down

4:13 PM Support Agent: Please check the call log on your phone to get that number.

4:14 PM Howard Grove: I went to www.norton.com  then to help section for the number

4:15 PM Support Agent: Thank you for the information.

4:16 PM Support Agent: May I know if your credit card is charged?

4:17 PM Howard Grove: no, i checked after i hung up, no charge.  i should have agreed to accept the chare and see how hw said I was to pay

4:19 PM Support Agent: Howard, this chat goes by a simple logic. Why we have to recommend and sell MalwareBytes when you call Norton?

4:19 PM Support Agent: Also, the ultimate helpdesk subscription costs $140 and our WiFi router costs $ 199 only.

4:19 PM Support Agent: We don't have any costlier product than this.

4:20 PM Howard Grove: He found nothing wrong with Malwarere and included the price, I would get three free years of Malware

4:21 PM Howard Grove: if someone looks at the chat, they will see all of the promises he made

4:22 PM Support Agent: I have checked the entire history and found no records of chat or call.

4:23 PM Howard Grove: let me look

4:24 PM Howard Grove: part of this is missing, you gave me a date of my last call which was last week.  i saw it earlier, now it's missing

4:24 PM Support Agent: You have contacted us on 7/23/2017 regarding the Norton Identity Protection.

Before that your contact with us is on 4/1/2017 regarding Vault.

4:26 PM Howard Grove: i contacted you last week  you gave me a date in the first couple of lined that at gone

4:26 PM Howard Grove: OK, we need to end this and I'll take it up with someone it authority at Norton.

 

8

That does seem to be a legit Norton phone number. I have escalated this issue.

 

9

Sorry, I should have included this.  First call was to 1-855-815-2726 which i found on the www.norton  .com site  under customer support and I chose chat line.  the second call was to the same number as the first , I used the live chat line this time and.  both had the exact screens up during the call. I did not get the name or copy of the first call, but I do have the complete chat of the second call. Both calls were definitely with Norton.   I'll post the second chat and you can see how the rep continued to evade an answer about the first rep.  it's long.  do they record live phone calls ?

10

Definitely a scam. Norton would not charge you for 'fixing' your computer.

 

11

Howard11543 - Google the phone number you called and let us know what you find for that number.  As Twilight  Princess stated - sure sounds like a scam to me and it occurs exactly as she said. 

BTW - what was the phone number?

12

I have a feeling that you weren’t speaking to the official Norton support, especially as they were offering Malwarebytes which is in no way connected to Norton. On many search engines top of the list are often scam sites which have paid to be listed there & many searchers looking for support find these & believe they’re speaking to the genuine site. The giveaway is usually taking over the pc & saying there’s x amount of problems & then stating they can ‘fix’ for a (usually high) fee, often they say said fee is a lifetime subscription so the person believes they getting a bargain so is hooked & reeled in by the scam.