Scam Type
Tech Support Scam
Business Name Used
Safetee Soft
Date Reported
Aug 16, 2022
Victim Postal Code
17078
Total Dollars Lost
$309.85
Scam Description
While reading about how to tend to a butterfly bush, my computer locked and started making alarming sounds and verbalizing a warning that my online banking and online shopping passwords and payment methods are actively being compromised. I was directed to call a number to find tech support to stop the identity theft being perpetrated on my online profiles. I call the number and was connected with William, who provided a callback number in case we were disconnected of 1-844-749-0964 Ext. 541. He told me that he needed access to my computer to figure out what was going on. He asked me to download a program called Ultraviewer to give him access. After a short time of clicking around, he told me of all these corrupted files that where the culprit and I needed to purchase 3 different software from a company called Safeteesoft. The three software were called anti-malware, hard-disk sentinel, and secure root. This software cost a total of $309.85, charged to one of my VISA cards. After authorizing the purchase, William explained that he would be installing this software, deep cleaning my hard drive, and reinstalling security software. He said he needed about an hour with my computer and if I didn’t hear from him, I was to restart my computer, and everything would be fine. I waited for a couple of hours and restarted my computer. William was right, everything was fine. However, the software that I purchased was not on my computer. Then, I started reading online about the scamming practices of Safetee Soft and I felt so stupid. I ended up losing $309.85, cancelling my credit card, closing all my debit accounts, changing the passwords on all my banking and shopping sites, taking my computer to Staples to have them clean it and reinstall security software. After all that, I began to call Safetee Soft’s support number to demand a refund. They first told me they would be glad to refund my money since I never received the products I purchased. After waiting for days and not seeing the refund, I contacted them again and they told me they were unable to refund the money to my VISA (I suspect because I filed a fraud dispute with my credit card company) but they could issue me a check by email. That didn’t happen so I began emailing back and forth with them over the period of a week. Now they are telling me the refund went through on their end and the issue was with my bank. Of course, that isn’t true because I received no refund confirmation from the company, which almost automatically follows a refund transaction from any online merchant. Also, they had already claimed my bank wouldn’t accept the refund. I believe they are trying to misdirect me by deflecting responsibility to my bank. Bottom line, if you get the same warnings and error messages as I did, just restart your computer. DO NOT CALL THAT NUMBER.
