Norton using scammers for technical support

[Galdorf]

My sister bought nortons av then she started having problems with norton she tried to contact me but i was out on service call she found support number on her av through menu in nortons called them up and they started the usual scammer method they opened a cmd prompt did fake scan and said here ip was compromised it would cost 350 to fix it.
She thought wait that is alot that she would wait till she contacted me and hung up and disconnected the remote access she got me on the phone i remote accessed her system showed her a video on youtube to confirm that this is what he did (scammer opening cmd and showing all kinds of errors)she said yes exactly like that.
I asked her what phone number she called i then looked it up and it was the official number for nortons support then looked up the company contact info they left on her laptop numbers matched but i looked up this company they are known scammers that are service support partners for nortons.
I have found 100`s of posts with same problem i even triple checked the phone number it also is listed on norton website seems they have scammers working for them.

https://community.norton.com/en/forums/norton-service-or-scam

https://www.computerworld.com/artic...partner-caught-running-tech-support-scam.html

 

[Diggs]

Woa! Back in the very early days I was a Norton fan (back when it WAS Peter Norton). They were the standard but then again there wasn't much else out there. I'm a bit shocked by the scamming of their partners.

 

[stro]

I've seen this type of thing as well with calls to HP (2 incidents), Apple (1 incident) and Garmin (3 incidents). In all the cases the customer called phone numbers from literature included with the device. The Apple one, this lady called about a problem with her ipad, scammer told her that her PC was causing the problem with her ipad. Ran the standard scam on her PC. And this doesn't even include all the people that Googled for support numbers, those I have lost count of.

 

[Porthos]

Outsourcing.

 

[fincoder]

found support number on her av through menu in nortons called them up

The most likely explanation is that she is mistaken and the number was obtained by Googling for Norton support. Lots of fake sites come up that look like Norton.

I get this all the time and when first questioned they often say similar things about where they got the number. When questioned further there are always tell-tale signs that they're mistaken or lying.

Yes I read the bit that you 'verified' the number but there will be some explanation. Maybe she clicked on the number and it opened a chat window or something.

I have found 100`s of posts with same problem

The two links you provide do not show evidence of scams resulting from a legitimate call to Norton support. Almost everyone that gets scammed like this still believes they were talking to Norton support, but they're mistaken.

The source used by that Computerworld article is Malwarebytes, a competitor to Symantec, so it's isn't surprising that they slanted the language in a certain direction. It's not surprising that mainstream IT journalism was lazy and didn't do any of their own research, they simply copied the information and tone of the Malwarebytes blog post.

I'm a bit shocked by the scamming of their partners.

Being a 'partner' just means they're registered with Symantec for reselling their products. For many years scammers and adware makers have been Microsoft 'partners' which is even easier (e.g. many of their partnerships are just a matter of filling out an online form).

ALL the large tech companies could be much more diligent accepting partnerships and giving legitimacy to third parties.

calls to HP (2 incidents), Apple (1 incident) and Garmin (3 incidents). In all the cases the customer called phone numbers from literature included with the device

But how do you know for sure the customers called official support numbers? As I said above, that's what lots of them say and they're mistaken. It's a combination of them being scared by technology, not too bright, and in shock that they've been scammed. Their explanations often aren't reliable.

 

[frase]

It is scammers phishing the Norton sites - they just use google adwords to rank top of the listing. Users call this number listed which they believe to be true.

 

[stro]

But how do you know for sure the customers called official support numbers? As I said above, that's what lots of them say and they're mistaken. It's a combination of them being scared by technology, not too bright, and in shock that they've been scammed. Their explanations often aren't reliable.

In the all the cases mentioned I asked them point blank where they got the phone number from. They swore from manuals or paperwork that came with the device. In one of the HP cases, they showed me the number they called on the warranty info that came with the printer. In the other HP case, they showed me the number they dialed scratched down on a piece of paper and I was able to verify it as a real HP number. In the Apple case they were told that the type problem they were having was handled by a different department and they were given a different number to call.

Of course I have had countless cases of clients googling numbers. Alot of them with scammy browser search extensions.

Nowadays in addition to warning customers about Googling tech support numbers I also warn them about being told to call a different number versus just having their call transferred to a different dept.

 

[Galdorf]

The most likely explanation is that she is mistaken and the number was obtained by Googling for Norton support. Lots of fake sites come up that look like Norton.

I get this all the time and when first questioned they often say similar things about where they got the number. When questioned further there are always tell-tale signs that they're mistaken or lying.

Yes I read the bit that you 'verified' the number but there will be some explanation. Maybe she clicked on the number and it opened a chat window or something.



The two links you provide do not show evidence of scams resulting from a legitimate call to Norton support. Almost everyone that gets scammed like this still believes they were talking to Norton support, but they're mistaken.

The source used by that Computerworld article is Malwarebytes, a competitor to Symantec, so it's isn't surprising that they slanted the language in a certain direction. It's not surprising that mainstream IT journalism was lazy and didn't do any of their own research, they simply copied the information and tone of the Malwarebytes blog post.



Being a 'partner' just means they're registered with Symantec for reselling their products. For many years scammers and adware makers have been Microsoft 'partners' which is even easier (e.g. many of their partnerships are just a matter of filling out an online form).

ALL the large tech companies could be much more diligent accepting partnerships and giving legitimacy to third parties.



But how do you know for sure the customers called official support numbers? As I said above, that's what lots of them say and they're mistaken. It's a combination of them being scared by technology, not too bright, and in shock that they've been scammed. Their explanations often aren't reliable.

No she got the support number from norton AV under support i even asked her to show me where she got the number while remote accessing her pc she opened nortons and my account there was a support phone number there.
Also the number they left on her desktop matched official support number.
And i asked her to check call history on cell and read me back the number she called also matched official support number.

 

[nlinecomputers]

The most likely explanation is that she is mistaken and the number was obtained by Googling for Norton support. Lots of fake sites come up that look like Norton.

This. Clients LIE They tell you they called Norton from the docs yet they actually pulled up Google and got the wrong number. They KNOW they screwed up so they find the real number and claim that they called that. Or they don't even realize that there IS a difference and really think that they called Norton. Yes, Symantec has outsourced to scummy companies in the past but that was THREE YEARS AGO. I doubt that is happening again.

 

[thecomputerguy]

This. Clients LIE They tell you they called Norton from the docs yet they actually pulled up Google and got the wrong number. They KNOW they screwed up so they find the real number and claim that they called that. Or they don't even realize that there IS a difference and really think that they called Norton. Yes, Symantec has outsourced to scummy companies in the past but that was THREE YEARS AGO. I doubt that is happening again.

Yep I would bet money on a client calling an incorrect scam number for any tech company (HP, Norton, Apple etc.) rather than who they intend to call any day of the week.

Literally, the minute a client says they "Called Apple" I immediately think ... no you didn't

 

[Mick]

@nlinecomputers What -so she's going to lie to her own brother (who is presumably working on this gratis)? That sounds a bit unlikely. Even more so when you read: "...i even asked her to show me where she got the number while remote accessing her pc she opened nortons and my account there was a support phone number there." And then this 'scared of technology' and 'not too bright' blood relative somehow managed to forge her own call-history?

 

[nlinecomputers]

@nlinecomputers What -so she's going to lie to her own brother (who is presumably working on this gratis)? That sounds a bit unlikely. Even more so when you read: "...i even asked her to show me where she got the number while remote accessing her pc she opened nortons and my account there was a support phone number there." And then this 'scared of technology' and 'not too bright' blood relative somehow managed to forge her own call-history?

People lie to family members all the time. And all for the same reasons. Pride. Also all he did was open the program and show the number built into the support docs of the program. NOTHING in that statement says she actually did that. He doesn't mention looking at Google search history. Bet that will tell another story. Been there done that, with my own family more than once.

And what call history? He mentions NOTHING about pulling up phone call records or seeing a bill. He showed her a video on how to contact Norton and she agreed that she did that. (That is the lie.) She did it, knows it and is too proud to admit to her brother, who she KNOWS she should have called first, that she screwed up. Pride and embarrassment are the number one reasons people lie to us, even when they are related to us. (In most families I'd say especially because they are related to us.)

 

[lan101]

I've had the same thing many times. People swear they called the documentation number. One time I called the same number right in front of the person and it was legit. I believe it was one of HP's 500 different numbers lol.

Later during the cleanup I did...search history showed they were searching for support numbers on google. I didn't bother to bring it up as I didn't want to embarrass anyone. But yeah they can and do lie so they don't look "stupid".

 

[fincoder]

I'm not sure if they're consciously lying, I suppose in some cases they are. More often they're just horribly confused about the sequence of events, due to their fear and/or anger at the time. I assume everyone here has seen ordinary rational people reduced to blithering idiots over technology...

 

[nlinecomputers]

I'm not sure if they're consciously lying, I suppose in some cases they are. More often they're just horribly confused about the sequence of events, due to their fear and/or anger at the time. I assume everyone here has seen ordinary rational people reduced to blithering idiots over technology...

That is the second half of my statement. I'd say it is about 50/50 on them. I'd even say many didn't realize that it was wrong at first got suspicious and figured out that they had been had and too embarrassed to admit what happened.

Or they don't even realize that there IS a difference and really think that they called Norton.