Russian hack

[Bruce16]

Hi there. Before I go pubilc, the worst experiance Ive ever encountered, about a month after purchased my desktop pavillion the comp. started slowing down . so i called your buddies in India, and they said my comp. was hacked by russia  and they are trying to withdraw $2000 from my bank acct? they charged me $568.00 for soft ware to prevent this. Mean while a little later my comp. slowed down again so i called again, they said they installed the wrong software . To fix this they said they would refund the $568 (not) and it wouldcost me $400 now and$400 later. I paid the $400 I should have bought another Dell. The cost of the comp. was far less then I spent for the software. You can contact Alex in India at 877-799-0999 out $968.00 refund wanted please

[PeaceLily]

Hi @Bruce16,

It sounds like the company you contacted was not actually HP Support but one of the companies that pretends to be HP to scam customers.

Learn more about support fraud: http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c05404707/

Information from the FTC about tech support scams and fake websites: https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0346-tech-support-scams

And an additional article from the FTC about getting your money back after a scam: https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/getting-your-money-back-after-tech-support-scam

[Mister_Do]

Hi Bruce16,

Sorry to hear this happened to you. I hate to be the bearer of bad news to you, but you did not contact HP. You contacted scammers. That 877 number you listed, if you search it on Google goes to many malicious sites saying they are the support for many companies. This support is not associated with HP. 

HP support would never say you were hacked by Russia and to send us money. What's likely happend is you got a virus or some other malicious code attack that caused your PC to have poor performance, which the scammers then take advantage of. 

Here is the official link to see your Contact HP options:
http://www8.hp.com/us/en/contact-hp/support.html

[Bruce16]

thank you, seems that the call is from norton antiviris HP( as they say). So maybe HP should refund

[Mister_Do]

Hi Bruce16,

The call is NOT from Norton Antivirus or HP. Searching on the phone number brings up pages of results and they all list different brand names, and they all have different URLs that are not associated with any retail brand company. These are scammers trying to trick people. They are not affiliated with HP or any of the other companies they list. 

Look at the URLs for those sites in the google search results, but don't actually go to those scammer sites as they could install more malicious software just going to their sites.

The legitimate Norton URL is: https://us.norton.com/

HP websites have hp.com in the URL, such as this for support: www.hp.com/support 

[mdklassen]

> I paid the $400

If you paid by credit-card, contact your local bank (or credit union) who issued the card, and say that you have been defrauded.  They will advise you to contact the computer-company to demand a refund, within 30 days of making the charge against your credit-card.  If they fail to refund, tell the bank, and they will "cancel" the $400 charge, and refund your account.