Scam being run off HP Support page

[sagebrush9424]

I tried to contact HP with this issue via their general contact form but that system appears to be down permanently. I'm posting here hoping someone from HP monitors the forum and will get involved.

They need to be aware, their employees/service providers are running a scam operation from the HP Support website. I had a problem connecting my printer to my wifi. Went to the HP support website and followed the instructions from the chat. The HP chat asked me for a phone number and said a tech support person would be contacting me shortly, which seemed to be legitimate HP support. The tech on the phone asked permission to access my computer directly. Foolishly, I allowed the connection against my better judgement, but I trusted HP support. The tech told me my Dell print drivers were disabled and the only way they could be reactivated was to pay him $199. I immediately canceled the chat and uninstalled the software used to remotely access my computer. I went to the Dell website and downloaded new drivers. My system is up and running perfectly and my HP printer is connected and printing. I am really worried about any personal information the "HP tech" may have been able to access in the background while I was on chat with him. I hope HP will seriously investigate and follow up with me to let me know my personal information has not been compromised because I used HP support.

[Repairatrooper]

I have escalated your post to the moderators. HP takes fraud very seriously and works to shut down predatory sites,  but it is a constant battle as websites pop up all the time that are easily confused with the actual HP websites but are not associated at all.

[FleetFlyer]

I've had s similar problem.  While using HP Smart to diagnose a printer connection problem that has been occurring frequently.  After running the diagnosis,  HP SMART indicated that it was not able to fix the printer queue.  At this point I involved the HP Chat assistant who then tried to help.  She (?) basically took my details and phone number and said that I would be contacted by I presume the next level of support.  I presumed, and it was not indicated otherwise, that this was still HP.  When I received the call, the support guy indicated that the  drivers were out of date and then referred me to site to download the drivers which failed.  Eventually we ran a remote session, and he said that there was a corruption by worms in the printer driver area and showed some "duplication activity" occurring.  Long story short I did agree to a support contract (which should have alerted me to the fact that I was not talking to HP), and we proceeded from there.  Eventually the printer problem (for at least the time being) was solved by another person from an outfit called Metaverse-tech, who do not seem to have a convincing presence and no positive endorsements as far as I can find.  Reflecting on the activity during the trouble shooting and what I saw on the screen makes me feel like I have been duped into an expensive solution for a simple problem.  My biggest disappointment was that I was going through HP SMART and support and under the impression that this was HP and trustworhty.  It appears that I was handed off with no disclaimers or warnings.  My confidence in HP has been severely damaged.