CyberDefender Corporation Gary Guseinov, Phishing "Newsletter", Automatically Charged CC, 1 Yr After Opting Out, Internet
Approximately one year ago, I purchased and downloaded their anti-spyware/anti-virus program for the yearly subscription price of $39.00 which included a "Free Computer Scan". Upon completion of the scan, I was told my computer was infected and a technician would have to remotely remove the viruses, so I allowed remote access and then I was told there would be a one-time charge of $199 to complete the process. I declined the charge and after speaking with a supervisor, I opted out and was given a refund.
Today I received a "Newsletter" from them posing as a public service notice, warning off the dangers of using your credit card at gas pumps. No sooner had I opened it than I received another email thanking me for "renewing my yearly subscription" and telling me that my credit card of record would be charged $69.93.
I immediately called the number for Sales and after holding for 25 minutes, I spoke with an enemy combatant who informed me that I should not worry a bit, as this was nothing more than a "computer glitch" and there would be a refund IF any charges were made to my account.
While I was on the phone with him, the charge went through to my bank and cleared. I called my bank and told them about it but they said they could not do anything about reversing the charge as it had been on my debit card. We cancelled that card and are waiting to see if they ever do issue a refund.
The bait they used was an email warning about scams, which was nothing more than a trap that once opened, signaled them to go ahead and charge the card on file. I'm sure this practice is widespread and others are being ripped off without their knowledge. I'd love to participate in a class action suit against this company!
1 Updates & Rebuttals
CyberDefender
Los Angeles,California,
United States of America
CyberDefender does not engage in "phishing" practices.
#2UPDATE Employee
Thu, July 29, 2010
Dear Customer,
The Cyberdefender customer service department would be happy to investigate the status of your account, but unfortunately we cannot find your account from just the online nickname FightingMad and need more identifying information in order to assist you. We would be glad to work with you towards a solution for your unsatisfactory experience, so feel free to contact our corporate headquarters at 877-229-5957, or email us at supportATcyberdefender.com, and please be sure to give us your full name, date of purchase, and the email address you used when you made your purchase. We will be happy to assist you.
From your description, we think that you may have purchased two different CyberDefender accounts. The $69.93 product we offer consists of a years subscriptions to our two main software products, Registry Cleaner and Early Detection Center. It then sounds as though you then called our customer service center, received the free promotional scan for threats on your computer, which turned up the presence of some serious viral problems or malware.
It sounds as though you were then given the option of purchasing one of our $199.99 Premium technical support packages so we could remove these threats, which you either declined, or purchased and returned. Again, however, we cannot say precisely what happened without enough identifying information to locate your account.
The reason you would have been charged $69.93 exactly one year later is because we sell all of our software subscriptions on a yearly auto-renewal basis. When you first purchased CyberDefender's software you authorized and agreed to our Terms of Service and EULA (End User License Agreement). You can reference our Terms of Service by visiting http://www.cyberdefender.com/terms.html.
CyberDefender notifies all customers by e-mail regarding the subscription renewal process a full week in advance prior to renewing them, and then again three days before auto-renewal. The email reminders offer customers the ability to cancel or opt-out from our renewal database from a live link included right in the body of the email. Customers that do not respond to either of the email reminders are then billed accordingly.
It would also appear that when you declined to purchase the $199.99 package, or cancelled the $199.99 package for a refund, that you were under the impression that you also cancelled the $69.93 package. However, it appeared that this was not the case, and your $69.93 subscription then auto-renewed a year later. Again, however, this is only the most likely scenario, and we cannot say precisely what happened without enough identifying information to locate your account.
You cannot have spoken to an enemy combatant at our customer service center because CyberDefender certainly does not employ enemy combatants of any kind. It is possible that you spoke to a professional customer service representative with a Latin-American, Russian-American, Indian, or Filipino accent. CyberDefender is an equal-opportunity employer, and our Los Angeles workforce consists of talented people from a great number of ethnicities and backgrounds. We also outsource some of our very considerable customer service workload to overseas call centers. None of our employees can possibly be called enemy combatants as the U. S. is not at war with any of its own ethnic populations, or with India, or with the Philippines.
The email bait you mentioned was simply an informational advertising email warning about the dangers of identity theft from phishing scanners being installed on gas pump credit card scanners, which is a very real threat you can read more about it here:(((Redacted)))
The email you received from CyberDefender Corporation was simply part of an email advertising campaign, a marketing technique which is very frequently employed by large businesses. This emailed advertisement was just that, an email it was in no way linked to any signal to charge the card on file.
What probably happened was that you simply received an email from one of our weekly email blasts around the same time that your $69.93 account came up for auto-renewal. Our email blast server is not in any way linked to our accounting system, so there is no possible way that any signal being sent from our advertising emails could trigger an auto-renewal credit card charge.
CyberDefender Corporation does not engage in illegal phishing practices of any kind, never has, and never will. We assure you that our NASDAQ-traded California-incorporated company does not engage in fraudulent practices such as phishing.
Again, we would be glad to work with you towards a solution for your unsatisfactory experience, so feel free to contact our corporate headquarters at 877-229-5957, Monday through Friday from 5:00am 10:00pm, or Saturday and Sunday from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., or email us at supportATcyberdefender.com, and please be sure to give us your full name, date of purchase, and the email address you used when you made your purchase.
We will be happy to assist you.
Thank you,
CyberDefender Customer Service
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