Background: My sweet, trusting, eldery mother was browsing the internet on Feb 11 2016 and a pop-up box appeared telling her she had a virus on her computer, and that she could get help by calling McCheckup on 1-800-776-712.
Mum, bless her, called the phone number.
She ended up spending three hours on the phone to technical support people at McCheckup (Roy, and others). They guided her through the installation of TeamView software on her computer so that they could gain remote access to it, and they informed her that she needed AVG Internet Security. They charged her USD$99 for "fixing the issue" and she paid USD$59 for the AVG software.
It's possible that AVG found "malicious cookies" or something when they ran the scan, sure. Were they causing mum problems? No.
Is this a scam?
It depends on your definition of scam. [actually it was, see below] She had no virus on her computer, so the initial "problem" that they sought to "fix" was in fact a non-problem. Yes they did install a legitimate piece of third party software (AVG Internet Security), but did she really need it?
If you want AntiVirus software, you can get AVG for free from here http://free.avg.com/
If you need help with your computer, try calling friends or family first. If you would like to take it to a professional, try a local company and support your local businesses. A quick search on google will find you plenty of local PC Fixit guys. As your friends who they use.
If you have any problems with a local company then you can report them to your local enforcement agencies, the police, the fraud office etc. McCheckup operate over the internet so your local enforcement agencies are unlikely to be able to do anything about them if they do operate fraudulently.
An analogy
Imagine your sweet elderly mother is sitting at home watching her favourite program on the TV, and then the doorbell rings. There stands a man in overalls with a clipboard. His overalls and the van parked on the street have a big "McFumigate" logo on them. The man tells your mother that he believes there are dustmites in her house. "Really??" she says. "Oh yes madam - they can cause allergies and even anaphylactic shock!". "Oh no!"
The man convinces your mother to pay USD $99 to have the house fumigated, and USD $59 for a dehumidifier that will reduce the likelihood of dustmites "returning".
How would you feel about that?
What now?
I rang McCheckup on their UK number (0-800-920-2033) and after talking with Roy was put through to Ronnie in compliance/customer services. I have politely requested a full refund because
1/ They invented the problem that they then claim to have fixed
2/ We do not need their services going forwards
3/ AVG offer a 30 day no-questions asked refund: https://support.avg.com/support_sales?l=en_US
They said that it will take them 24-48hours to come back to me. Ronnie says that it's likely they will have to make a deduction.
Do you think that McFumigate should keep any of the $158, or should they give the $158 back to your mother and take the dehumidifier away?
Personally I hope they do the honourable thing and give a full refund. I will keep you posted.
UPDATE (14 Feb):
Mum just told me that when she was on the phone to them she said she would just turn it off and call me. They told her that she couldn't do that because the computer might never work again. Manipulation & deception.
UPDATE 2 (16 Feb):
After being told on 13 Feb by Damien Hunter in "Compliance" at McCheckup that mum would be refunded the $99 service fee, no money has arrived nor any other communication.
Separately I have verified with AVG that the license key McCheckup "sold" to mum was in fact refunded on Feb 9. (2 days before mum supposedly bought it). This is a clear-cut case of fraud. We have activated the fraud department at mum's bank.
FYI the fraudulently sold AVG key was registered to the email address purchasing@rainnetworks.com
UPDATE 3 (11 March)
Obviously no refund has arrived so I called again.
Teresa in billing says that Damien Hunter has left the company.
"Just give me a minute"
"It has been refunded and will take 10-11 days to arrive in your account"
I asked when the refund was initiated, after "checking some details" for a minute, she said "It was initiated however don't have the details and will ask the billing team. "
Teresa is now no longer in the billing team it seems
I also explained that the AVG license was illegitimate and that they needed to refund that as well. She said she needed to look into it and would contact me in a few hours.
UPDATE 4 (14 March)
They called both me and my mum to say that they needed additional details. I just spent 10 minutes on the phone to them where they tried to tell me that they had accidentally sent the wrong license key and would like to send a new one. Of course, no email from AVG arrived with any license details so this is just another ploy. Selling someone a stolen car and then offering to replace it with a non-stolen one does not absolve the seller of all crimes. I explained that a full refund was the only acceptable outcome. They are going to call me back.
UPDATE 5 (22 March)
Just spoke to "Teresa" at 9:10am UK time, and she told me that the refund was initiated yesterday, for the full amount. She indicated that it could take 10-15 business days to be processed. I will check again in 3 weeks and if there has been no refund then I will hand it over to mum's bank to deal with. Since they have said they would give a full refund, not giving it is 100% clear-cut fraud.
UPDATE 6 (28 March)
McCheckup have provided a full refund now.
I was quite persistent...
