bytefence Malware scam, antivirus scam Wilmington, Delaware Internet

Nov. 7, 2016 suddenly a popup in my notification area saying I had malware on my system and recommending downloading a "free" scanner that could repair this.

Already have a top-rated antivirus and malware programs and am not a newbie by any means but it did concern me enough (brand new computer) to download this although my other programs were not reporting anything.

So I downloaded/installed their softeware which scaned and said this trojan was on my system but of course it would not remove it without paying for the software. Being busy and concerned I went ahead and bought their program which then said it removed the issue. After I did this I saw that they were going to periodically rebill be. I do not like autiomatic rebills so immediately sent an email asking about this to their support.

Days went by with no response. Finally I did get a reply but it had nothing to do with my question/issue which actually was not replied to until Nov. 23. In the meanwhile between those dates I sent several emails asking to cancel end refund my card (their site says you have 30 days to cancel and get a refund)... I never got a credit to date although in one email someone said they were taking care of canceling. I repeatedly asked about the refund but it was never addressed.

Years ago there were unscrupulous "companies" who would install some malware on your computer and then do this getting you to buy their product, or some would give a false positive. I now suspect that is what these guys are doing based on their lack of response. They say they are located in Wilmington, DE but oddly whenever I did get a reply to an email it was sent in the middle of the night leading me to think perhaps these people are not in the US. I also did a google map street view of the address they say they are at and they do not appear to be listed on the marquee.

I have now started a dispute with my credit card which several times I told them I would do if not refunded.

Stay far, far away!!!