Softweak Corp. Aggressive Marketing Noida, India and Internet

My first encounter with Softweak was in March, 2016 after purchasing a new Dell Inspiron 13 computer with Microsoft Office. I had trouble installing Microsoft Outlook and went to the Microsoft website for help. Softweak was listed there for technical support. After clicking on the link, I got a software technician who asked if he could install Supremo to access my computer. I let him, and he successfully finished the Outlook installation. He then told me that my IP address was vulnerable to hacking, and if I agreed to a $250 service contract he would encrypt my IP address for me. I agreed, and was told that my website was encrypted with a password that I was asked to supply. No real complaints to this point, although I was nervous about having given access to my computer.

Towards the end of June, 2016, I began to receive a series of phone calls from Florida numbers. Upon finally answering, I was informed by a Softweak technician that my IP address was under attack, even though I had paid to have it encrypted. Since my experience to this point had been moderately favorable, and I was aware of a previous hack-in to my Norton Security account(!), I agreed to let the technician into my computer again. After I did, he produced an image on my screen of the hacker, supposedly a Russian known to Interpol. To protect against such hackers he offered to sell me a package for $1000.

After I told him I would not pay that amount, he offered me the reduced rate of $399.99. By this time, my computer screen was black, and I saw no way out of the situation except to buy the protection. Payment was to be to Aspire Marketing, an Australian company. Fraud detection by my bank initially would not allow payment, but I needed my computer working, so I authorised payment. At this stage I learned that I was dealing with a company with headquarters in India, not Florida. Also, by this point I was pretty upset with the strong arm tactics that had been employed, and strongly suspected a scam.

The company subsequently sent me a document entitled Customer Agreement and Proof of Services Rendered to which they affixed by signature as evidence of my agreement. It is true that I one point I did affix my signature to a scanned image of my debit card for paymen of the $399.99, but the signature on the Customer Agreement that contained inaccuracies as well as legal protection for the company is not my signature.

Parts of my experience bear strong resemblance to those reported by another contributors to Ripped Off concerning Softweak. I also have just received an email survey from Dell corporation asking for reports of fraudulent software support offers. In my case Softweak appears to have covered itself pretty carefully against charges of outright fraud. But, I'm beginning to get phone calls from those Florida telephone numbers again, and Supremo is still on my machine. So, I am extremely wary of what the next move from Softweak will be, and have decided not to throw good money after bad. Anyone who deals with this company should be ready for threats of dire consequences of being hacked, and should avoid being placed into a position where the only way to exit the interaction with a working computer is to have paid for protection.