This is not a poke at Bitdefender- I have used them for years and I am very happy with their coverage and service. Vlad also was extremely helpful in verifying information, explaining safe company practices, guiding me through an installation when I was still very hot under the collar regarding a group of people who pride themselves in working only to take something from someone else. I was not sure where to post this, so it would make sense and hopefully keep someone from this experience.

So my computer was reset to factory conditions (the Dell people very helpful). I needed to populate the computer with programs. My data was gone, I had a blank page (or hard drive) to work on. My thought was that security was the first step. On to Bitdefender. I was unable to log on my account – the message was strange telling me that there was too much recent activity and I needed to call to get it figured out.

That call was made (from my cell phone – 860-924-3822. The fellow who answered said that a tech would call me shortly. He call again telling me that a call was placed and I did not answer it and I needed to answer to get the support. I had received no call, and he was too fast to verify my phone number. Moments later, Joseph calls. Oddly, he immediately identified himself as a Bitdefender employee, gave his name as Joseph Ryan badge number BIT77921 and phone # 404-300-3183.

Without any evaluation, I was told I had a Trojan virus on my network and he needed to access my computer to deal with it. He was evasive when asked how that happened with the protection programs onboard. Suspicions grew, he wanted my name, address, email address cell phone number, but when I countered with a few questions about my account he continued to evade the question. If my account was in front of him, he should have been aware of a few things that Bitdefender would know and he was not.

I sensed fraud and potential scam. I ended the call with a few words that are not worth repeating here. I got no return call – a legitimate representative would want a positive interaction.

I got in touch with Bitdefender- we both passed each other’s security questions. The program was uploaded and Vlad provided advice;

1. If the ad for the support hits with a phone number immediately – be suspicious
2. If the add has misspelled words and seems off – be suspicious
3. BD does not have ID tags – this AH spammer tried to alleviate suspicion by given a fictitious number
4. Calls – they asked to call me back – not a sop.

I hate these type of experiences – you work hard for what you have and someone feels that it theirs to try to get from you.

My advice – have some piece of information that the legit company has on your account and if the person on the other end of the line can’t tell you what that is, HANG UP