Virus protection scam to beware of

I should have known better than to fall for a warning, which came up on my wife's computer screen just as soon as her computer started. It showed a very long list of viruses which may have had invaded the system and suggested a free complete scan to determine which of them were there.

After the scan, it showed dozens of fatal viruses and advised to purchase the Personal Antivirus software at $89.95. Her computers virus protection McAfee had expired. I panicked and purchased the program.

Yesterday, which was about two weeks afterwards, another warning flashed and when we tried to use the Personal Antivirus it was not to be found in her computer programs.

I tried calling the support numbers listed and got no answer and was put on hold for at least 10 minutes on the next call. When going to their Web site, it was not available.

This is a very sophisticated company, Witabett, but has a very bad reputation. I ran across the following complaints in www.fraud.com. There were dozens of others.

One duped user

"Apparently a screen appears telling you that your computer is infected with viruses and asks you to purchase their Anti Virus program for $79.95. The viruses go away when you furnish your credit card details, and then your bank account starts to leave you. This cost has caught quite a few gullible types. I believe 50 or 60 accounts were affected in one bank alone. If you Google Witabett.com you'll see someone got caught for $49.95 and then had $400.00 drawn from her account before the bank froze the account. Then she was told there were two Western Union drafts awaiting clearance! This is just another SCAM."

Another, "I recently tried to download the anti-virus software it was unsuccessful, I tried again and it was unsuccessful. I received my credit card statement and I was charged for both attempts. The Computer kept directing me to this site and I could not get another. It said it was windows who was directing me to the site. I feel the virus was tailored to force me to download only this software."

Another wants a refund

"I purchased this personal antivirus, it never asked for a registration key to activate, but it did download. I have deleted all I could from my computer, now I need to know how to totally uninstall this. It was not listed in my control panel like it ever downloaded, but I know it did. I sat on the phone for the duration of a whole 8 minutes just to be told that the 800 number was a partner of this company. All of those who still have trial time left and others; you need to call a number for a refund! It is an automated call that you give the first six numbers of your card and the last four numbers."

I believe these people-hijackers can use this information to further charge your account.

Comcast has been offering free MacAfee for a while now and it is a really great protector against viruses and other malicious software.

In this day and age, new viruses can pop up just about anywhere and hijack your computer. I suggest to anyone who has a computer to disregard any warnings of virus infection. At least check out the company offering the protection by going to www.fraud.com.

In the future I will only trust Microsoft, McAfee or Norton.