Anyone dealt with possible scam Sapphire Softech Solutions?
Discussion
https://sapphiresoftech.co.uk/contact-us.html
Had a talk to my elderly parent last night after he messaged me to say he was having trouble with his new HP Printer.
Turns out he’d had trouble installing the printer software and had called the above mentioned firm to help thinking they were HP support.
A chap took control of his PC showed him the drivers were corrupted by malware and convinced him to allow them to sort it for a fee.
All sorted and working the fee was - £150 for one year support which takes care of the printer support he had or £300 for three years total support. Having spent ages and getting tied up in knots with the issue (as happens later in life) he paid up the £300.
Now, to me that’s the classic scam behaviour. Infest customers PC with malware after being allowed to remote access then show customer and remove said malware for a fee.
He sounded exhausted and a little foolish but to be perfectly fair he was having trouble setting up and now has a perfectly working printer.
Being very skeptical I’ve done some research, a handful of similar stories for this company, a very dodgy address when checking street view and company accounts that aren’t great.
I’m sorting out making his PC secure, we’re trying to cancel the £300 charge and just take the £89 cancellation fee and chalk it down to lesson learnt.
Sorry long story but has anyone ever had dealings with this lot, or heard of them? I don’t live too far away (Dad is 200
Miles away) and will doorstop them sometime next week when I’m not working but don’t really expect to get anywhere without any real evidence of wrongdoing.
Also is there some trade body I can report them to in case it helps in future if many people are getting “scammed” ?
Had a talk to my elderly parent last night after he messaged me to say he was having trouble with his new HP Printer.
Turns out he’d had trouble installing the printer software and had called the above mentioned firm to help thinking they were HP support.
A chap took control of his PC showed him the drivers were corrupted by malware and convinced him to allow them to sort it for a fee.
All sorted and working the fee was - £150 for one year support which takes care of the printer support he had or £300 for three years total support. Having spent ages and getting tied up in knots with the issue (as happens later in life) he paid up the £300.
Now, to me that’s the classic scam behaviour. Infest customers PC with malware after being allowed to remote access then show customer and remove said malware for a fee.
He sounded exhausted and a little foolish but to be perfectly fair he was having trouble setting up and now has a perfectly working printer.
Being very skeptical I’ve done some research, a handful of similar stories for this company, a very dodgy address when checking street view and company accounts that aren’t great.
I’m sorting out making his PC secure, we’re trying to cancel the £300 charge and just take the £89 cancellation fee and chalk it down to lesson learnt.
Sorry long story but has anyone ever had dealings with this lot, or heard of them? I don’t live too far away (Dad is 200
Miles away) and will doorstop them sometime next week when I’m not working but don’t really expect to get anywhere without any real evidence of wrongdoing.
Also is there some trade body I can report them to in case it helps in future if many people are getting “scammed” ?
s at the top of the search result.
LivLL said:
Now, to me that’s the classic scam behaviour. Infest customers PC with malware after being allowed to remote access then show customer and remove said malware for a fee.
How did he infect your dad's computer before taking control?While you say it's classic scam behaviour, it also profiles as a one man business operating out of his bedroom, fixing computer issues.
His "scam ratings" may well be from people like yourself who have just assumed the worst.
I've worked in Tech for 30 years. I've had conversations where I've explained perfectly why a problem has occurred to a non techie, and then listened to them explain my explanation to their boss. Their explanation didn't even bear a passing resemblance to what I said. I therefore would not take your fathers account too literally.
What are the facts? Printer was not working, dad rang IT support, problem was explained, fees explained and agreed too, printer was fixed.
Refunds may well be resisted due to certain members of the public agreeing to the fees, wait for issues to be fixed, then demand money back.
I'm not saying this can't be a scam, but it could equally be some young enterprising IT person starting out.
Professional business offices they have there, not - https://maps.app.goo.gl/DNZdhcNX2Vdssk7T6
FourWheelDrift said:
Professional business offices they have there, not - https://maps.app.goo.gl/DNZdhcNX2Vdssk7T6
That's not the address in the Companies House screengrab. I mean, it's still a bit of Reading suburbia, just a different bit.Edited by bigandclever on Friday 2nd February 13:46
zippy3x said:
How did he infect your dad's computer before taking control?
While you say it's classic scam behaviour, it also profiles as a one man business operating out of his bedroom, fixing computer issues.
His "scam ratings" may well be from people like yourself who have just assumed the worst.
I've worked in Tech for 30 years. I've had conversations where I've explained perfectly why a problem has occurred to a non techie, and then listened to them explain my explanation to their boss. Their explanation didn't even bear a passing resemblance to what I said. I therefore would not take your fathers account too literally.
What are the facts? Printer was not working, dad rang IT support, problem was explained, fees explained and agreed too, printer was fixed.
Refunds may well be resisted due to certain members of the public agreeing to the fees, wait for issues to be fixed, then demand money back.
I'm not saying this can't be a scam, but it could equally be some young enterprising IT person starting out.
Thanks, that’s what I’ve also said to Dad. He did in fact have an issue with the printer drivers which was fixed. While you say it's classic scam behaviour, it also profiles as a one man business operating out of his bedroom, fixing computer issues.
His "scam ratings" may well be from people like yourself who have just assumed the worst.
I've worked in Tech for 30 years. I've had conversations where I've explained perfectly why a problem has occurred to a non techie, and then listened to them explain my explanation to their boss. Their explanation didn't even bear a passing resemblance to what I said. I therefore would not take your fathers account too literally.
What are the facts? Printer was not working, dad rang IT support, problem was explained, fees explained and agreed too, printer was fixed.
Refunds may well be resisted due to certain members of the public agreeing to the fees, wait for issues to be fixed, then demand money back.
I'm not saying this can't be a scam, but it could equally be some young enterprising IT person starting out.
£300 isn’t a massive amount for 3 years support either. Was interested to know others thoughts.
Theres a few posts on the HP forums with people querying why they ended up connecting with Sapphire, these are US people too.
Same MO, $300 for a few years worth of support.
https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Printing-Errors-or-L...
Seems like they are search engine stuffing to get people searching for support.
If they actually fixed a problem, that's tricky, lol, the "oooh malware" bit is 100% scammer though, usually they just run a few dos commands to bewilder the victim... look sir 127.0.0.1 is a hacker, sir, connected to your pc sir, oh noes.
Lol, love HPs responses on this thread https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Printing-Errors-or-L... no wonder people end up in the hands of scammers...
Same MO, $300 for a few years worth of support.
https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Printing-Errors-or-L...
Seems like they are search engine stuffing to get people searching for support.
If they actually fixed a problem, that's tricky, lol, the "oooh malware" bit is 100% scammer though, usually they just run a few dos commands to bewilder the victim... look sir 127.0.0.1 is a hacker, sir, connected to your pc sir, oh noes.
Lol, love HPs responses on this thread https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Printing-Errors-or-L... no wonder people end up in the hands of scammers...
Edited by .:ian:. on Friday 2nd February 21:55
bigandclever said:
FourWheelDrift said:
Professional business offices they have there, not - https://maps.app.goo.gl/DNZdhcNX2Vdssk7T6
That's not the address in the Companies House screengrab. I mean, it's still a bit of Reading suburbia, just a different bit.Edited by bigandclever on Friday 2nd February 13:46
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