Phoronix Does Not Make Anti-Virus Software!
Posted by Michael Larabel on January 27, 2010
Since earlier this month I have received at least two dozen emails from individuals looking for a refund on software they claim to have purchased from us... What software? The Phoronix Test Suite, Phoromatic, and other software projects developed by Phoronix Media are free software. All of them claim it's for anti-virus software!
After much confusion and communicating with many of these individuals, it appears there is some "scam" company out there that is selling a really awful piece of anti-virus software that literally does nothing and goes upwards of $60 a license and they are (illegally) making the charges to these novice computer users' credit cards under the name of Phoronix Software. This is not us and we are in no way associated with whatever company is behind these charges.
Apparently most of their "sales" are coming from pop-up ads and other advertisements that make those bogus claims about detecting a trojan / virus has been installed on your computer and by clicking this link and buying this software it will fix your problems. Well, buying this software does nothing and in many cases there is no problem in the first case. So most of the people buying this software are novice computer users and so when they look on their credit card bill and see Phoronix, they probably use Google and see us... If you are actually a Phoronix reader, you should be using Linux, OpenSolaris, *BSD, or another operating system where this Windows anti-virus software is entirely irrelevant anyways.
To anyone that may be affected by this, there are many free alternatives to buying anti-virus software for Windows, and it's reliable too. Examples include AVG Free and ClamAV.
So again, we are in no way associated with the company behind this, which we are still continuing to track down, but may have the company located. This has been a headache and tarnishes our brand. The FBI Cyber-Crimes Unit is investigating and is others and we are looking for an end to this. If there is anyone with a legal background who would also like to have a hand at taking these guys down or otherwise would like to help out, please let us know.
After much confusion and communicating with many of these individuals, it appears there is some "scam" company out there that is selling a really awful piece of anti-virus software that literally does nothing and goes upwards of $60 a license and they are (illegally) making the charges to these novice computer users' credit cards under the name of Phoronix Software. This is not us and we are in no way associated with whatever company is behind these charges.
Apparently most of their "sales" are coming from pop-up ads and other advertisements that make those bogus claims about detecting a trojan / virus has been installed on your computer and by clicking this link and buying this software it will fix your problems. Well, buying this software does nothing and in many cases there is no problem in the first case. So most of the people buying this software are novice computer users and so when they look on their credit card bill and see Phoronix, they probably use Google and see us... If you are actually a Phoronix reader, you should be using Linux, OpenSolaris, *BSD, or another operating system where this Windows anti-virus software is entirely irrelevant anyways.
To anyone that may be affected by this, there are many free alternatives to buying anti-virus software for Windows, and it's reliable too. Examples include AVG Free and ClamAV.
So again, we are in no way associated with the company behind this, which we are still continuing to track down, but may have the company located. This has been a headache and tarnishes our brand. The FBI Cyber-Crimes Unit is investigating and is others and we are looking for an end to this. If there is anyone with a legal background who would also like to have a hand at taking these guys down or otherwise would like to help out, please let us know.
Discuss this article in our forums, IRC channel, or email the author. You can also follow our content via RSS and on social networks like Facebook, Identi.ca, and Twitter (@Phoronix and @MichaelLarabel). Subscribe to Phoronix Premium to view our content without advertisements, view entire articles on a single page, and experience other benefits.
Copyright © 2004 - 2013 by Phoronix Media.
All trademarks used are properties of their respective owners. All rights reserved. Legal Disclaimer & Disclosure.
Powered by the Phoronix Content Management System (PHXCMS-7.4).
All trademarks used are properties of their respective owners. All rights reserved. Legal Disclaimer & Disclosure.
Powered by the Phoronix Content Management System (PHXCMS-7.4).