A tech from MacKeeper wishes access to my computer for licensing and activation. Is this a scam?
I paid for a version of MacKeeper which may be a mistake. Their tech wants me to allow them to access my computer as in have access to my desktop files, etc. They say it is to fully license and engage the program . I have not done it as of yet.
Is this typical when activating? I'm not comfortable letting them have control of my computer
Solution 1:
Do not do this.
There are exactly zero reasons a tech, or anyone else for that matter, would need remote access to your computer to "fully license and engage a program."
That phrasing alone is more than enough to elicit a high degree of skepticism of the intention and/or competence of the "tech" who is looking to access your computer.
For just a brief (hypothetical) moment; giving the "tech" the benefit of the doubt and assuming his motives are genuine, how good can this software be that it needs special handling to activate?
Bottom line...
You don't need this software, avoid it.
Solution 2:
MacKeeper IS Malware. Run MalwareBytes on your Mac and it will remove MacKeeper. Here's what you need to do:
- Uninstall MacKeeper as best you can
- Run MalwareBytes to get any pieces of it you missed
- Tell the "tech" to... this website doesn't like cursing, so just tell him something off-color
- Call your credit card company and tell them you were scammed and all of the MacKeeper charges were scams - which they were, that software is all scam. It performs no useful functions, it just slows your computer to a halt, installs other malware, and tries to get you to pay them money for the privilege.
Solution 3:
Scam. Scam. Scam. Scam....
There is never - as in absolutely never ever until the sun boils and the earth burns - why an unsolicited request to access your computer from someone you don't know and haven't voluntarily asked (other than clearly genuine police and customs officials) should be anything except a scam.
No legitimate software needs it. No legitimate system you are likely to use (Mac, Windows, Linux, BSD, or anything else) ever needs or expects it. No legitimate software company (Apple, Microsoft, Google, Kaspersky, Adobe, or any other OS or software creator) ever asks or requests it. No legitimate ISP, firewall, security, networking, or landline/mobile/cable telecoms company ever phones or emails to ask for it. Nobody legitimate will ever telephone you "out of the blue" to advise that your computer has a problem or needs urgent attention due to a computer issue. No legitimate antivirus or anti-malware needs it.
The sun will die, Donald Trump will be married to Vladimir Putin, and protons will evaporate (estimated 10^34 ish years) before a request like the kind you describe is genuine and anything more than "can we persuade someone to let us access their data and install malware".
It doesn't matter what pretext or explanation they give, or how urgent it sounds - and the more jargon and urgency, the more likely that you're being called by a scammer. (Denying time to think by making it sound extremely important is a classic scammer trick)
If you want more information, it's a variant on this Microsoft service phone call scam, or this suspicious activity phone call scam, or this FTC page on tech support scams.
I don't know how to say it more directly :) But that's the bottom line.
Well done on pausing and not "diving in".
Solution 4:
It may not even be MacKeeper. It could be scammers pretending to be MacKeeper, with the same end-goal as the Microsoft tech support scam: to gain control of your computer.
Why on earth would scammers pretend to be a known-awful product? To filter out the skeptical/savvy who will waste their time, so only the gullible get through. They know perfectly well that "Nigerian" is associated with "scam" to most people, so they intentionally claim to be Nigerian when they are not even running their scam from Africa. It's so anyone experienced goes 'Nope' and they only get responses from the very dumb.
So in this case, substitute MacKeeper for Nigeria.