Office Depot And Office Max Tech Scam

The FTC announced it has reached a $35 million dollar settlement with Office Depot Inc. and a California-based tech support software provider.  Office Depot which merged with Office Max in 2013 provided a free service “ PC Check Up” to customers to scan their computers using the diagnostic program created by the software company. 

The program allegedly created false results showing that customer’s computers had malware or a virus on their computer even though the software had not found such issues.  This caused consumers to pay for repair services and the software company received a percentage of each sale.

The FTC will be using the majority of the funds to provide refunds to consumers.  We will provide information in our Consumer Alert when the refund process is set up or you can check the FTC website.  For more in depth information see :   https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2019/03/office-depot-tech-support-firm-will-pay-35-million-settle-ftc

The FTC also has resource information to assist you in learning to keep your computer security up to date. https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/media/video-0081-computer-security