A new lawsuit claims popular antivirus vendor Symantec uses scareware tactics to trick customers into buying software they don’t need.
The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in California, singles out three Symantec products, PC Tools Registry Mechanic, PC Tools Performance Toolkit and Norton Utilities. Those products come with a free diagnostic tool which claims to scan the user’s computer for vulnerabilities and other problems.
If any issues are found, users are told to purchase additional Symantec software to fix them. However, the lawsuit claims the diagnosis always reports that there are serious problems with the user’s computer, MSNBC reports.
That’s the same tactic used by scam artists in so-called scareware campaigns, in which an online pop-up ad will tell users a virus was found on their machine and direct them to purchase phony antivirus software. Scammers then pocket the money and sometimes use the credit card information of the victims to commit fraud.
Symantec denied the scareware accusation, claiming the software has been tested and endorsed by multiple third parties.
The complaint has been submitted for class-action status, which if approved will open the lawsuit to all Symantec customers. We’ll keep you posted as the suit winds its way through the legal system.