Offshore Outsourcing & Scammer

At my research for the roots of the Tech Support scam offers in the call center industry I have found the company Systweak India - domain systweak.com. It is one of the sources of the "Tech support calls", which are getting traded at Facebook in the call center and outsourcing groups all over the Asia and India.

The scam is working the following way:

• Once they have programmed system tools on shareware base. Maybe at this time they had some sense, but with the further development and improvement of Windows this tools have been coming obsolete. Other companies are even providing already such tools for free or including similar products into their own offers. So they have been coming greedy and added to their products scare warnings and are showing a phone number where their victims have to call for help.
  
  
• This incoming calls get sold to call centers, which have more or less a script and some provided tools for giving paid help to the caller. The call center is billing for their service directly the customer. This makes the scam dangerous for the call center, because in this case the money flow shows that the call center is the scammer. They will get prosecuted even they know it or don't know it that they are helping in scamming others. 
  
  
• If their victim calls the phone number he has to pay a high price for the help. If their victim agrees and pays the scam fee, then they are installing more fraud software on the victims computer. Even the call center agent, which should solve the problem does not know about the scareware which is included in the provided tools.

Even if the scam has not been planned from the beginning, the system "Pay Per Sale" leaded to the scam. The greediness of the call center owners has driven the agents to sell as much as they can. Each business need to try to earn from their investment. If they buy something on stock then they need to try to make profit out of this stock. Nobody can work for free because we all need some money to pay our daily needs. This leads to such a fraud behavior too. If this has been the real case then it has been the self shot for Systweak. Even if the paid help is planned for one or more years, the problem exists, that the customer is reaching another call center then this one he has paid for his subscription. This new call center likes to get money too and does not work for free - remember the service is a "pay per sale" offer.

They are selling the calls, because they are thinking that they cannot get prosecuted by doing this. The first, which is coming into the spotlight is the owner of the phone number and this one, which takes the money. Indeed it is difficult to follow all the trades, which are done between the brokers, but it is not impossible. The first one, which are getting prosecuted are the helpers of the fraud and scam. In this case are it the call center owners, their agents and the owner of the published phone numbers.

At easycounter.com can get seen how much traffic is generated by the site systweak,com, With this counters can get calculated how many computer user are falling into their trap. You can see a screenshot from April 21, 2015:

In the following screenshot are the top countries listed where the traffic comes from:

It was a coincidence that I found the right domain. As the domain has been suspicious for me, because nobody can give up to 70% commission on his products if the product is competitive priced. I made my standard search procedure as following:

A short reputation research at scamadviser.com brought the result:

ALERT: Low Trust Rating. This Site May Not Be Safe to Use.

I found the following comments at scamadviser:

• 

  Susan Swanson Speulda · Contractor at Apollo Education Group

  Totally got screwed. Owes me a $400 refund but said I had to pay $200 to get it
  Put a startup password on my computer but told me I had to pay to get the password. Told them I wouldn't and the said f you. Computer being worked on but may need a new motherboard. Don't do business with them!

  Reply · Like · Follow Post · January 19 at 5:29am

   

   
• 

  Joanne Jan Naujokas · RITI

  I paid 198 for one year service and they have cleaned up my computer at least 6 times so far. I think they are from India but have always been great and polite and yes try to sell more but I don't accept.

  Reply · Like · Follow Post · December 7, 2013 at 1:31am

   

   
• openid (signed in using AOL)

  I'll tell you the truth. Systweak are an absolute nightmare, son't get involved, don't download shit from these parasites. They are all about scamming. Their "regcleanpro" software is just a hijacked app that they then use to extort more money from you. They are based in Jaipur and they will steal your money and ruin your pc. DON'T DO IT.

  Reply · Like · 2 · Follow Post · October 15, 2013 at 5:55pm

By taking a look at http://systweak.com/ I have found the Microsoft PartnerGold Application Development Logo and the Norton SECURED powered by Symantec logo.

The Norton secured logo means only that they are using a security certificate from Symantec. This only confirms only that the correct server is communicating with you and certificate can get reviewed by clicking on the Norton logo. The result is shown in the following screenshot:

More interesting is the Microsoft Partner Gold Application Development, which really leads to the site https://pinpoint.microsoft.com/en-IN/Companies/4295548206 (see the site at the pdf attachment) and confirms the partnership of Systweak India.

As Systweak is offering a Premium Support at their website and the customer complains about "Owes me a $400 refund but said I had to pay $200 to get it Put a startup password on my computer but told me I had to pay to get the password." makes all the surroundings of this company a little bit suspect. So I decided to search a little bit at Google and other sites.

WOT (Web Of Trust) is rating them based on user comments are from 100 ratings 92 complaints about scam, malware and scareware.

Scambook.com reports:

Information about Systweak Inc. was first submitted to Scambook on Sep 10, 2011. Since then the page has accumulated 4 consumer complaints. On average users reported $106.80 of damages. Scambook's investigation team reached out to this company a total of 1 times, Scambook Investigators last contacted them on Apr 23, 2013.

In a comment at downloads.cnet.com we find:

"STOP!!!! DO NOT USE THIS PRODUCT!!!!"

Pros

Initially it seemed to be a great system to search my entire computer, find errors and fix them, but....

Cons

I installed the program after what I now know were fake "HP Help" guys from India recommended it. First off, it would install older versions of drivers that would end up causing more problems. My computer ran fine prior to the program and continued to slow down more and more over time. Eventually it got to the point where my computer would freeze after 5 minutes of use. I bought a new hard drive and loaded ASO first, and immediately my computer began to run extremely slow, using 100% of CPU space. I called the tech support number and got another guy from India who again tried to sell me the same "maintenance plan" as before that cost $350. It is an absolute scam to try to get people to pay for more unneeded service.

Summary

DO NOT USE THIS PRODUCT. If you have any version of it on your computer, get it off, it will cause you nothing but problems. It is a Trojan Horse that actually introduces more problems to your computer, which Systweak will "fix" for hundreds more dollars. STAY AWAY!!!

Similar complaints are getting found at the site RipoffReport.

At Postseek,com is documented, that the software is not easy to get uninstalled and it is very hard to get rid of all the pop ups.

At the Microsoft community is the scam well documented too. There are 11 pages full of this topic

At the complaintsboard.com you'll also find their fraud described,

2-spyware.com: Lists an uninstall solution and a lot of user comments about the Systweak product RegClean Pro:

As you can see from our review, RegClean Pro is legitimate application, but we do not recommend using it. After testing it, we found that it fails to detect all registry errors and also displays exaggerated scan results that are filled with doubtful issues. If you have already purchased it, its owners offer a money guarantee. We would recommend you to use it. If you want to remove RegClean Pro from the system, you can do that by using  SpyHunter or STOPzilla, or by following these manual removal steps:

Bleeping Computer.com has a removal instruction for the people, which cannot get rid of the Systweak product regclean pro. It shows how difficult it is to uninstall the malware from India.

Spybot has published a removal instruction for this kind of malware too,

This list can get endless continued. A Google search of "systweak scam" returns around 285 000 results, a search about "systweak malware" returns around 343 000 results and a search about "systweak scareware" 74 100 resuilts.

Even a court order for a similar scam gets found at onguardonline.gov:

A U.S. District Court recently ordered the operators of several international tech support scams to pay more than $5.1 million for convincing people that their computers were riddled with viruses and then charging for bogus support services.

We’ve (onguardonline.gov) written before about tech support scammers. They call and claim to work for well-known companies like Microsoft, Norton or McAfee. They say your computer is infected with malware and then ask for remote access so they can “fix” it. Or they place ads in online search results to trick you into calling them.

So don't use their software. You'll get scammed. The calls for the provided numbers are getting traded in the call center industry in Asia. There will be even some others get found, which try to copy the system.

Products from systweak:

• Advanced Disk Recovery
• Advanced Driver Updater
• Advanced Email Backup
• Advanced Email Printer
• Advanced Email Utilities
• Advanced Privacy Protector
• Advanced System Optimizer
• Advanced System Protector
• Anvanced Vista Optimizer
• Boost XP
• CacheBoost Professional
• Cacheboost Server Edition
• Disk Speedup
• Memory Zipper Plus
• Mobile Junk Cleaner
• Mobile Registry Cleaner
• Mobile Startup Cleaner
• Netbook Optimizer
• RegClean Pro
• Right Backup
• System Speedup
• Systweak Photo Album
• Systweak Photo Studio
• TuneupMyMac
• WinClean Pro

systweak.com whois:

Domain Name: SYSTWEAK.COM
Registry Domain ID: 77920662_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.enom.com
Registrar URL: www.enom.com
Updated Date: 2013-07-29T07:59:02.00Z
Creation Date: 2001-09-28T11:40:21.00Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2022-09-28T11:40:00.00Z
Registrar: ENOM, INC.
Registrar IANA ID: 48
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.4252982646
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited
Registry Registrant ID:
Registrant Name: SHRISHAIL RANA
Registrant Organization: SYSTWEAK INC
Registrant Street: E-73,CHITRANJAN MARG,
Registrant Street: C-SCHEME
Registrant City: JAIPUR
Registrant State/Province: RAJASTHAN
Registrant Postal Code: 302001
Registrant Country: IN
Registrant Phone: +91.1412367857
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax: +91.911412562982
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registry Admin ID:
Admin Name: GO4HOSTING HOSTMASTER
Admin Organization: CYBER FUTURISTICS-GO4HOSTING
Admin Street: D-61,SHIV HEERA PATH,C-SCHEME,
Admin City: JAIPUR
Admin State/Province: IN
Admin Postal Code: 302001
Admin Country: IN
Admin Phone: +1.911412770440
Admin Phone Ext:
Admin Fax: +91.911412363604
Admin Fax Ext:
Registry Tech ID:
Tech Name: SHRISHAIL RANA
Tech Organization: SYSTWEAK INC
Tech Street: E-73,CHITRANJAN MARG,C-SCHEME
Tech City: JAIPUR
Tech State/Province: RAJASTHAN
Tech Postal Code: 302001
Tech Country: IN
Tech Phone: +91.1412367857
Tech Phone Ext:
Tech Fax: .911412562982
Tech Fax Ext:
Name Server: DNS1.STABLETRANSIT.COM
Name Server: DNS2.STABLETRANSIT.COM
DNSSEC: unSigned

Systweak India _ JAIPUR,...an _ Microsoft Pinpoint.pdf (308.08 kb)

Update Jan. 18, 2017:
Link to the Facebook profile Susan Swanson Speulda (https://www.facebook.com/susan.speulda) removed as it returns error 404 - not found.

Simple install the Adguard browser extension if the promotion, pop-ups and pop unders from the different web pages is annoying you. Adguard AdBlocker is really fast and lightweight. It uses half as much memory as other popular solutions. Adguard can handle Anti-AdBlock scripts. You won't have to turn off the AdBlocker anymore to be able to visit the websites that are using such scripts. Just send a complaint to the Adguard tech support and they will handle it.

Adguard AdBlocker effectively blocks all types of advertising on all web pages, even on Facebook, Youtube, and others! Adguard makes your work on the Internet not only comfortable, but also safe - Browsing Security module blocks access to all fraudulent and malicious sites.

What Adguard AdBlocker does:

• Blocks all ads including video ads (including Youtube video ads), rich media advertising like video ads, interstitial ads and floating ads, unwanted pop-ups, banners and text ads (including Facebook advertisements).
• Speeds up page loading and saves bandwidth, thanks to the missing ads and pop up windows.
• Blocks many spyware, adware and dialer installers (optional).
• Protects your privacy by blocking common third-party tracking systems (optional).
• Protects you from malware and phishing (optional).

Installation:

Firefox: You can install the latest release from addons.mozilla.org or download it from direct link https://chrome.adtidy.org/app.html?app=main.xpi,

Google Chrome: Install it from the Chrome Web Store

Internet Explorer: http://adguard.com/en/adblock-adguard-internet-explorer.html

Opera: You can install the latest release from addons.opera.com

Safari: You can install the latest release from extensions.safari.com

Yandex Browser: Starting with the version 14.2, Yandex.Browser introduced catalogue of recommended Extensions. This catalogue provides the free Adguard extension by default.

Install Adguard for Android: http://adguard.com/en/adguard-android/install.html#howToInstall

Adguard for Mac http://adguard.com/en/adguard-mac/overview.html

Someone, who is posting fake messages about others and wrong proves for destroying the reputation of others, is a criminal and not trustworthy for making any business. It seems it is a fight between scammers. For this all involved parties are very suspect. I'll suggest to Ashish Chettri to start legal actions against Rohit Khatri and Navdeep Bhagia. Character assassination is a crime. Maybe the prosecutor has the opinion that there is an organized crime, as several people were involved.

It got proven that the posting of Rohit Khatri has been a big lie, because he needed to remove it yesterday. Nobody removes a posting if the content is without any harm for him or the content has expired.

Rohit Khatri posted yesterday in Facebook in the group Inbound Tech Support at Cheap Price (the posting is already removed):

Rohit Khatri - Inbound Tech Support Calls at Cheap Price
Guys once again i have blasted the scammer plan. This guy named Ashish Chettri basically from Rana Ghat West Bengal involved in many online scam like western union blocking and pop up calls. He never route any call to anyone neither transfer any cash after blocking the payment. See his bad luck ye mere hatthe chad gaya. "WARNING FOR ALL SCAMMERS I AM AFTER YOU" Seriously yahi haal karunga sabka jo scam karega. If this guy has scamm anyone do let me know this guy is in custody till monday then he will appear at court.

Navdeep Bhagia added the video from YouTube, published August 13, 2014, for proving their allegations:

@Ashish Chettri: I'm sorry, that I believed to the posting from yesterday and that I shared the the posting of this big liars. What seems too good to be true is mostly not true.

Facebook Navdeep Bhagla.pdf (960.81 kb)

Facebook Rohit Khatri.pdf (1.39 mb)

Update Jan. 18, 2017:
Link to the Facebook profiles of Rohit Khatri (https://www.facebook.com/rohit.khatri.566) and Navdeep Bhagia (https://www.facebook.com/binnysam) removed as they are returning error 404 - not found.

A business is only good if the risk is low and the earnings are high. In the following offer is it a good business only for the SCAMMER. The center owner has even the risk to end up in jail while the scammer is hiding himself.

A friend forwarded me the following offer and asked me about my opinion:

Hello!
We outsource US Inbound Technical Support Campaign! from more than 3 years and complete genuine in terms of accounts & calls. We operate from Mumbai, India. We do not charge any Royalty, consulting fees & security deposit.
We keep transparency in our Business.

The following are the details of the process:-
Agents required: 10 or more
Technician: 1 or more
US Toll Free Number
Payment Gateway
Dialer
Lease line with minimum speed of 2 MBPS
Website (Optional)
Computer's with good configuration.(Windows 7 preferred)

Pricing for Windows, Pop u calls: (Prepaid System)
1. Price for 10-50 calls  - Rs. 850/- per call
2. Price for 51-100 calls - Rs. 800/- per call
3. Price for 101-200 calls - Rs. 750/- per call
4. Price for 201-350 calls - Rs. 700/- per call
Note: 30 paid test calls per day will be provided only for 3 days at start, 30 calls for 3 days.

The following are the details of the US Inbound Tech Support Campaign:-
1. Campaign will be running for minimum 10 calls only.
2. The payment for the campaign will be in advance. Minimum 48 working hours ago (Wire Transfer). No Credit is given on any grounds.
3. Calls will be received from US / Canada customers only.
4. Timings for the campaign to start are 10:00 pm to 5:00 am IST (Monday - Friday).
5. Call recording to be provided, if required.
6. Center should have a US / Canada Toll Free Number only.
7. Minimum 10 - 12 calls will be routed per slot.
8. Daily MIS report for the calls is to be shared at EOD compulsorily for verification. If not shared, the report provided from contractor will be final and undebatable..
9. If any issue or problem occurs, campaign will be paused and will be active once it is approved by the Contractor itself.
10. Any called missed or abandoned due to lack of technology or late communication will be counted as paid call to the client.
11. Calls Category – Webmail calls, Pop up calls, Antivirus calls, Tablet calls, PC running slow, MAC calls, Printer calls, Antivirus not downloading or running etc..
12. We are no where concerned whether the center makes sale's out of the Inbound calls or not.
As we provide the best calls and there is also some effort shown from the center to up-sell the customers.
13. No replacement for calls will be given on any grounds.

PS: No free or test calls provided. Only Serious Call Centers / BPO contact me and please don't waste mine as well as your time.

Thanks & Regards,
Mr. Priyesh Rao
Cell - +91 9820557973
Skype - priyesharao
Website - www.euroanswerllc.com
Reference Center in Begumpet, Hyderabad

Recently I found a call center campaign at LinkedIn, which has been looking good at the first view:

LOOKING FOR CENTERS FROM (INDIA, SOUTH AFRICA AND PHILIPPINES)

5 year old Tech Support Company based in Texas looking for "experienced" call centers to outsource our outbound tech support sales. We have centers in India working for us from more then 4 years and generating good profits.

Pay-out from $50 to $185 for per sale.

Analyzing the product:

The product is not really a bad idea. As the company is based in in a small city, with a population of around 40000 people, called Hurst in Texas, the local possibility for offering a computer service has not really a big chance. Remote service and support can be a possible income.

Negative aspects:

• A remote service works only if the computer is still running and has a connection to the internet
  
  
• It can be only a software service for optimization of the performance, virus removal (as long the virus is not blocking the Internet connection), spyware scan and malware removal.
  
  
• The service is limited to Windows and Office
  
  
• The offered service "Setup a new system" cannot get done from remote. A transport of the computer can result that the computer does not work when it arrives back to the customer. The reason is very simple: From the vibrations during the transport a card or a plug can lose the correct contact. For this is it better for the customer to visit a computer repair center locally.
  
  
• The company exists already nearly 5 years. They are offering 4 different plans for home users and 2 different plans for business use. The monthly rate is with $15.95 the same for all plans. The initial price for home users varies from $195.95 until $349.95 only the contract time is different. At the website is no reason written why someone should make a contract for 3 years for $349.95 initial with additional $15.95 per month instead of a contract for 6 months for $109.95 + $15.95 monthly. The only difference is the initial price. What the benefits of the higher price and the longer contract time are is missing. Maybe they don't know it by themselves. In this case the telemarketer has no arguments to sell a higher priced plan.
  
  
• Compare at Amazon the price of a new computer in the USA with the maintenance plan what the telemarketer should sell: a complete computer set including monitor, keyboard, mouse and Windows 7 is actually at Amazon for $160 (Dell) available. The setup can get done with the help of the Dell Hotline. An argument for the price is in this case really missing.

In sum is the product not really a runner. In the USA is it normally that the monthly price is coming less as longer as the contract is running.

I try now to translate this advertisement for you:

You need to know that the average call center agent in the USA gets $27000/year ($2250/month or $15/hour)..I have simple divided the yearly salary by 12 and the monthly salary by 150 hours like it is in Europe usable. This company is located in Texas, There is the average income for a call center agent even lower. It is there $26000/year, which makes a hourly rate of $14.45

The offered pay out from $50 - $150 per sale is looking at the first view good, but only on the first view.

Let's take the lowest offered commission per sale, which is $50. A one is not really realistic, because for this the arguments for selling it are already missing.

The company would be positive in labor costs if she would sell each 3 hours and 33 minutes one product per agent by having own telemarketers. The company itself does not believe in their own sales possibilities at such a rate. For this they try to find a call center from a low wage country, which even takes the risk of the product. Maybe the call center should even provide the data for the sales.

My opinion is that very good and very experienced agents will be able to sell in average one product per day as long as the marketing of the product will not get improved. If the marketing will reduce the sales price, the pay out per sale will go down too or the company will not be able to survive and pay you.

So centers think about how long can you work for $50. Maybe you sell one product per 10 hours per agent in average. Are you able to survive with this income?

The sentence "We have centers in India working for us from more than 4 years and generating good profits" is only promotion and for this I can say only: "Never trust a statistic which you did not fake by yourself"

Source offer: LinkedIn offer

Source product: www.fixmycomputerdude.com