Sarah Mirando  |  January 17, 2012

Category: Consumer News

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SymantecA federal class action lawsuit claims Symantec uses “scare tactics” to convince consumers into buying its anti-virus software products by misleading them about the health of their computers.

According to the Symantec class action lawsuit, the security software giant distributes trial versions of its software to scan computers, and then “invariably reports that harmful errors, privacy risks and other problems exist on the PC, regardless of the real condition of their computer.”

“Through a common deceptive scheme, Symantec uniformly defrauds consumers into purchasing the three products at issue in this lawsuit — PC Tools Registry Mechanic, PC Tools Performance Toolkit, and Norton Utilities (hereafter collectively referred to as the ‘Scareware’),” the Symantec class action lawsuit states.

“The truth, however, is that the Scareware does not actually perform any meaningful evaluation of the user’s computer system, or of the supposed ‘errors’ detected by the software. Moreover, the Scareware does not, and cannot, actually perform the valuable tasks represented by Symantec through its websites, advertising, and in-software display screens.”

The Symantec anti-virus software class action lawsuit is brought on behalf of all individuals and entities in the United States and its territories that have purchased any of the following software from Symantec: PC Tools Registry Mechanic, PC Tools Performance Toolkit, and Norton Utilities. It is seeking damages and injunctive relief.

A copy of the Symantec Anti-Virus Software Class Action Lawsuit can be read here.

The case is James Gross v. Symantec Corporation, 12-cv-00154, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, San Jose Division.

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2 thoughts onSymantec Anti-Virus Software Scam Class Action

  1. Angelica Romero says:

    Add me

  2. Leslie Farrell says:

    I was notified in April that Norton purchased PC Tools. They advised that unless I switched over to Norton products, my subscription(s) PC Tools Internet Security and PC Tools Performance Toolkit [that end in Jan and Feb 2014 respectively] will no longer receive updates after May 15, 2013. I asked for a prorated refund. Surprise! No answer forthcoming, no refund. I am out approximately $90.00 worth of service for the remaining subscriptions, my computer over the past 3 months has become extremely sluggish and unresponsive. VISA states that they can not issue a refund, as I agreed automatically to purchase their product with the auto-renew option. I deleted all PC Tools products from my computers today, as the lifeblood of my business was being held hostage via PC TOOLS.

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