I have always heard about scam websites selling fake product keys for famous software including but not limited to Microsoft products and Techsmith products. But I have never been a victim to one of them which made me assume that most of the complaints online about buying fake software key or serial number are just other software websites competing with each other and trying to make some bad publicity to any successful website selling software keys (serial numbers) for a reasonable price!
Well, I just discovered that I have been a victim to one of those scam operations since 2015. That’s a very long time, shame on me 😀
Anyway, the scam website has many domain names (if you don’t know what a domain name is, just consider the fake company has many names). The following is a list of the scam network (that I am aware of anyway):
yourorderinformer.com
billingsupportsystem.com
softdepotsupport.com
customersupportpark.com
softwarestoragehouse.com
buyoemsoftonline.com
softwaredepot.co
To my knowledge at least 4 of these web sites are owned by the same person or group of persons, and this email address is related to him/them oem.dc32@gmail.com
And the following phone numbers are also related to them:
USA +1.646.520.0833 +1 760.514.0110 International: +44.203.318.0833
They claim to be a UK based company called Digitech Limited LTD, which doesn’t exist. So early 2015 I purchased a license to use a software called TechSmith Camtasia Studio from customersupportpark.com (this domain now doesn’t exist, and now became yourorderinformer.com) and they sent me instructions to download and activate the software legally. So far so good! then after two full years, the software started to show the following error:
Counterfeit License of Camtasia Studio Detected
Your computer is at risk for malware. To continue, enter a valid key.
Or, choose Get Help for more options such as making a purchase.
I contacted the seller through their customer service web site provided at the time of purchase billingsupportsystem.com and they keep saying it’s a reseller not related to them and they can’t refund the money:
We have started investigation on this fact with our reseller partners, please take our apologies for this inconvenience.
But it’s impossible to process refund because it’s been more than 2 years since you placed an order. Sorry but we can do nothing in this case.
I also contacted Techsmith customer service and they confirmed that the software key they provided was fake. After some googling, I found that other people also complained about similar web sites that look exactly like the one I purchased from. And the weird thing is, if you google any of the mentioned web sites you will find hundreds of good reviews which I assume are fake reviews as well, and very few reviews saying the websites are selling fake product keys. And by human nature, a new customer would believe the majority of the reviews!
Conclusion:
If you see any web site that looks like the mentioned domains, try to avoid it at any cost and purchase from the software main website directly even if the price tag is a little bit extra.
Update#1 12/17/2017: Although it’s not Techsmith’s fault that I wasted my money by buying a fake product key from a random website, they actually provided a discount on a full license which I am very grateful for. Thanks, Techsmith. I love your products!!
Update#2 12/20/2017: Looks like many websites are using billingsupportsystem.com as a payment gateway. So basically the owner of that fraudulent network owns many websites selling goods and services but they all share one payment gateway which is billingsupportsystem.com you can find a full list of sites related to that payment gateway on the link below:
https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/billingsupportsystem.com
