Don’t Fall for the ScanGuard Scam
We are still getting emails from people who write asking about ScanGuard. A few weeks ago, we wrote an article about ScanGuard, but legitimate tech sites are advertising ScanGuard now, and many of you think because you saw it advertised on a legitimate tech site, that ScanGuard is also legitimate.
What it means when you see ScanGuard advertised on a legitimate tech site is that that site cares more about money than about you. ScanGuard is a scam. They use advertising that is deceptive, for instance making the advertising look like a breaking news story. And since ScanGuard affiliates are making up to $70 a sale. So just because you see ScanGuard advertised on a legitimate tech site, it doesn’t mean that ScanGuard isn’t a scam, it just means the tech site is more interested in making money than they care about you.
Here’s the article we wrote about ScanGuard and nothing has changed since we wrote it – except that ScanGuard is paying affiliates more money for recommending it.
ScanGuard: Another Day, Another Miracle PC Program
“We can clean up, speed up, and protect your computer automatically.” “We can make your computer run like new with just two clicks.” “We can protect and speed up your computer with one click.”
There doesn’t seem to be any end to the snake oil flowing from the Web. In the past few weeks, thanks to a big advertising budget, and a lot of ads on Facebook, one of these one-click wonders has caught the attention of many of our readers, some of them have written to us to ask if it this one-click wonder is any good.
Recently…Many tech sites and newspapers/magazines say their Internet investigator or tech writer recommends it. They make the ads look like breaking news.
“PC Owners Urged to Do This Today!
If you live in the U.S and have a windows computer that is older than 6 months old, or just not running how you would like it, then this may be the most exciting article you ever read. Thousands of people across the U.S are rushing to get their hands on the latest system that is speeding up computers and protecting them from malware in minutes…” (or it will say if you live in Australia, or the UK, etc. as it is country-specific).
But it is nothing more than the same old snake oil we’ve all heard a thousand times. And the snake oil currently making the rounds is “Scanguard”
First, let’s look at some of the claims Scanguard makes (these claims come from the Scanguard Web site).
Boost Memory
Is your device clogged up with duplicate files wasting space? Our File Manager will help locate and remove any file with duplicate characteristics in just a few clicks.
Enhance Performance
Over time your computer will naturally slow down, we help identify specific errors and programs which impact performance to get you back in the game.
Firewall*
We understand that privacy is important which is why we prevent unauthorized access to your private data with our Two-Way Firewall.
Browsing Performance
Let us assist in improving your internet browsing speed. We will improve performance in a matter of seconds by managing unwanted caching and old history.
Anti Virus
Our full system scan will locate, quarantine and eliminate malware, trojans and more insuring you are protected against harmful viruses.
Let’s go over each of these claims, briefly. Yes, I know that’s hard to fathom, but I’m going to try to be brief.
The first claim is that they can boost your memory by removing duplicate files? RAM is your computer’s memory. It stands for Random Access Memory. The more RAM your computer has, the more memory it has, removing duplicate files has nothing to with RAM.
The next claim is that your computer slows down with age. I think they have your computer confused with us. We slow down with age, but our computers do not necessarily slow down with age. But the troubling part is “we help identify specific errors and programs that impact performance to get you back in the game”. That’s a beautifully written piece of sophistry. What errors? What programs? Give me an example. And what do they mean by back in the game? At least that’s better than “make your computer run like new”. You can never come back to them and tell them they didn’t put you back in the game. Right? What the heck does “back in the game” mean? It’s supposed to make you think “run like new”, without saying it, since they have to know it’s not true.
Coming soon…
They’re going to add a firewall. They claim that their new firewall will to protect your data. They tout a “two-way” firewall. Windows already has a two-way firewall. So what? If you believe a firewall is going to protect your personal data, go talk to companies like Target and Yahoo, who both, we’re sure, have very expensive firewalls, yet they’ve had massive amounts of data stolen either because they were hacked in spite of their firewalls, or because one or more of their employees were tricked into giving up their passwords. See this story from the “Boston Globe” how an employee of a large company was tricked into clicking a link in an email that led to a breach that led to the theft of the personal information, including Social Security numbers, of thousands of people.
Most of the time, on your PC, you data is not stolen because you do or don’t have a firewall. It’s stolen because you’re tricked into giving up your passwords and logins. That’s most individuals have their data stolen, not for lack of firewalls. We’re not saying you don’t need a firewall, we’re saying they don’t prevent identity theft – and if you’re using Windows 7, 8.1 or Windows 10, you already have a “two-way” firewall
We have to give credit where credit is due. These people should be in politics. They have such a way with words.
“Browsing Performance — Let us assist in improving your internet browsing speed. We will improve performance in a matter of seconds by managing unwanted caching and old history.” It’s a wonder that whoever wrote that isn’t in parliament (it’s an English company). They want to assist – who? Who do they want to assist? The user? The Web? The universe? The prime minister? Another great and nebulous phrase follows ” Internet browsing speed”. That’s supposed to, we can only imagine, make you think their program is going to make your internet connection faster. But that is not true, so they say “internet browsing speed”. Clever. The next sentence is masterful — “We will improve performance in a matter of seconds by managing unwanted caching and old history.” What is “unwanted caching”? Every site is cached, otherwise, you couldn’t see it. Caching speeds up the loading of Web pages. What is “old history”. If it’s history, it can’t be “new”. It can be recent, but not new. That being said, removing your old browsing history, maybe good housekeeping, but it’s not going to speed up your Internet connection, or even your “Internet browsing speed” whatever you think that nebulous term means.
And finally: “Anti Virus – Our full system scan will locate, quarantine and eliminate malware, trojans and more insuring you are protected against harmful viruses.” We did some research. We could not find Scanguard listed on an independent antivirus testing lab – or in any independent antivirus testing lab’s test results. The other stuff they say is just fluff, and if you believe it, you’re just going to be out the $49 (per year) they charge. But trusting your computer to an antivirus that does not show up on any of the major independent antivirus testing lab’s test results, is taking a chance with your security and online safety.
This program is like all the other one-click wonders – except it adds a twist of antivirus. And we couldn’t find any antivirus lab results listing Scanguard. The last big one-click wonder to advertise heavily on Facebook was SpeedFix Tool — which you can read about here. We are throwing Scanguard into the same basket with SpeedFix Tool – with one extra caveat – we would not trust its antivirus component.
The verdict: You don’t need Scanguard. In our opinion, if you buy it, you’ll be wasting $49. If you have an extra $49 you don’t know what to do with, let us know!!
As long as we’re playing the game of unsubstantiated claims::
I am 2.5 times wiser than EB.
I can run 1.8 times faster than EB.
Additional reading about Scanguard:
Microsoft forums: https://goo.gl/cuvvqa
Bleeping Computer: https://goo.gl/qPhgbR
Oh TC I saw this and immediately realized what was happening as I was a victim of that ruse that flashed my screen with the Microsoft alert that my operating system was compromised and a link to repair it at a cost of 300.00 dollars, fell for it but realized in a flash I had made a terrible mistake and immediately called my bank and stopped it from being posted and a couple of weeks later another Cloudeight customer went through the same thing and wrote to you but did not hear if she was able to get the charge halted. Thanks again you two for being there for us. Reta
I don’t understand how things like this can happen? I go to the store and steal a candy bar I get criminally charged. But I can give fraudulent info and sell it and that is OK? Where is the trusted justice system to protect the citizens? Scams like these only destroy our economy! Thank you for informing us. We have to stick together as our government don’t really care. The citizens are not the government if we were I don’t think we would tolerate all these fraudulent actions. How do we like our freedom now and what is freedom?lol we are so brainwashed
Thank you so much for this info on Scanguard….I was almost fooled & just about ready to download it when I got your newsletter……not that I minded the $49.00 cost but the fact that I was being duped just made me so angry. I really was convinced this time that this was genuine….thank god for you TC & Darcy, what would we do without you? I must be getting dim in my old age ….keep up the tremendous work you are doing…..you will never know how much you are appreciated……my thanks again……….Margaret
My instincts tell me buy this or that but common sense tells me..wait Google it first. Thanks for the heads up on products because we try to be informed customers but wind up being taken for our hard earned money!!!
Ironic that you thought to Google that company. While using Google, I clicked on the Scangard advertisement to see what it is. The “too good to be true” description & effusive Over-The-Top customer reviews screamed FAKE fAkE FaKe to me so I checked them out independently. Yep, definitely fake. And turns out the Google is one of the most prolific Scangard advertisers, making oodles of money running their ads. As this article suggests, Google clearly cares more about making money than they do about us, the public users of their search engine.
Hi Sharon, thanks for reading. Just wondering do you also feel the same way about TV advertising that is too good to be true? Like the eat everything you want, don’t change your lifestyle and lose 50 lbs? Do you think the broadcasting companies, who are in business to make mondy too, should be held responsible for all the money people on a products like “5 hour energy” or any of the diet scams? And some of these products are a lot more damaging because they affect human health, not just a computer. Do you write NBC, ABC, FOX, CBS and the others and condemn them for making money while advertising junk products which border on being scams?
Google is not in business to protect consumers. They are in business to provide services and make money. Just like Fox is in business to provide entertainment and information, and make money.
Do I think Google should do a better job of screening ads? I sure do. But I think broadcasting companies should be screening their ads more carefully as well.
However, I don’t expect we’ll ever see that.
Our job is to inform users and try to alert them to things that may be harmful to their privacy or their computers. I could have done my research using Bing or DuckDuckGo or Yahoo… and found a lot of the same info. It’s not relevant. What is relevant is that people do not waste their money on ScanGuard.
I kinda figured it was a con when I read the part that asked for your email and password…if ur trying to keep sites from getting ur password and other important info why would you give them that info willingly??? No thanks, not this girl!
I just saw the advertisement for Scan guard and my first thought was to ask google if it’s a scam, which lead me here. Thanks for explaining in detail what some may not think to ask 🙂 Cheers
I also was alerted to get Scanguard, especially if I own an Android phone. Thanks so much for letting me know that it’s just another scam to make load’s of money, which I don’t have. I wish I did know what the best security app to use is, seeing how there are so many and I’m about to go insane trying to choose the best one. Thanks for your very important information!!!
As everybody is saying this load of rubbish is just another scam and should be stopped.
I was conned into a free download for a short time (FIRST COME FIRST SERVED) did a scan with loads of so called threats and then to clear you have to pay so there is nothing free about it at all.
The real truth of it all is: THE LOVE OF MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL. Thank you for the warning. I actually was thinking I it was lagit, simply through the Google affiliation. Now I know.
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Now I read this – too late for me! I found it on ‘Facebook and it looked good. First they took £3.59 off me, then £34.80, then £42. A month later they’ve taqken £9.59!
So I’ve reported them to my bank and hope they can stop this. Obviously, it looks like I’m now in for monthly payments. And when you log into http://www.scanguard.com – just look what you get! Rubbish! Wish I hadbn’t fallen for it.
‘scanguard’ as they choose to call themselves .. or better Scam Spam aware guard lol, have been masquerading as a legit operation with a legit stable of top class security and protective software thingies …
I have for 3 months now been pursuing them for some real details about their so called one-click-fixes-all suite of nonsense lol .. I have become increasingly abusive to them as time has passed, to Dean, my apparent account manager, his boss Lewis, and some woman calling herserlf Cynthia C Klein … challenging them in the most aggressive ways to get a real job cleaning toilets etc, and to this day the only replies I’ve had were to ask me not to swear …
Ohhhh .. in short, its a totally fake operation, seriously do NOT give them any money, in fact, don’t even give them your email address ..
Thankfully their news/advert scam has stopped appearing on all the websites that have been hosting them.
SCANGUARD equals SCAM ok ….
My 92 year old mom wanted to protect her Mac laptop. She had “read somewhere” that this was a great program and purchased it. When her statement came, I saw she purchased this through PayPal. Now I’m trying to get these charges reversed and need to remove this program. Any suggestions on how to go about doing this? I have asked her to discuss purchases with me first or at least do Goggle scam checks first but she has early stage dementia so most current things I tell her she doesn’t remember
If she paid with PayPal from her PayPal balance, call PayPal and tell them she was the victim of a scam. If she paid with a credit card through PayPal, call the credit card company and tell them what happened– she’s an older lady and fell for a scam. There’s no shame in that. We have given this advice to dozens of people and, as far as we know, all of them got all or most of their money back.
AS the saying goes ‘if it looks too good to be true , then it probably is’
I nearly fell for this but nowadays older and wiser I decided to google it first and glad i did. thanks for saving me.
Interestingly enough, Scanguard just appeared in AARP’s web newsletter for this week. The pitch is for users of Android smartphones who may have fallen victim to the dreaded ‘hummingbird’ virus. You’re urged to download their app from Google Play to scan for viruses and malware, because they’ve extended their ‘free’ software offer for a limited time. Apparently, AARP did not do their homework on this!
I have a question , I have had Scanguard for about 5 months , I have not noticed any difference in the computer, just 3 days ago they have quite popping up on my computer and all my files and photos are gone, Any ideas on what i can do ?
You should have never installed Scanguard in the first place. As far as your computer goes, sounds like your hard drive is going south. Hard to tell without looking at it. I don’t know if you could get any money back for Scanguard after 5 months or not… but you might want to check with your credit card company.
You are brilliant!! Thank you for your Web Page, I was just about to sign up for Scamguard but decided to do some research first-found your information and was so thankful for your Review. I truly appreciate incredible people like you and hope you will be blessed twice as much as you have blessed me.
I have been getting this pop-up regularly for a couple weeks or more, that I am trying to get rid of. It comes from a site named . It says “Slow computer? Your anti-virus may be expired. Your computer could be a risk. Use this free computer scan to clean and protect your PC or Mac today”. Then wants me to click the download button to download and install Scanguard.com. I wouldn’t, of course, but it is irritating I haven’t been able to stop this thing from popping up all the time. I have Charter Security Suite and Adaware installed, but neither one pick it up. I am going to try and contact Scanguard and ask them how their software illegally got on my computer and how to get rid of it. Any ideas?
I don’t find any site at the URL you had in your comments – I checked it out it said “URL not found on this server” You information here to be able to help you. If you want me to look at your computer, we offer Cloudeight Direct Computer Care service – I can make sure your computer/browsers are not compromised.
If you’d like to have us take a look see http://thundercloud.net/direct/
If you want to provide me with more details, let me know – but don’t include any links to that site.
Too late. I already installed the app. Paid by credit card. What can I do now? I will be going to my bank tomorrow to cancel that credit card.
You should be okay as far as getting your money back. You should use Revo Uninstaller or Geek Uninstaller to remove ScanGuard and all its associated files.
Thank you so much for your website and info on Scanguard (Scamguard)! I installed but then guickly uninstalled when I realized I would have to pay out money to continue with the app. Problem is I still get emails from them on my Android smartphone. The emails come in on my SPAM file, because my gmail tells me that they have identified Scanguard as SPAM. Try to unsubscribe from emails, but Scanguard’s system won’t let me. They claim my email is invalid. It’s the same email address they send stuff to. Can you give me any ideas on how to rectify my issue? Thank You! ☺
Hi, Ann. Thanks for your nice comments. You need to log in to your Gmail account on the Web (i.e. not via your smartphone). When you’re logged in on the Web, select any of the offending emails and select it by highlighting it / and or ticking the box beside it. Then click the “Report Spam” button. That will remove the offending email(s) from your Inbox and Gmail should automatically put any future emails from this sender in the spam folder. If the mail is diverted directly to the spam folder, you’ll not see it on your smartphone. The only way you’d see it is if you looked in the spam folder itself.
Here’s a screenshot to help you:
My idiot neighbor is “liking for women in Russia” online. He has crashed his computers, and not one, but two new tablet. Wanted to “just plug into” my computer to check emails, and was REALLY pissed when we refused, “because those are a source of viruses and malware.” Recommended he use the local library, because of advanced security system (true). Still “just needs some help.” Stupid is dangerous. He doesn’t have ANY security enabled. Don’t be him.
How do you really feel about your neighbor? 🙂
Thanks for reading.
How safe, is the brave browser? Comes with lots of promises for secure browsing experience.
I am only vaguely familiar with it. From what we know it’s not dangerous, but the reviews we’ve read indicate it needs some work. The word around is that it’s another browser built on Chromium that still needs some work. We’ll give it test run when we get time.
Hi glad I came across you and comments about scanguard (scamguard) was about to download lol I think I will go back to Norton security. Thanks Ray
they said fault on my computer but have had it rechecked no fauts recorded how can i delete this firm of csam merchants?
mcafee is a good firm they have double checked and found no faults
I am not sure what you mean how can you delete “this firm of scam merchants” – did you install Scamguard? If you did you try using an uninstaller like Geek Uninstaller to remove it? As far as McAfee goes, I wouldn’t put too much faith in it.
I was on my computer looking at ads and it came across and I thought it sounded good then something told me to Google it so I did and from all the reviews that I have read is stop me from purchasing it thanks Google I’ll make sure that I check with you before I purchase anything
Well I just happened to be looking for a scan because I received a threatening email saying things about hacking my contacts and sending compromising emails to all of them among other nasty things. I never open files or links in emails. I am really careful about this so I don’t know how they could get into my files. Sometimes emails initially look legit until I open them. Then I just delete the offender. So I’m glad I googled scamguard and found you. Thank you. I am going to alert my FB friends to this. I once upon a time thought that FB would vet advertisements. Lololololol…..
I suggest NOT opening ALL emails, even if they “look OK”. I have a mac and iphone and I check my emails constantly throughout the day. I immediately delete an email from someone/someplace/etc. that I don’t recognize or have asked for. However, I am now considering not opening ANYTHING, even in emails I recognize. Say it’s from Best Buy or someplace like that; If it’s a “sale item” I will go directly to website and search for that “sale item”. If it’s there, cool. If it’s not, I just saved myself from being scammed/tricked via an email. These are unfortunate things to have to do and/or come to terms with but, our identity, credit, money, etc., are far more important.
This is good advice, but Scanguard isn’t generally sold via spam or scammy emails. It’s sold mostly by Web ads and people searching for virus/scam protection.
many thanks for this “scam-guard” page
Scanguard is just what it says it is an scam u have to up grade then u still not virus or miware free. Come on now stop scamming people who needs help
I got charged $99 in my credit card last month in Dec 2017. How did that happen? I thought Scanguard was free i don’t remember paying for it.
We can only warn people about this scam – we have nothing to do with it except we despise this kind of trickery. You should call your credit card company right away and tell them you have been scammed.
And just today, I saw on my phone that you simply must get SCANGUARD for all your Android devices. ‘Free’ download until ’28th January’ I’d bet that the UPGRADE box is the first pop-up after the free download.
Is there ANY “FREE” downloads to protect my computer???Do not want SCANGUARD!!!!
Like a fool I installed Scanguard browser speed-up software. This software is utter rubbish. It does not speed up my browser, it actually slows it down and virtually takes over my browser. It works like a virus and reloads every web page to the top instead of going o the place I just left. This software is just plain JUNK.
This article would be much more helpful if you’d tell people how to uninstall the “reload and refresh” full-screen logo that disconnects you from one website you want to listen to, like local news, while visiting other websites. It doesn’t show up anywhere on settings, features or apps on my computer after I just gave it a free trial run. Now I have to click on its “reload and refresh” screen every time I want to go back to the former website. HOW DO I GET IT OFF OF MY COMPUTER?
I don’t understand your question.Scanguard is supposed to be an antivirus/antimalware – it has nothing to do with viewing or listening to media. You can uninstall ScanGuard using any good uninstaller (Geek Uninstaller, HiBit Uninstaller, etc.)