This is an email I sent to Adobe technical support.
I posted in the community forums about the whereabouts of the Adobe Premiere Elements 12 download location for Windows 64 bit. Soon after, a user named "Customer Service!" (without quotes) privately messaged me the following
Hi!
We apologize for the inconvenience caused we will help you out to resolve the problem which you are facing for further assistance provide us your Skype ID and Telephone Number so our one of the support person will contact you!
Note:-For reply go to adobe forums Inbox and reply for the same Message!
Or
Note:-For reply go to Your E-mail Account Inbox and reply on the same Email!
Thanks & Regards
Adobe Help And Support
I don't have a recovery phone number for my account so I gave him or her one that didn't matter, and I don't have skype. I recently had a very pleasant experience with online chat customer service with Adobe, so this already was completely odd. I knew this was probably a scam, so I played along a little. He or she persisted. Customer Service! sent another message:
Kindly setup skype its free search on google and provide your skype id so support person will contact you Immediately!
I made a skype name off the top of my head and sent the user ID to Customer Service! He or she replied:
Thanks we have send you the requets on skype kindly add us for further communication!
Once on skype, it was obvious that this was a scammer. This was not a video call, it was just a chat. The skype avatar was an Adobe logo. I attached the conversation. I even tried to initiate a phone call/video chat. It was outright rejected.
I think that users of the forums should be notified that when questions are posted to trust answers only given in the posts and be warned that customer help responses in private messages should be treated as suspect of scams outright. I love Adobe products, and I know that less savvy users of the forums might fall prey to these types of scams. See the attachment for the Skype conversation in which I baited the scam artist for all the red flags. He or she is allegedly from Brooklyn, New York according to Skype.
[1:40:36 PM] *** Help And Support would like to add you on Skype (note that Help and Support's avatar on Skype was an Adobe logo)
Hi Dominic Gonzalez, I'd like to add you as a contact. ***
[1:40:47 PM] *** Dominic Gonzalez has shared contact details with Help And Support. ***
[1:41:05 PM] Dominic Gonzalez: added
[1:41:29 PM] Help And Support: hi
[1:41:33 PM] Help And Support: how we can help you today?
[1:42:39 PM] Dominic Gonzalez: well, I recently changed my email over to this new one, and had my license for Premiere Elements 12 changed over too. But the download link for the WIndows English version is gone. I tried downloading v13 and v14 and using the serial but obviously this didn't work.
[1:42:59 PM] Dominic Gonzalez: I'm clearly not doing something right here or maybe something went wrong when my license was transfered
[1:43:49 PM] Help And Support: stay online
[1:43:52 PM] Dominic Gonzalez: okay
[1:45:44 PM] Help And Support: we certainly help you to get issue resolved
[1:45:51 PM] Dominic Gonzalez: awesome!
[1:45:52 PM] Help And Support: provide your adobe id and password so we can check?
[1:48:07 PM] Dominic Gonzalez: hang on
[1:48:16 PM] Help And Support: sure
[1:49:55 PM] Dominic Gonzalez: how come you didn't respond to me through the regular customer service interface?
[1:50:34 PM] Dominic Gonzalez: and why would you need my password to check?
[1:50:59 PM] Help And Support: We not required your personal password
[1:51:04 PM] Help And Support: either serial number if you have?
[1:51:28 PM] Dominic Gonzalez: oh okay, hang on
[1:52:09 PM] Help And Support: sure
[1:54:02 PM] *** Call to Help And Support, busy.
Send video message ***
[1:54:14 PM] Help And Support: chat support available as of now
[1:54:36 PM] Dominic Gonzalez: oh okay my bad. I accidentally clicked the wrong button
[1:54:43 PM] Dominic Gonzalez: hold on a few minutes
I blocked them and reported this to Adobe. Just beware that anyone contacting you as Adobe tech support through the private message system or Skype instead of through the public channels is not genuine. I baited this person out to report it to Adobe. Here is the evidence. I've dealt with a lot of scammers, and they aren't stupid--not even this one. Scammers are serious criminals and should not be taken lightly. The moment you think a scammer is a dumb criminal is the moment you let your guard down. Here is the evidence that they are lurking the forums.
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