Nearly two dozen complaints filed with the FTC reveal a cottage industry of scam websites posing as Canon's to dupe frustrated owners.
There are few tasks more tiresome than getting a new printer properly set up. Somehow, it never works on the first try, no matter the make or model. The device will probably function for three tries and then break down again. It is a universal frustration. But there are a few people who have experienced more lasting hardship than you’d expect while setting up their printer. Scammers have for years been preying on the unsuspecting, desperate people who need to download setup software for their new printer. And it’s a big problem for Canon, one of the world’s biggest printer brands, in particular.
Gizmodo has found several fake websites run by scammers who claim to offer legit Canon printer drivers, a type of software that allows your operating system to control a specific piece of hardware. Gizmodo discovered the fake websites by filing a FOIA request with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for consumer complaints about Canon. FTC Complaints about Robinhood, Binance, AirBnb, Venmo, and Tinder have revealed similar patterns in the problems users face when using these internet companies’ services.
The Canon scam is specific. The complaints are filled with tales of people who were simply trying to find a Canon driver for their printers. The hapless users found themselves on a number of different sites where the fake drivers would fail to download. After that, a chat box would appear and “customer service” would offer to diagnose the problem. Sometimes, the scammers would simply ask for money to fix the imaginary problem. Other times, the scammers would lure the unsuspecting victims into handing over remote access to their computers.
There are also phone numbers on many of the sites that connect users with scammers who try to sell “support” packages while actually just stealing money.
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| One of many fake Canon printer websites, canonijcomsetup.com, which is run by scammers and ranks incredibly high in Google’s search results. |
The fake websites are fairly sophisticated and appear high in Google search results. The problem with Canon’s devices appears to be widespread enough that an online cottage industry of theft can thrive. That many people are struggling to set up their printers.
Some of the fake Canon websites:
canonijcomsetup.com
canon-com-ijsetup.com
canon.com-ijsetup.com
ij-start-canon.us
ijcanonsetup.com
printersetup.org/canon-printer-setup
canonijstart.co
ijstartcanon.com
Again, these are all scam websites, and you shouldn’t visit them. But we’re publishing the list of them here because it’s important to see just how similar these domains are to the real thing.
One of the problems that allows Canon users to get scammed is that the company’s official website doesn’t always work. In fact, while trying to load usa.canon.com, a legitimate site, Gizmodo encountered an unexplained error. This, of course, leads people to try other sites they find through Google.
Canon did not respond to multiple requests for comment, and it’s unclear the company understands just how prolific these scammers are. But there’s one agency that knows: The FTC is sitting on hundreds of complaints from users who were scammed while trying to download Canon printer drivers. Gizmodo obtained complaints from 2021 and is publishing 21 of them below to help others avoid scams.
Unfortunately, Gizmodo is unable to verify the claims made in the FTC complaints because all identifying information has been redacted by the FTC. But the stories are remarkably similar and show a trail of fraud that continues to this day. Needless to say, make sure you’re actually visiting Canon’s official website before downloading anything. And if you think you’re talking to customer support and they ask to remotely view your computer, don’t do it.
“This caller wouldn’t identify themselves but said I had just been scammed...”
I was on Canon’s website to troubleshoot printer installation and called what I thought was their support line. I gave them remote access to my computer and they said I had lots of trojans in there and they would give me tech support instead of McAfee for a one-time fee of $499 so I gave my credit card details over the phone. They said their customer number was [redacted] and installed on my computer a file of that name, something called CCleaner and ATF-Cleaner. But I started to get suspicious and I ended the call.
I then received a call from [redacted] asking if I had just talked to a so-called tech support person and asking if I had given my credit card details. I said yes and asked who was calling. This caller wouldn’t identify themselves but said I had just been scammed and I should cancel my credit card, so I did that.
I now keep getting calls and voicemails now from so-called United IT (the scammers) from these two numbers: 800-596-1598 and 614-741-1613.
“They charged my $499.99 for a 7 year protection plan...”
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