Has anyone else been ripped off for $68.83 to download

[Gingerbread Man]

Or by selecting "Check For Updates" or something similar from within a trusted program.

Even that's not always a reliable method. Take the recent Shareaza takeover for instance: the Shareaza.com domain was taken over, the software replaced with a malware-ridden version, and since the old versions are configured to check for updates on Shareaza.com, they offer to update to the malware version. The scammers also filed to trademark Shareaza, so the situation is pretty grim. You can help this excellent open source project with legal advice or donations or what have you at http://shareaza.sourceforge.net/

Anyway, I don't mean to go off-track, I just thought that was worth mentioning.

[titaniumtux]

Well... the only way to maximize Internet safety is to use Linux. Malaware is no longer an issue! w00t!
Y'all are FireFox users and you tolerate ads? Use AdBlock+GreaseMonkey (and NoScript if you use Windows... just in case) and that should eliminate most ads. Avoid toolbars at all costs. The Google toolbar may have been worthwhile for IE6, but for FireFox, there's no need.

Don't trust all extensions, even if they're on the official website. Fortunately extensions can easily be disabled or removed.

ROFL, 2008firefox.com is written in ASP, so it's gotta be on a Windows server. With Mozilla's love for open-source, I seriously doubt they would host any content on a Windows server, but feel free to prove me wrong.

[mlchael0912]

Yesterday at a local cafe, I used my new laptop w/wireless internet for the first time. I wanted to install firefox on my laptop. I wasnt paying attention but somehow the site asked for something like $2.00 for a full download of mozilla firefox 2008. I thought it was legit. when i got to the end of the site where I was supposed to confirm purchase with clicking a confirm purchase button. It was saying that i was charged 41.00 and some change for a download. I never got it..I went to my cc account and it showed me this...NT-SOFT-DLD.COM with a toll free number. I am going to call it first thing monday morning. My charge is still pending..The number is 888-448-6880. I called while at the cafe on saturday. I heard a message that says they are open during weekdays...hmmm...

[Daifne]

Do you remember the exact URL of the site?

[VanillaMozilla]

michael0912,
1. You probably know now that you can always get it for free from www.mozilla.org or www.mozilla.com .
2. Always download programs from the source if possible, and never from an untrusted or unknown repository.
3. A public Internet connection is not the safest place to download anything, but if that's what you have, that's what you have.
4. You should also call your credit-card company. If they said $2 but charged $41, that's fraud. If they charged you before you confirmed the purchase, that's fraud. If the goods were not delivered, they can't charge. You have three good reasons for the charge to be canceled. Besides, if the credit card company gets enough complaints about the company, that may help other users.

[greenknight]

I just checked http://www.2008firefox.com/- it's still up.

Those vultures appear to be bundling other software with their Firefox downloads - no doubt including a mess of spyware. I pity the sucker who falls for that scam.

[steviex]

^^ At least if they use a Credit card, they have the protection such cards afford.
If you have been ripped off, the Credit card company will pay you back, and go after the person who ripped you off.

If you pay by Debit card, some, but not all banks will offer that protection. You might be lucky, but you more than likely won't.

Use a credit card to buy online, if you are not 100% sure the company is reliable.

[Daifne]

They are bundling it with rogue antimalware programs. Smitfraud to be exact.

[steviex]

Nasty ! One reason to be using Ubuntu Almost all of your software comes from Trusted repositories.

[titaniumtux]

Amen to that! Most of my FireFox extensions are straight from the Ubuntu repos (other than that I have some dictionaries and a couple others... I wish Secure Login were in the Gutsy repos).

[VanillaMozilla]

Titanium,
You probably know you can get them from addons.mozilla.org . And yes, you should always get updates through a secure connection, which addons.mozilla.org uses and the repos presumably use.

[titaniumtux]

I assumed you can download addons from addons.mozilla.org using a secure connection, however there is limited support for most FireFox addons, considering the large wealth of available extensions (some may cause problems, compatibility issues, etc.) however if they're in Ubuntu's repos, they're officially supported

I have personally experienced addons that sometimes don't work, some even cause problems, etc. I am looking forward to FireFox 3's built-in addons repositories http://mozillalinks.org/wp/2008/01/firefox-3-add-ons-manager-is-almighty-too/, hopefully they'll only display extensions that have been successfully ported to FireFox 3

[erickexplain]

Well there are so many scams out there and I'm sorry my friend you just found one. Mozilla Firefox is 100% free. Contact your credit card company as said previously by others and explain to them exactly what happened. I've done it in the past and Pay-pal actually investigated and refunded my money and phoned me to apologize for not being aware of the scam. So don't let it roll over ok... Hope that helped

[Dr Blood]

Ok i have read most of the posts regarding this topic, been to the offending site, had a look around also.What i did find is 1. it doesn't say it's free. 2. if you scroll your mouse over the topic, "Members login", you will see Http://www.mysoftwareprovider.com , this alone would alert anyone to be careful using this site. As when it say's members, to me means MONEY.
Also most people who use Firefox know to go direct to Mozilla.com, or Mozilla. org, or even just put Firefox in the search engine, plus there is the update in Firefox its self.
Thats my 2 cents worth

[VanillaMozilla]

If you search Google for Firefox, you will get a few sponsored links, which many people mistake for search results.