I'm a student who signed up for a 7-day free trial of some modeling software as part of a class. I used it for a few days, thinking everything was fine. Out of the blue, I received a message from a company I've never heard of, claiming that I'm connected to their commercial license and that I owe them $7,500 for my usage. They provided proof that my account was linked to their license, and the software company confirmed my account was added to their User Management portal. This is puzzling because I don't know how that could have happened—I don't know how to manage licenses, and I can't even log into my account anymore. No password changes help. Now, with them demanding payment, I need to know if I'm actually liable for this charge or if it's a mistake. Could this be a software glitch? Am I in trouble for something that I didn't do? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
3 Answers
Make sure to name and shame them wherever you can! Let others know about this kind of behavior so they don't get scammed too. It really helps build awareness.
It sounds like a scam to me. If you haven't been charged on the payment method you used for the trial, just ignore them. For safety's sake, you could send them a cancellation email with the details you used to register, letting them know you're no longer interested. That way you cover yourself.
If there's a bug, it's definitely on their end. This sounds fishy. You can just ignore them or send that cancellation email and then disregard any follow-ups they may send.
Yeah, totally agree. Just make sure to keep a copy of that email in case they try to come after you again.