Reimage/Restoro Scammers Hit With Huge Fine

Reimage and Restoro are notorious tech support scams that, after years of scamming victims, have finally been brought to justice, sort of.

Reimage and Restoro are not separate entities but are one and the same. The Reimage scareware scam first came into being in 2014 but after some years had received so much negative publicity that, in an effort to overcome all that negativity, the name was changed to Restoro.

I first reported on the Reimage scam in 2016 – Is Reimage Repair Legitimate? – and backed that up with a report on the Restoro scam in 2020 – Is Restoro Legitimate? What is amazing to me is that it has taken a decade of scamming victims before the authorities finally took some action. Better late than never, I guess.

As a result of a recent court case initiated by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Reimage/Restoro has been hit with a $26 million fine. However, considering the company that owns Reimage/Restoro raked in $623.5 million in 2022 alone <source>, $26 million seems somewhat inadequate to me.

Who Owns Reimage/Restoro?

Reimage>Restoro has been owned and run under the Kape Technologies umbrella. Kape Technologies (formerly Crossrider) has a rather nefarious history steeped in controversy. In more recent times the company has gone on a VPN buying spree acquiring no less than four VPNs:

• ExpressVPN
• Private Internet Access
• CyberGhost VPN
• ZenMate VPN

During that time, Kape Technologies also acquired a number of VPN review sites where, unsurprisingly, Kape Technologies-owned VPNs occupied the three top rankings, clearly a serious conflict of interest.

(Taken from wizecase.com owned by Kape Technologies)

(Taken from vpnmentor.com owned by Kape technologies)

Should You Stick With a Kape Technologies Owned VPN?

From its early Crossrider days providing an ad-injection platform to its lucrative Reimage/Restoro scareware scams, it seems pretty obvious to me that Kape Technologies is a company not to be trusted. Unfortunately, one of the most important elements in choosing a VPN is, in my opinion, trust.

Of course, it’s entirely up to you but, if you subscribe to any of the four aforementioned VPNs owned by Kape Technologies, I would suggest seriously considering making a change. And, if you’re thinking about subscribing to a VPN, I would suggest avoiding any of the four VPNs owned by Kape Technologies. Here are several alternatives I can recommend:

• Surfshark: This is one of the least expensive VPNs, if not the least expensive. Based in the Netherlands and, courtesy of an independent Deloitte audit, we have confirmation that Surfshark is indeed a no-logs VPN
• NordVPN: Is based in Panama (an excellent jurisdiction for a VPN) and is a well-regarded no-logs VPN service that includes a number of great security and privacy features
• Proton VPN: Based in Switzerland, a country with strong personal privacy laws, the Proton company itself has a history steeped in privacy. A little more expensive than the average but an excellent choice

BOTTOM LINE:

Seeing how Kape Technologies has been raking in hundreds of millions of dollars per annum, a large portion of which can be attributed to the Reimage/Restoro scareware scam, the penalty imposed seems totally inadequate to me. And, as I mentioned earlier, why on earth does it take the authorities so long to clamp down on these types of illicit practices? Especially when so much negative publicity has been widespread for so long.

—