Hampering for cheap software, many people lose money because of the promise of "copyright warranty"

(Dan Tri) - Many people buy cheap "copyright" software because they believe in the promise of a 1-year warranty, but when their account is locked or logged out, they fall into the situation of losing both money and data.

Losing money because of promises of "copyright warranty"

"Shop, why can't my account be used for less than a year?"

"Shop give me feedback. Will you give me the same warranty as before?"

Nguyen (22 years old, living in Hanoi) sent consecutive messages to the software sales account but received no response.

A few days later, when he continued checking, Nguyen realized he could no longer contact the seller. A message appears on the screen: "You cannot text with this account."

At that time, Nguyen understood that he had lost both money and access to the software he had purchased.

As someone who regularly does digital content creation work such as graphic design, photo editing and video editing, Nguyen has a need to use the Adobe suite of applications. However, the genuine price was quite high compared to his financial ability, so Nguyen went to a cheap software seller recommended by his friends.

According to the advertisement, with only 1.7 million VND, Nguyen's group of 5 friends can fully use Adobe software within a year. Calculated, each person only has to spend more than 300,000 VND.

"At first, I found the consulting method to be quite superficial, but the account was still usable so I didn't think much about it," Nguyen said.

For about the first 9 months, everything went normally. However, one day, the entire group's accounts were suddenly logged out of photo editing and design software.

Initially, Nguyen believed that Adobe was increasing copyright review, so his account was affected. However, when checking the login history, Nguyen discovered that the account was being used on many strange devices.

Despite changing the password and deleting devices of unknown origin, his group continued to lose access after only a short time.

After many contacts, the seller gave him another account. However, the new account can only use Lightroom, while the remaining applications cannot be accessed.

"I requested a refund or a support plan commensurate with what was initially committed but received no response. Then they blocked contact and deleted the sales account," Nguyen said.

Not only Nguyen, Hoang (22 years old, living in Hanoi) also encountered a similar situation after buying a Lightroom account through an intermediary.

According to information from the seller, the account Hoang uses originates from business or education packages that are shared with many users. Hoang's group of 5 people collectively contribute about 1.8 million VND per year, equivalent to 360,000 VND/person.

During the first year, the account operated stably so Hoang had almost no doubts about the origin or legality of the service.

However, recently, the account keeps getting logged out. Every time he wants to access again, Hoang has to contact the intermediary to ask for a new password or authentication code.

"One day when I opened the software to work, I was asked to log in again from the beginning. To get the verification code, I had to wait for the account manager to respond. Many times I needed to handle urgent work but couldn't use it," Hoang said.

What makes Hoang more frustrated is that when an incident occurs, the promises of "1 year warranty" and "support throughout the usage process" almost disappear.

"Even though I was still within the warranty period as promised, I texted many times with no response. In the end, I had to abandon my account and find another way to work," he said.

Cases like Nguyen and Hoang are not unique. Just type the phrase "cheap Adobe", "low price Canva Pro" or "shared ChatGPT" on social networks, users can easily come across a series of offers at a price only a small fraction of buying directly from the supplier.

What these services have in common are attractive commitments such as "12-month warranty", "full-time support", "change to a new account" or "use as stable as the genuine version".

However, when problems occur, many users discover that what they purchased is not actually a legal software license, but is only temporary access to accounts managed by others.

So what is the nature of these "cheap copyright" accounts? Why can users use it stably for months before suddenly being locked or losing access? And are "copyright warranty" promises really reliable?

Expert: Users only purchase temporary access

Talking to Dan Tri reporter, cybersecurity expert, Mr. Ngo Minh Hieu (Hieu PC) said that the majority of Lightroom, Microsoft Office, Canva Pro accounts or many cheap digital services being sold online today are not true personal copyright licenses.

According to Mr. Hieu, this is usually a business account, educational account, shared account or an account reissued to the end user by a third party.

"Buyers are essentially only added to a system managed by someone else, but do not own or fully control that software license," he said.

With business or education accounts, access depends on the administrator. Meanwhile, shared accounts have the potential to violate the provider's terms of use. For accounts reissued from third parties, it is almost impossible for users to know whether the license origin is valid or not.

According to experts, this is also the reason why many people can use it stably for months, even years before suddenly being logged out or losing access.

"When the real owner revokes the license, when the provider detects misuse, when the account has its password changed, is locked, or the seller stops maintaining the service package, the buyer may lose access immediately," Mr. Hieu analyzed.

He said that being able to use it for a period of time does not mean that the license is legal.

"It only shows that the system has not been tested or recalled," experts said.

Regarding advertisements such as "1 year warranty", "change to a new account" or "support throughout the usage process", Mr. Hieu believes that users should not consider this a warranty in the true sense.

According to him, genuine warranty is always associated with the invoice, the owner's account and clear service terms from the supplier. Meanwhile, most commitments from cheap account sellers only stop at the promise to issue another account if a problem occurs.

"Buyers have no contract with the company, no official complaint mechanism and no control over the origin of the license. When sellers disappear or accounts are blocked en masse, users are almost in a passive position," he said.

Not only do they face the risk of losing their accounts, users may also face greater risks related to security and personal data.

According to Mr. Hieu, with cloud-based data storage services such as Adobe Creative Cloud, Canva or Microsoft OneDrive, it is difficult for users to know who holds the highest administrative rights to the account. In some cases, administrators can change passwords, recover accounts, or control data stored on the system.

This means design files, images, working documents or even customer data are at risk of being unintentionally accessed, deleted or lost.

In addition, some websites or cheap account sellers may also collect personal information such as email, phone number or lure users into installing unsafe software.

He also recommended being especially wary of "lifetime" advertisements for services that operate on a recurring subscription basis, or in cases requiring participation in account groups, business systems, or education of unknown origin.

To avoid becoming a victim of "cheap copyright" advertisements, experts recommend that users buy directly from suppliers or officially authorized agents, and request invoices and documents proving legal ownership.

"The simple principle is that if users cannot control their email, password, invoice and license administration rights, then it is not the copyright they actually own," Mr. Hieu emphasized.