Microsoft Store charges $5.29 to download free Zoom

[Naggy]

My laptop had a hardware problem which needed repair, so I was told to send it to the manufacturer.  I sent it,
and the disk was wiped and the OS was reinstalled. I got the laptop back and went to the Zoom website to re-
establish my free Zoom account for a meeting which I needed to attend. Unfortunately a window came up which
identified itself as the Microsoft Store and which charged me $5.29 to get Zoom.  Gee, $5.29 is not free but I had
to attend the meeting so I paid the charge.
The merchant name for the charge on my bank statement was A1010EUSD02, which did not appear related to either Zoom or Microsoft. The bank website detail on the charge reported the Merchant Type as Digital Games and the Category as Entertainment.
I went to the Zoom website just now to look for any mention of a $5.29 fee, and No, the website still says ”SIGN
UP, IT’S FREE”.
If this was a valid Microsoft charge then: 1) it should be mentioned at the Zoom website; and 2) Microsoft should appear as the merchant on the bank statement. So it was illegitimate.
The charge happened before I re-installed my security software, and so the simplest explanation is that I picked up some malware on my laptop before returning to the Zoom website. But how did the malware know to charge for Zoom? Is there some kind of malware which dynamically creates a false storefront based on the user's attempt to do a free download?

[Rupert]

Hi @Naggy 

I think you purchased a third-party app from the Microsoft Store. See below.

I don't believe the Zoom desktop app is available in the Microsoft Store. 

You can download Zoom here: https://zoom.us/download

[Naggy · Accepted solution]

Hi Rupert,

     Thank you for looking into this for me.  I looked at the image you sent, and “the price is right”:  The cost is $4.99 and the total transaction was $5.29, so the tax was $0.30.  That tax is very close to the sales tax in my location.

Also, the image shows the vendor of the Multi-Platform video conferencing app for Zoom and Google Meet as GLLC Apps.   It turns out that GLLC apps is Google LLC ( as you know, LLC just means Limited Liability Corporation which would be a subsidiary of Google).  This info could explain how the illegitimate transaction went down:  The Chrome/Google browser I was using trapped the event that the user attempted to initiate a free download at Zoom, and blocked the download,  and forked off a new browser process directed to the Microsoft Store to create the apparent requirement for the user to purchase the multi-platform app.  The user complied, and then the app was downloaded, and then the app in turn downloaded Zoom.  The only problem with this theory is that there does not appear to be any sign of the multi-platform app on the laptop.

I would doubt that this is a default behavior of Chrome, because if it were, then many people would be complaining about it.  It could possibly have been included by the laptop vendor in the reinstallation of the OS as a payback to Microsoft, in consideration of the vendor’s inclusion of Microsoft software in the laptop product.

I would think that this kind of problem might be taken care of by internet security software (which I had not yet installed at the time of the incident).

I looked on the laptop for the Zoom executable(s) and the Google Meet executable(s).  I found plenty of folders and files for Zoom, Zoom.exe and Zoom_launcher.exe, etc., but nothing for Google Meet.  Possibly the multi-platform app does not download either Zoom files or Google Meet files until it would need either of those groups, and I haven't done any Google Meets since before my laptop was wiped and recreated, and so that's why it does not yet have any googlemeet files.  It does have mail.google files, but of course that's a separate app. So, either I did not download the multi-platform app; or the multi-platform app is lurking somewhere undetectable on the laptop, and will download the googlemeet files when I would try to join or host a Google Meeting.

I think your idea that I must have bought the multi-platform app is the simplest explanation, but it is disconcerting to think of it lurking somewhere undetectable.

Also, I still have the question of why the merchant listed for the transaction on my bank statement was neither Zoom nor Microsoft or Microsoft Store.  

Something just does not fit.  If I find out anything more, I will let you know.

In the meantime, I will remove the version of Zoom on the laptop, and will use the link that you sent (https://zoom.us/download ) to reinstall.

Thanks,

Naggy