What is the SCAM here?

[BJRSanDiego]

My wife received an email that appeared to come from me, or at least it had my name in it. I had supposedly forwarded it to her while I was still sleeping this morning but it actually came from (my name) <ps9767896@gmail.com>. (When you see parenthesis, that is where I had taken out my personal info for this post. ) I have a gmail account but not with numbers before the @ symbol. Here is what the email said:

Subject: <(my first name), Your Order No. 4038196 payment is confirmed

INVOICE
Mcafee, United States
Customer Support: +1 (808) 500-0930

Date: Monday, September 23, 2024 21:22:22
Invoice Number: UFH-828-XF-6122

Hello,

We truly value your business with Mcafee and want to notify you that your subscription has now expired.

Transaction Details:

Reference Number: UFH-828-XF-6122
Service: Anti-Adware
Warranty Period: 6-Year
Amount Paid: $470.69

Customer Information:

Client Name: (my name)
Client UID: UFH-828-XF-6122
Client Email: (my wife's email)

For any queries or to discuss renewal options, please contact us at +1 (808) 500-0930. You may be eligible for a refund upon cancellation.

Yours Faithfully,
The Mcafee, Inc.
Manager: Larry, Sylvester
Copyright © 2024 Company. All Rights Reserved.
--------------------------------------------
I checked the phone number and it is from Hawaii. A strange place to have customer service located. I did a Google search on it and got nothing.

What is disturbing is that they had my name, my wife's name and her email address.

So, I'm wondering if they wanted me to call them and possibly give them a credit card number to get a refund or if there is some other angle to this.

Perhaps this will serve as a Public Service Announcement to others to be aware of this fraud.

 

[PigsDad]

This is a version of a fairly common scam. They give you a official-looking invoice that indicates you have paid for some kind of service with the hope you will call them to dispute the charge. That is when they try to get CC or bank information from you, thinking you are reversing the order. As for the amount of personal information they have, it is not surprising. In reality, most this level of information is accessible to scammers for all of us.

Just ignore it and move on.

Kurt

 

[RX8]

I get at least 10 PayPal invoices a week for subscription services such as Norton, Mcafee and Geek Squad. About 1/3 of those are from a fake person called Kendra Blake.

Also, while the phone number prefix is from Hawaii, a search of that line reveals that it is a VoIP number meaning that they are likely calling from outside of the US.

 

[dioxide45]

This is a refund scam. You call, they pretend to refund you some amount of money because you didn't really intend to be billed for whatever was in the email. They trick you into giving them control of your screen and then they make it look like they refunded you way too much money and how they will get fired if they don't get it fixed. The scam is that they alter the code on the screen to make it look like you were refunded a lot more money than you should have received. In your example they may make it look like they refunded you $4470.69 instead of just the $470.69 that you paid for this non existent renewal. The $4470.69 that looks like is in your account isn't really there. If one was to just refresh their screen, it would refresh to the real amounts.

They pray on people who are vulnerable and will feel sorry for them and their sob story about refunding too much money and losing their job or worse. They ask you to go out and buy gift cards. Usually Google Play cards to return the refund overage to them. You give them the gift card codes and they are off with your money.

Do a YouTube search for "scambaiting" and you will turn up lots of videos of people who target these scammer scumbags and waste their time.
Here is one such video;

 

[WaikikiFirst]

My wife received an email that appeared to come from me, or at least it had my name in it. I had supposedly forwarded it to her while I was still sleeping this morning but it actually came from (my name) <ps9767896@gmail.com>. (When you see parenthesis, that is where I had taken out my personal info for this post. ) I have a gmail account but not with numbers before the @ symbol. Here is what the email said:

Subject: <(my first name), Your Order No. 4038196 payment is confirmed

INVOICE
Mcafee, United States
Customer Support: +1 (808) 500-0930

Date: Monday, September 23, 2024 21:22:22
Invoice Number: UFH-828-XF-6122

Hello,

We truly value your business with Mcafee and want to notify you that your subscription has now expired.

Transaction Details:

Reference Number: UFH-828-XF-6122
Service: Anti-Adware
Warranty Period: 6-Year
Amount Paid: $470.69

Customer Information:

Client Name: (my name)
Client UID: UFH-828-XF-6122
Client Email: (my wife's email)

For any queries or to discuss renewal options, please contact us at +1 (808) 500-0930. You may be eligible for a refund upon cancellation.

Yours Faithfully,
The Mcafee, Inc.
Manager: Larry, Sylvester
Copyright © 2024 Company. All Rights Reserved.
--------------------------------------------
I checked the phone number and it is from Hawaii. A strange place to have customer service located. I did a Google search on it and got nothing.

What is disturbing is that they had my name, my wife's name and her email address.

So, I'm wondering if they wanted me to call them and possibly give them a credit card number to get a refund or if there is some other angle to this.

Perhaps this will serve as a Public Service Announcement to others to be aware of this fraud.

My spam box gets 4 or 5 of those every day I think. They want you to call so they can ask for more info

 

[WaikikiFirst]

from Hawaii. A strange place to have customer service located

Wailuku? I can think of worse places to (hypothetically) sit around and scam people on the phone. And the airport is close, so when the Feds close in ...
but yes, with VPNs & VOIP, they almost certainly ain't where you think they is

 

[Talent312]

Any email like that from someone I do not know is marked as spam.
Then I check my CC accounts to make sure there's no fraudulent charges.
(other than my wife's trip to the mall).

 

[dioxide45]

Any email like that from someone I do not know is marked as spam.
Then I check my CC accounts to make sure there's no fraudulent charges.
(other than my wife's trip to the mall).

How often do you check your CC accounts? I get multiple emails like this per day and I never check my accounts after receiving them. I usually look daily anyway just as normal course of business but not because I got these emails.

 

[tombanjo]

My CC texts and emails me for charges over a certain amount. For certain purchases, it requires a code being sent to my phone. This keep big troubles away. There are little scammers too - so reviewing bill is always worthwhile.

 

[Greg G]

My CC texts and emails me for charges over a certain amount. For certain purchases, it requires a code being sent to my phone. This keep big troubles away. There are little scammers too - so reviewing bill is always worthwhile.

Yes, I have my CC accounts setup to email me with details whenever a charge is made. Anyone who has a CC account with this capability (usually in some online setting in the account) would be advised to turn this on and usually you can also set a threshold amount over which you get an email.

 

[TolmiePeak]

I get at least 10 PayPal invoices a week for subscription services such as Norton, Mcafee and Geek Squad. About 1/3 of those are from a fake person called Kendra Blake.

Also, while the phone number prefix is from Hawaii, a search of that line reveals that it is a VoIP number meaning that they are likely calling from outside of the US.

View attachment 99861

They just spoof the numbers. They can have the callerID show any number. I'm shocked that they don't just use a phone number from your contacts list to make it look like your wife is calling you.

 

[dioxide45]

These emails from scammers aren't the result of actually doing anything, not charging your card, not purchasing what the email actually said. They just hope someone is gullible enough to believe it and call them to then fall for the ultimate scam. Most of these scams operate out of India.

 

[GetawaysRus]

I don't think there's such a thing as privacy anymore. We're all exposed.

I receive these emails regularly as well.

 

[dioxide45]

They just spoof the numbers. They can have the callerID show any number. I'm shocked that they don't just use a phone number from your contacts list to make it look like your wife is calling you.

These aren't spoofed numbers. That would be on a caller ID for calls you receive. This scam is just an email with a phone number to call back. They may have picked 808 since it looks like it might be toll free, even though it isn't. Nearly anyone can get a US based phone number through services like Google Voice.

 

[joestein]

It just sucks that the world has become such a place where scams just abound. I get these sort of things all the time, but ignore them. If my MIL knew how to read email - I am sure she would fall for this.

 

[wackymother]

And don't click on any attachments!

 

[BJRSanDiego]

Thanks to all for your comments.