Beware Of E-Mail Scam In Seven Lakes

There is a very serious e-mail scam beng generated in Seven Lake.  The publisher of this newspaper Victoria Levinger received an e-mail purported to be from McAfee Security,

She became suspicious with an e-mail with gmail  at the end and called the Moore County Sheriffs office to report the scam.  Then she searched online for the scam.

Phishing is a cybercrime that aims to steal your sensitive information. Scammers disguise themselves as major corporations or other trustworthy entities to trick you into willingly providing information like website login credentials or, even worse, your credit card number.

The scam involves an email purported to be from McAfee, a computer security software company.

The email tells the victim they are being charged $249 for McAfee Total Protection anti-virus software unless they call a phone number to cancel the order.

A Nevada County Sheriff’s Office detectives nationwide are warning the public of a phishing email scam coming from an account claiming to be McAfee, an antivirus internet security software.

Emails from “McAfee Total Protection” state that the recipient has been automatically renewed for services for one year at a cost of $249.99, which will be reflected on their bank account within 24 hours.

The email states that if the person does not wish for their subscription to continue, they are to call the cancellation department or billing helpline number.

Potential victims who have called that number indicate someone attempts to solicit and confirm personal identifying information. Additionally, the “representative” asks for a bank account number in order to verify the “refund” of a renewal payment processes accordingly.

If a victim calls the phone number, a scammer posing as a McAfee employee will answer. The scammer asks for personal information, including a bank account number, and asks for a wire transfer of funds. The wire transfer is „nearly impossible“ to reverse once sent, according to police.

The sheriff’s office points out specific clues in the email which indicate it is fraudulent:

The message was sent from a Gmail account.

The message was sent to multiple recipients.

The contact phone number is a long-distance number, not a toll-free one. The phone number also indicates the U.S./Canadian country code of +1.

There are punctuation and spacing mistakes, along with language and grammatical errors.

“Convincing phishing scams work because they appear to be coming from a legitimate source,” according to the sheriff’s office. “They also have a sense of urgency to them. In this particular scam, the potential victims are told they must call for a refund within 24 hours of the email being sent.”

By:  Brittany Samuels SL News Reporter