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  Geebo 9:00 am on December 13, 2022 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Best Buy, customer service ( 49 ), customer support ( 23 ), geek squad, Scams ( 1,224 ), tech support scam ( 43 )   

  You probably don’t have a Geek Squad subscription 

  

  By Greg Collier

  Tech support scams have been a blight on both smartphone and computer users for years. As much as we hate to say it, this goes doubly so for elderly users of these devices. Currently, the most common tech support scam is the pop-up scam. This is when a computer user gets a pop-up on their display that tells them their computer has been infected with a virus, and they need to call the phone number on the pop-up to have it resolved. Typically, the phone number claims to go to Microsoft, but they can also claim to be from any large tech company. If someone were to call the number from the pop-up, they’d be talking to scammers who would swindle their victims of their savings.

  However, there is a tech support scam that is a close second to the pop-up scam in the frequency with which it occurs. The difference with this scam is that it’s a phishing scam. Phishing scams are where scammers send out emails or other messages hoping to catch a victim on their proverbial hooks. This specific phishing attack uses the name of Geek Squad, which is the computer repair service arm of Best Buy.

  Scammers have been sending out emails that say your Geek Squad subscription is about to run out. The email continues with the claim that you’ll be charged several hundred dollars if you don’t cancel your subscription. The email contains a phone number to call if you want to cancel your subscription or dispute the charge. Much like the pop-up scam, the phone number leads to scammers instead of Geek Squad or Best Buy. From there, the scammers can commit a number of frauds by either taking control of the computer, getting your financial information, or both.

  Before calling any number, think back. Have you taken any device to the Geek Squad for any kind of service? If not, the email is almost certainly part of a scam. If you’re unsure, go over your financial records to see if any payments have been made to Geek Squad in the past. If not, then this is probably a scam email.

  It’s good general advice to never call any number or click on any link in an email that’s asking you for money. These emails can look like they’ve been sent by any number of legitimate companies. Instead of using the information in the email, go to the company’s website and instead contact them through official means at their website.

   

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  Geebo 8:00 am on September 8, 2020 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: geek squad, refund scam ( 7 ), Scams ( 1,224 ), tech support scam ( 43 )   

  Widow taken for $30,000 in scam 

  

  If you’ve ever lost an immediate family member you know how difficult the days following can be especially if the family member was a spouse. In the days following, you could start receiving phone calls from all sorts of services who are just looking to see if the service should be maintained after the decedent’s passing. So a woman from Michigan who was recently widowed didn’t find it unusual to receive an email from Geek Squad letting her know that the subscription was about to be renewed for the annual fee of $300.

  The widow called the number included in the email and stated that she wanted the subscription canceled. The man on the other end of the phone said he would be happy to issue a refund. Later in the call, the man said that he accidentally refunded the widow $30,000 instead of $300. He then asked the widow to wire the $30,000 so his boss wouldn’t find out and he wouldn’t lose his job. The widow had recently lost her own job and didn’t want to see anyone else lose there’s so she wired the money. Sadly, this was all a scam and there was no Geek Squad employee. So now this unemployed widow was out of most of her savings. There’s been a GoFundMe set up to help recoup at least some of her losses if you’re so generously inclined.

  Scams like this try to take advantage of their victims not knowing how payment systems work. If this was a legitimate transaction, the company in question would have been able to correct the refund electronically. These mishaps happen in corporate America all the time and safeguards are in place to correct mistakes like this almost instantly.

  Also, another tip off that this was a scam was when the fake Geek Squad employee asked for the money to be wired. This is an old scammer trick as once the money has been collected from where it was wired to, the scammers can virtually disappear into thin air.

  Grief can weigh heavy on anyone’s mind after the loss of a loved one. It can cause anyone to not think straight when dealing with what appear to be mundane transactions.