Scammers Call Offering Fraudulent Refunds
There have been several reports lately regarding people receiving phone calls from individuals claiming to work for their security solution provider. Not only do they work for your trusted security company, but they’re offering you major refunds! But don’t get too excited — it’s a scam. These hackers are calling, asking for your payment information so they can process refunds for over payments. They may claim it is for tech support refunds, or that the company is going out of business, and they need to refund you what you’ve paid. Again — this is a scam. They only want your banking information so they can commit fraud.
My Experience
A while ago I received a call from a 1-800 number, who happened to be a scammer. It was pretty easy to tell they were a scammer for a few different reasons. First, they wouldn’t state a company — they just kept saying “security provider”. Therefore, once I mentioned a security provider’s name, they latched on. The scammer went on to say my security provider is going out of business, and they had to process my refund. Another reason I knew this was a scam — I named a company I don’t use, therefore I wouldn’t be privy to any refunds. The scammer then asked for my credit card information multiple times to process the “refund”. If this was legitimate, they would have your banking information on file to process the credit to the account.
Here’s a basic synopsis of the phone call:
Me: I’m sorry, who are you with?
Scammer: Your security provider.
Me: Which one?
Scammer: The security company is going out of business, and they have hired us to process the refunds. We will need your payment information to credit the account.
Me: But what security provider are you talking about? My house, my computer??
Scammer: Your computer. What is the payment information, so we can issue the credit?
Me: Oh, my computer. McAfee?
Scammer: Yes.
Me: What?! McAfee is going out of business. That is incredibly surprising. I would think I would’ve seen this on the news or something. When did they begin this process? How long will I be protected?
Scammer: I need your card information to process the refund. You’ll be getting over $300 back.
Me: Really?!?! WOW!! That’s amazing — considering I don’t use McAfee, nor have I ever paid them a dime. So, tell me really — what did you need that credit card information for?
–He hung up.
Reflecting
As you read above, they’re incredibly evasive and go out of their way not to answer the questions you ask. Honestly, from a scamming perspective, it’s smart. The less they say, the less likely they are to provide the wrong information.
If someone is less familiar with these types of scams, it is entirely possible they tell the scammers their antivirus company name without thinking about it. Like how I mentioned McAfee, but knew it was a scam.
If anyone has received a call like this, please share your story below in the comments section. The more we talk about this, the more aware people will become.
And to PC Matic customers, no we are not going out of business, nor are we offering refunds for tech support. In order to process “refunds”, we would need to charge for tech support service — which we do not, and will not do!
