Anatomy of a Scam E-Mail

This is an actual e-mail sent to me and it has all of the warning signs of a scam.

The from “James” with Nina’s gmail account. Legitimate business e-mails use business e-mail addresses.

The subject line list an “Invoice ID from PayPal”. PayPal uses Transaction ID that is a combination of letters and numbers almost 20 characters long and adds their “double P” graphic to everything.

It is Geek Squad from Best Buy not ‘Geek Tech PC support’.

Now the pressure: you are going to have almost $400 taken from your account if you don’t call the telephone number within 24 hours. If you call them they steal more than that from your account.

At the end you have a different name and they almost get Geek Squad correct.

There is a lot of this garbage going on at the moment targeting “Senior Citizens”.

Full test of the e-mail below the fold
From: James “nina9565evan@gmail.com”

Subject: Your Invoice ID##7064-9021(PayPal Team)

Thank you so much for joining us again this year!

Hello Customer XXXX@YYYYY.COM

Current Order Upgraded!

The receipt indicates that your annual Geek Tech PC support subscription has been successfully renewed and upgraded. The service amount of $ 389.88 processed from the account funds credits, kindly check your account statement in few hours for this transaction. As you have opted for automatic payments, the recurring fee will be deducted annually from the same payment source unless you stop auto debit service. If you wish to cancel the order or you have any other issues related to this charge, please reach out to our support executive immediately for further clarification. Client Support Centre + 1 [888]-501-6135 Toll-free

Please note we can only void or cancel the recent charges within 24 hours from the date of transaction.

Best Regards

Nancy Miller

Support Team – Geek Squad Tech