What's up with all the computer security scams?

[Hawkmoon]

For the past several weeks I have been receiving multiple "notices" EVERY DAY that my computer security plan has been renewed. Which is interesting to me, since I have never subscribed to a paid plan -- I've been using Avast for many years.

Most of the notices mention Norton, but a few mention McAffee. The e-mail message bodies are sometimes a bit different, but they all share the characteristic of being essentially incomprehensible. Like this:

[Hawkmoon]

Any ideas? This is getting old.

I don't remember when this started -- maybe a month ago, maybe two months -- I'm getting multiple e-mails to my Juno account every single day, notifying me that my security software has been automatically renewed (at a cost of either $399 or $499), and instructing me to call some bogus telephone number if I want to discontinue the subscription. I had four new ones in my inbox when I woke up this morning, and I'll probablt have a half dozen more by tonight.

Most of them claim to be for Norton, but several have also been for McAfee. I have never had a subscription for either.

What's the deal? They don't include any live links, so that's not what they're after. So they must want me to call the phone number they list. Is that just so they can capture genuine telephone numbers, which they then use to set up some other scam?

[K Frame]

"and instructing me to call some bogus telephone number if I want to discontinue the subscription."

That tells you what you need to know.

It's phishing, pure and simple. They're trying to get you to call the number to "cancel" the subscription, and they'll very helpfully offer to refund the fee to your credit card.... they'll ask you for all of your CC information so that they can process the refund, and boom. You've just given them all of the information that they need to run a bunch of fraudulent charges.

[lee n. field]

Yep, just an extension on all the phone scams out there now.  You know what to look for, so you're mostly immune.

Best you can do, probably, is flag them as spam.

[TechMan]

What lee n. field said.

If you want an explanation, watch this:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4PllvUowaQ

Jim Browning is really good.

[HankB]

I've been getting a lot of computer security phone calls too, as well as calls for "medical devices" like a back brace (a $5 elastic strap they'll bill your insurance $500 for), problems with my Apple device or ICloud account (I have neither), notification from "The Microsoft" that my Windows license has expired (HA!) and so forth and so on.

Crooked scams. Every one of them.

[K Frame]

I've been getting a lot of computer security phone calls too, as well as calls for "medical devices" like a back brace (a $5 elastic strap they'll bill your insurance $500 for), problems with my Apple device or ICloud account (I have neither), notification from "The Microsoft" that my Windows license has expired (HA!) and so forth and so on.

Crooked scams. Every one of them.

I've been getting those on my house phone for years. Since no one calls me on the house phone anymore, I turned off the answering machine, turned off the ringer, and now I only occasionally check the caller ID.

I'll eventually get rid of the house line but haven't gotten around to it.

[RoadKingLarry]

The sad part is that if if the scams didn't work enough to be profitable they wouldn't be out there.

[Hawkmoon]

It's getting worse. After deleting the morning batch and posting here, I didn't check my e-mail for the rest of the day. Just checked it. THIRTEEN new ones (plus an invoice for something I allegedly bought from Wilson Combat for $450).

That's a new all-time record. My computer certainly should be secure with that much software on it.

[K Frame]

Set up a rule so that they're automatically dumped into your trash file. Or start tagging them as spam.

[Hawkmoon]

Set up a rule so that they're automatically dumped into your trash file. Or start tagging them as spam.

I'm not sure what to use as a filter to tag them as spam. Each one comes froma different e-mail address, and very few of the titles are exactly the same (even when the same  e-mail address hits me twice within a minute or two -- there were two instances of that in last night's batch). Tagging them as spam doesn't seem to have any effect.

[Edit to add] I'm hoping that it will eventually end (to be replaced by another scam, of course). For example, it's been ages since I've received any e-mails from the bereaved widow of a senior member of a Nigerian bank, seeking my help in transferring several million dollars out of the country so that it won't be forfeited to the government. But I used to get one of those, maybe every two or three days. This particular scam is RALLY popular (with the scammers).

[K Frame]

You might be able to set up a "contains" rule...

Set it up for common words -- subscription, protection, etc.

There are going to be some terms or phrases in common

[French G.]

Is there an IP range they all come from? Block that.

[Hawkmoon]

Is there an IP range they all come from? Block that.

Never thought to check on that. I'll look at the next batch that comes in.

[Hawkmoon]

New batch is in. The IPs are not the same, but they all begin with 10.xxx (usually xxx is either 171 or 181), so they are coming from a private domain, not a public domain.