Many tech scams begin with “Thank you for your purchase” and I’ve blogged about many of them. Today’s Best Buy Purchase scam is possibly the best one yet. Let me show you all about it, so that you won’t be fooled by this.
The Phishing Email
The bogus email I received was very convincing. It looks like I ordered a cellphone, but please know: I made no such order and I don’t even have a Best Buy account!
Check out these captures (or this PDF); they are safe for you to view:
The creator of this message copied everything they could from a legitimate Best Buy email. The formatting and graphics and fonts are perfect, and when I clicked on the links, they took me to real Best Buy URLs. Even the “View Order Details” button took me to an order on www.bestbuy.com!
Signs of the Scam
But the signs of a scam are still there. “QUESTION’S CALL US” stands out as bad grammar, and the email addresses, when revealed, look strange:
Plus the email shows a purchase for $325, but the order on the BB website shows a cancelled order and a $0 charge.
And that phone number? Definitely not Best Buy’s real contact number. I can’t track it down to any real company, so the scammers have recently created that toll-free number, just for this scam.
The Worst that Could Happen
This scam is designed to panic people into overlooking the tells of the scam, and to rush into calling the number. Anyone who dials the phone number shown on the email or “order” will be connected with a scammer. That crook will begin some kind of financial or remote control scam with the caller. They’re out to steal your money, and if they can’t manage that, they may break your computer out of spite.
Again, this is a very convincing phishing operation, and I don’t want you to be the next victim. If you get this scam in your inbox:
- DON’T call the number in the email or on the order!
- DON’T mark the email as spam. DON’T “block sender”. Why? Because the From: address has been spoofed to a real Best Buy address. If you block or report this email, you may not receive future legitimate email from Best Buy!
- DON’T PANIC! If you need more assurance, close your email and go to the Best Buy website. Log in and see that no such order is attached to your account. Or contact the real Best Buy, in-store or through their website support options.
You are also welcome to forward a Best Buy / Geek Squad scam to abuse@BestBuy.com .
Very thorough! Wish we had phone number in Federal Government to report the phone number. Probably dismantled if it existed. Thank you
You are allowed to report fraud and scams to the government, at this website: https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/
I don’t know how much good it does, but it might help?