Just got an email from “Norton Lifelock” saying “thank you for your order” for $299. I called the 800 number to tell them I didn’t order any such thing and someone with a strong accent gave me a bunch of doubletalk about my computer, and said if I wanted to cancel the order, they would email me a form to fill out. I hung up and checked my credit card account, which showed no charge for that amount to anybody. Fuckers.
This public service warning provided by Nobody’s Fool.
As I recall, Peter Norton sold out to Kaspersky, which is an arm of the Russian Mafia or the KGB or something, which could explain lots.
That’s the scam.
That 800 number almost certainly had nothing to do with Norton Lifelock.
It’s in incredibly common scam to send a fake confirmation email with an amount high enough to get someone to call the number. From there, it’s just a matter of a bit of social engineering to get your credit card or bank account number or getting you to install remote desktop software and you can watch your money get siphoned right out of your accounts.
I would suggest passing this information on to your family/friends via whatever social media platform you use.
To add to what I said earlier. If you get an email from a ‘real’ company, but for reasons you aren’t expecting, look their number up on their website and call that one. The scam 100% hinges on you using the contact information that they [the scammers] provide.
I get these occasionally for different things that I supposedly bought, and I just ignore them. I know I didn’t order whatever-it-is, and when I look at the From: information, it’s pretty much always obviously bogus. I mark the sender as spam, and I keep getting them but then I don’t have to look at them.
A slight variation is to say the service was auto-renewed and asking if you want to cancel and get a refund. (which is a weird way for a company to conduct business) Otherwise, as noted by @Joey_P , it’s to have you install remote desktop access and get into your bank account.
Yup, ignored that one here too
That’s what the asshole on the phone said.
Correct me if I’m wrong here, but is there this syndrome where a formerly acclaimed piece of software becomes a piece of crap over time and just exists as a cash cow for the company making it? Maybe Norton or McAfee were always POS’s, but my memory is that they were once highly regarded.
He sold out to Symantec. Someone else sold to Kaspersky and I’m too lazy to look it up. Yes, Kaspersky is connected to whatever the KGB now, and if you have it (any “you” not Dropzone) you should uninstall it. Probably nuke it from orbit, but it’s too late for that now.
This is such a common scam that I’m surprised you fell for it. Nothing to do with Norton LifeLock – I get the same kind of e-mail from “Amazon”, “Apple”, etc. – here’s your receipt for the new iPhone or the new thing from Amazon, and if you want to cancel, call this number.
I report those as phishing, rather than junk, when the come in.
Lots of misinformation here. Norton Antivirus and related security products are now products of Norton Lifelock which has nothing whatsoever to do with Kaspersky; in fact, the two companies are active competitors and each has a significant share of the IT security market. I believe the enterprise security division of Symantec was taken over by Broadcom, but leaving them with the consumer division. I also believe that this remaining part of Symantec was renamed to Lifelock, and is basically the same company, minus the enterprise products. Although I personally think that the current enterprise products are quite good, the takeover by Broadcom is felt by most analysts to not bode well for its future, and indeed the flagship product – Symantec Endpoint Protection – is hard to find and my understanding is that, for whatever reason, Broadcom has elected to market it only to its largest existing enterprise customers. I see that some universities have been migrating away from SEP for that reason, although I still regard it as technically very good.
As for Kaspersky, I have no inside knowledge but from what I know, it bothers me to see them so unfairly maligned, as they have long been a major player in fighting viruses and malware and have, more than any other IT security company, uncovered many sophisticated international virus and malware threats. Some do regard them as controversial because of alleged Russian connections (specifically, to the Russian Federal Security Service, FSB) but these have never been substantiated and Kaspersky Lab continues to be a major and respected player in the global IT security market. The US government ban on Kaspersky products on government computers seems to me due more to simple paranoia than anything else.
Scam, scam, scam. Never call the number in the email–look it upon line or forward the email to the company’s phishing department to see if it’s legit.
I was getting so many Norton/Amazon/whatever phishing “receipts” in a work account that I had to kill that address. Not to mention the indignant "I didn’t order this!!!"s set to “reply all.”
This. It’s been almost five years since I retired from the IT world, but before I left, my colleagues and vendors regarded Kaspersky as one of the best, if not the best, defenses against virus, spam, and malware.
You’ll note the extent I load up my posts with weasel words!
Well, I didn’t exactly fall for it. I called the number and as soon as the guy started talking realized it for what it was and hung up. No damage done.
Just today I got something from “PayPal” about a $649.99 payment to someone. Except I don’t have a PayPal account. Plus my VISA will text me every time there’s a charge over $25 - a precaution I took after our card was compromised multiple times.
Right up there with “Wells Fargo” or “Capital One” telling me there’s a problem with my account. Nice try, Skippy.
Yeah, but high level security is one place where paranoia can make sense. I doubt they’re worried so much about Kaspersky themselves. They’re worried about the Russian government infiltrating them as part of their cyberwarfare. It’s kinda like how Huawei isn’t so trusted due to worries about Chinese government influence.
I personally would feel better if companies would try to (re)incorporate in countries without authoritarian rulers that weren’t starting up hostilities with the western world. I don’t doubt that Kaspersky wants to remain virtuous. But I also know that its great reputation makes it a good target, due to all the trust it has built up.