PSA – Geek Squad Scam – Look Out!
Summary: Warning about Tech Support Scams
Jake Cunningham shares a cautionary tale about a tech support scam targeting individuals through a fake email purportedly from Best Buy’s Geek Squad. The scam involves a fraudulent email requesting a returned phone call and a request to visit a suspicious website, aiming to deceive users into providing personal information and access to their computers. Jake Cunningham emphasizes the importance of being vigilant, seeking a second opinion, and avoiding clicking on suspicious links or sharing personal information.
- Scams targeting unsavvy tech users
- Protecting personal information and computer security
- Importance of regular updates and shutting down computer systems
- Importance of being vigilant and seeking help
Public Service Announcement – Geek Squad Scam – Look Out!
Fri. Mar 1, 2024
0:10 – Jake – All right. Hey, public news, public announcement, everybody. We wrapped up another successful Friday Focus, and what we want to do is keep you guys abreast on what’s happening in our realm, helping support our practitioners, you in the field, when it comes to some of this shadiness that’s out there. A couple weeks ago, we did a Ask Us Anything, Keeping Your Computer Updated and Safe, and we brought to attention the scheme that is highlighted right now in a movie called The Beekeeper about these predators that are taking advantage of unsavvy tech.
0:50 – Jake – Usually, people who are not tech savvy, the error on the computer or the Windows error that locks you out. Well, something else happened this week that absolutely just shocked me because sometimes it’s so far removed from you, you just don’t think it’s going to happen again and it’s a one-time. Well, this happened to us. Um, and I hope I can use her information here. I may just scroll down. So her email’s not there.
1:22 – Jake – I’m just going to share. Okay. This is perfect. So what I’m going to do here, I’m going to share just this document that came to a practitioner, everybody, um, from a supposedly well-known company. Best Buy. Best Buy and Geek Squad. Although Best Buy is not noticed and mentioned anywhere here. She got this and she, she did the right thing. First of all, she questioned, something was off. Okay. Bill $657 is about to be debited from your account within hours for the next 60 months, five years.
2:06 – Jake – And so if you want to continue the service, then ignore the email. And if you want to cancel, please feel free to call our support team for any inquiries, for any assistance, call our customer service, okay? And this is account details, Geek Squad Prime, which there’s no such thing. Parental control, months. So luckily…
2:32 – Nick Duncan – And let me interrupt. Brenda thought that she was dealing with tech support, but she’d been dealing with our tech support, Brent, a little bit. So she wanted to know if this was associated with us as well.
2:46 – Jake – Right, right. And so first thing, you guys, even if it’s a legitimate and you have a doubt, get a second opinion, call us, call somebody that you trust who’s a tech guy. And if and at the very least. So, again, Yes. It’s just, it’s just, it breaks my heart. So Brenda contacted us and I said, you know, thanks Brenda. Send me the email. No, that wasn’t us. It might be legit. It might not be. Send me the email. And the email came and the email was shady. I’m not going to bring up the email because it has her like email address and personal information on it.
3:26 – Jake – So, but this I’m going to share. So I go ahead and call this number, which actually is not something I would recommend. I did it because I wanted to vet and see who this was. And so the message, the welcome greeting says, hi, welcome to Best Buy. Thank you for contact. We’ll transfer you to the next available rep. OK, so I get someone who’s not from the country, Indian accent and there. I asked them, hey, listen, I’m just curious. I got a I said, actually, a colleague of mine, a family friend, got this from you, and I’m just vetting to see if this is actually legitimate.
4:11 – Jake – Can you send me any proof, or can I talk to a manager that can show and prove that this is legit and not a scam? They actually, before we got to there, actually, they had me, they asked me to go to a website and put in this weird URL, which is another red flag, you guys.
4:37 – Jake – Yeah, YMZ dash question mark dot, like, help. Yeah. And so I went there, which I don’t recommend you do either, okay?
4:51 – Nick Duncan – You started typing it, but then what did you, did you?
4:54 – Jake – No, no, I actually went there where then it asked for a code similar to a TeamViewer code. You guys, if you’re working with us, we use TeamViewer or we use another product called, what is it called? Splashtop. These are like reputable companies that offer just the service for companies like ours to do tech support. But this was shady. This asked for a code in the end. And so this is where I called them out on their stuff. I said, they said, here, now let me give you a code. And I said, a code for what?
5:32 – Jake – Why are you trying to log into my computer right now? And why are you giving me a customer ID? That’s what it said, customer ID, when I have my customer ID here.
5:44 – Nick Duncan – How do you know it’s me, right?
5:47 – Jake – That’s what she said. How do you know? How do you know? Because they didn’t ask any question about what my customer ID was, what my account is.
5:56 – Nick Duncan – Not even your name.
5:57 – Jake – Not my payment ID up here, not even my name. They just wanted to get into my account for which then, and this is what I found out later, you guys, that this is a popular scam right now where they will go and if you have bank accounts saved in your browser, if you have all your passwords, they’ll go and they’ll scrape and gather that data and then ask you Here’s the kicker. So what they’re doing is saying you owe them, or they’re about to charge this, but to cancel, call us. They want you to call them, and they want you to go through this process.
6:42 – Jake – And so when I asked, how do you know? Why are you trying to get into my computer? And how do you know it’s even me? Like, let me talk to a manager. Let me talk to somebody above you. Well, and then I got like a cuss out session from the guy when he realized his his scheme was not working. And I hung up and I He hung up. Yeah, he hung up. He hung up. He said, you son of a bitch. And then some other obscenities and then hung up. And I’m like, OK, doesn’t sound too legit anymore to me. Just prove my point.
7:14 – Jake – This is the point, you guys. The point is, is to be diligent. You know, don’t, don’t, um, and also it’s critical. We were talking about this with Brent yesterday. You guys don’t click on emails. Don’t go to sites that you shouldn’t be on. I’m not saying anyone is and shut down your computer. Don’t leave your computer on connected to these networks, just nonstop. There has just like self care for your body. You need to, before you go to bed, the best self-care is to unwind, disconnect, maybe wash up, maybe take a shower, a bath, and brush your teeth, wash your face, get to sleep, turn off your equipment.
8:02 – Jake – Your computer needs the same type of care. The computer needs to be nurtured and protected like your temple. Now, I’m not comparing the two, but I’m just saying, Take your time and do updates. Take your time and at the end of a session, leave space between sessions or at the end of the week where you can run updates and shut down and close off and turn off your system. Protect yourself because what we don’t want is anyone being taken advantage of And it does break my heart that we even have to talk about this.
8:40 – Jake – We want the best, I believe, that all humans are created good, you know? At the same time, this influence is out there, this energy is out there, and we want to protect you. So be vigilant, ask for help. If anything doesn’t seem right, Don’t feel the pressure because someone you don’t know, remember, get a second opinion if something’s legitimate or not. Don’t just go start clicking away and okay, I’ll give you everything because you just don’t wanna waste your energy and time with that.
9:18 – Jake – So yeah, that’s it.
9:20 – Nick Duncan – And with that being said, Brent is available to help anybody that does have questions about their laptop, their system, their protection, what’s going on with what they have. And he’s available to help support you with that. And you can book a ticket and just have him come in for the half hour, come in for the half hour. It can save you. So just giving you guys that heads up as well.
9:47 – Jake – Yeah. Excellent. Thank you. I’m going to stop recording. See you soon, you guys on the next one. Talk to you soon. Bye bye.
