Yahoo Finance Aussies warned over this email: 'You have 24 hours’
Aussies are being targeted by a new email scam, and fraudsters are accessing people’s computers to steal their money.
Aussies are being warned about a new email scam doing the rounds, which claims to be sent by an online security software company.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s Scamwatch issued the warning and shared an example of the fake email supposedly sent by McAfee.
The letter tells the recipient the company’s “premium security services” are ready to be installed and they will be charged an auto-renewal fee for the software.
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“Your plan will be auto renewed within in [sic] 24 hrs and it will charge you AU$419,” the email reads.
“If you didn’t authorize this charge, you have 24 hrs. To cancel & get an instant refund of your annual subscription, please contact our customer care.”
Scamwatch has urged Aussies to not call the “customer care” or “billing” numbers provided.
“The email contains a number to call if you didn't authorise payment. If you call, the scammer will direct you to download a remote-access app so they can steal your money and info,” Scamwatch said.
McAfee said people should look out for red flags like spelling and grammar mistakes, or suspicious links and attachments.
“When you have suspicions about an email that supposedly comes from McAfee, look carefully at the email address and the domain from where the email was sent,” McAfee said.
“When you examine the sender's address, if you see that the email doesn't originate from .mcafee.com, it is highly likely to be fake and you should delete the email without clicking any links.”
If you receive a suspicious email, McAfee said you could forward it to spam@mcafee.com.
Aussies lost more than $25 million to fake-billing scams and more than $21 million to remote-access scams in 2022, according to Scamwatch data. Email was the third-most-popular form of attack, behind text messages and phone calls.
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