CHICO — This week a local resident reached out to us about someone pretending to be Norton, the anti-virus company, with an invoice for $382.99. That’s a number that would make me fall right out of my desk chair.
The invoice itself looks somewhat official at first, but after skimming it, there are some strange markings and design flaws. For example, the contact number is in large blue font on an underline connected to tiny red letters calling it a customer support helpline. There is also a random period that is also underlined. It definitely doesn’t look like something Norton would send out.
Upon calling the number, it came up as Hawaii and immediately disconnected.
After doing a quick Google search, it turned out that Norton itself issued a warning about this scam.
“Scammers take advantage of the busiest times of the year, including holidays, when email inboxes are full of promotions, receipts, and other content,” the notice reads. “They hope that you are too distracted by all the activity to identify their tricks.”
Norton must be reading my columns because they almost sound like me there but slightly less handsome.
Sure enough, scammers pretending to be Norton send these invoices out to random strangers with scary price tags claiming that they will be charged within 24 hours. Unless the target calls the number associated with the email or emails back.
If the throwaway number even still works at all — remember, scammers often can barely keep track of their own crap to keep it running — the target gives them a ring and can stop the transaction by providing god-knows what kind of personal information.
And just like that, they got what they wanted from you.
If you receive an email like this and don’t subscribe to an anti-virus service or that particular service, go ahead and discard it. If you get an email like this you weren’t expecting from your security provider, contact them directly through their official website and phone number, not what’s on the invoice.
Stay safe out there and happy holidays.
Scam of the Week generally runs every Tuesday. Readers are welcome to contact reporter Jake Hutchison to report scams and potential scams they have come in contact with by calling 828-1329 or via email at jhutchison@chicoer.com.
