The Fake Geek Squad Renewal Email Scam: How to Spot It

An email arrives that looks like a receipt from Best Buy's Geek Squad. It says your "Total Tech Support" membership renewed automatically and charged your card several hundred dollars. There is a phone number to call if you want a refund or did not authorize the charge. This is one of the most reported tech scams tracked by the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), and it has cost victims hundreds of millions of dollars nationwide.

The scam does not depend on you having a real Geek Squad account. It works on volume, sending the fake receipt to as many people as possible. If you never signed up for Geek Squad, the email may still worry you enough to call the number out of concern that someone charged your card without permission. That is the trap. The phone number does not connect you to Best Buy at all — it connects you to a scammer posing as a "billing department representative."

Once you call, the scammer walks you through "canceling" the charge. This usually means asking you to install remote-access software on your computer or phone, which gives the scammer control of your device. From there, they may ask you to log into your bank account "so we can process your refund," which lets them see your balance and move money out, or they may claim they "accidentally" refunded too much and ask you to send the difference back through a gift card or wire transfer.

The email itself often has real Best Buy logos and formatting copied from an actual receipt, so it can look convincing at a glance. What gives it away is usually the total dollar amount (often $300 to $500, higher than typical), a sense of urgency to call within 24 hours, and a phone number that is not the real Best Buy customer service line.

(Sources: FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center — ic3.gov; Better Business Bureau Scam Tracker — bbb.org/scamtracker)