You may have encountered a fake invoice if you are running a small business (or keeping books for one). Phony bills have long been a favorite and effective trick of scammers. Recently, BBB Scam Tracker has gotten multiple reports of a new version of this scam, where con artists pretend to be contacting you as part of the Geek Squad, which is owned by Best Buy (BBB Accredited Business) or through PayPal (BBB Accredited Business).
How this scam works
You receive an invoice that says it’s coming from the Geek Squad. It says you’ll be charged hundreds of dollars for an annual subscription that is about to auto-renew. The email may include a PDF version of the invoice and a number for you to call if you want to cancel the subscription.
Panicked and sure you never authorized this subscription, you call the number. A “customer service agent” answers and pretends to assist you with the cancellation. They may offer you a refund or ask you to confirm your bank account information so they can cancel the subscription. If you give them that sensitive information, they’ll likely gain access to your account and can withdraw money without your consent. Even if you stop short of calling “customer service,” downloading any PDFs or clicking links in the email could download malware onto your computer and put you at risk of identity theft.
Fake Geek Squad invoices aren’t the only version of this scam. A new iteration looks like a vendor requesting payment via PayPal. Similar to the Geek Squad version, the message urges you to call “customer service” if “the payment was not authorized or you wish to cancel this charge.”
Read the full article for a example of this scam.