Consumers have been warned to be on the lookout for malicious emails claiming to be from antivirus company Norton.
UK body Action Fraud has uncovered a new email phishing scam using the Norton brand to steal money and personal information from victims.
Action Fraud said it received 110 reports of fake emails claiming to be from Norton in just seven days, showing the scale of the threat involved.
Fake Norton antivirus scam
in one tweetAction Fraud said the fake emails claim that the victim’s antivirus subscription has either expired or needs to be renewed.
Victims are encouraged to contact a fake support team to cancel the non-existent subscription, however, the contact number included is a scam where operators attempt to extract personal or financial information. The emails also often contain fake website links that re-scour victims for their valuable information, which can lead to bank accounts being drained.
The emails bear official Norton branding and often even have an email sender address beginning with the company name, but are purely malicious.
Action Fraud says you can report a suspicious email by forwarding the email to [email protected] It is stressed that your bank or other official organizations will never ask you to submit any personal information via email or text that can be forged or intercepted. If you have concerns about a suspicious message or request, it’s best to contact the organization directly.
> How to prevent phone hacking and remove intruders from your device
> Phishing attacks hit more businesses in the past year than ever before
> LinkedIn is becoming a haven for phishing attacks
Email phishing campaigns are an unfortunately common trait for many online users, with criminals often hijacking the logo and branding of famous companies to try to trick people into revealing their information.
Most recently, scammers attempted to use PayPal branding to steal victims by setting up a landing page that looks almost identical to PayPal’s signup page while crafting an email that has the look and feel of a newsletter, a Notification email or warning mocked by the company.
However, this email contains a link that does not take the victim to the actual PayPal login page, but instead to a fake landing page where, if they are gullible, they will provide their passwords to the attackers.
- Protect yourself from online threats with one of the best firewalls
This article was previously published on Source link
