Norton Renewal Email Scam Lures Victims with Fake Invoice

Norton Renewal Email Scam Lures Victims with Fake Invoice | Snopes.com

Norton renewed your annual membership and said to contact the company for a refund.

Since at least 2021, an email scam has targeted victims with the claim that Norton had renewed their annual membership subscriptions. Some of the scam renewal emails mentioned Norton Total Protection, Norton Total All Round Security, Norton 360, Norton 360 Auto Edition, Norton PC Life, Norton Family All Device, and Norton LifeLock. Turns out, a few of these weren’t even real Norton products. We looked into these emails, which are in fact part of a known “phishing” operation aimed at tricking recipients into divulge private information.

How the Norton Email Scam Works

The phone number listed in some of the Norton scam emails was 760-248-4214. We called the number knowing that the whole thing was a ruse. We were connected to a scammer who may have been located in a foreign call center. The scammer asked for the invoice number in the email.

This is known as a refund scam. The emails claimed that a payment had been successfully processed to renew a Norton subscription. However, this was nothing more than a fake set up for the scam.

The goal for the scammers was for consumers to respond by email or phone to ask for a refund for the supposed Norton product renewal. The scammers eventually would ask for bank account or credit card details, claiming that a refund would be processed. In reality, they would take the financial information and attempt to steal funds.

Norton Email Scam Example #1

One Norton scam email we reviewed was from jamgre549@gmail.com and copied nortoncc2021@outlook.com. It claimed that an “annual product membership” for Norton Total Protection had been renewed. The email also listed the same phone number that began with the 760 area code. The email addresses and phone number were all managed by scammers:

SUBSCRIPTION INVOICE ID #VPH24012022DSB

Welcome Prime Member,

Thank you for your interest in our products.

Your Annual product membership for NORTON TOTAL PROTECTION has been renewed & updated successfully.

PRODUCT TITLE End Date Qty Total Amount Payment Method

NORTON TOTAL PROTECTION In 1 year 1 $524.00 USD Auto Debit

Invoice No. VPH24012022DSB

Order Date: 24 Jan 2022

If you require urgent assistance, please call our Experts for refund and settlement issue on  +1 – ( 760 ) – ( 248 ) – 4214

Sincerely,

Aaron M.

Refund & Settlement Dept.

A Norton email renewal refund scam targeted consumers in early 2022 and likely long before.
Flashback to 2010 when it was more popular to buy McAfee and Norton security products in stores. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Norton Email Scam Example #2

Another Norton scam email was from sarwoo846@gmail.com. It mentioned Norton Total All Round Security. One little red flag in the fake product name was the fact that the scammers chose the words “All Round” instead of “All Around.” Once again, nortoncc2021@outlook.com was copied onto the email, and the same phone number was there too. To restate, these email addresses and the phone number were all part of the scam and were not managed by Norton:

Payment successfull, Invoice DYU24012022LAM

Hello Customer!

Thank you for your interest in our products.

Your Annual membership for NORTON Total All Round Security has been renewed and updated successfully.

ITEM Finish Date Qty Total Amount Method of Payment

NORTON Total All Round Security In One year 1 $267.00 USD Auto Debit

Invoice No. DYU24012022LAM

Invoice Date: 2022-01-24

If you require urgent assistance,

please call our Experts for refund and settlement issue on +1 – ( 760 ) – ( 248 ) – 4214


Thank you!,
Patrick R.
BILLING & SETTLEMENT DEPARTMENT

A Norton email renewal refund scam targeted consumers in early 2022 and likely long before.
Scammers and hackers are often depicted in movies as hooded masterminds looking at code from “The Matrix” fly down the screen while sitting in a room lit in menacing colors. However, the reality of a scammer’s life is usually far less glamorous. (Courtesy: Seksan Mongkhonkhamsao/Getty Images)

Norton Email Scam Example #3

On Jan. 24, a Reddit user posted a third example of the Norton email renewal scam. It appeared to be a variation of the same thing, likely leading to a fake refund:

Your Order Has Been Received

From: Purchase Team

Hey,

Thanks for being with us!

We are glad to inform you that your order has been successfully placed, it will activated shortly.

If you want to know more details about your order then go through the invoice attached with this mail..

With Regards,

Billing Team!

PDF-XXX224.pdf

Norton Email Scam Example #4

A fourth email we reviewed came from the email address sienna9355jac@gmail.com. The message copied in consumer946@gmail.com. It read:

order confirmation mail # MDI948__ID

VALUABLE_______consumer

thanks for joining norton 360 auto edition services. through us.

we have receive an order PLACED by you in your norton account which is linked with your bank account.

billing DESCRIPTION

client ORDER I.d : – # MDI948__ID

service details: – pc ANTIVIRUS (system)

paid THROUGH: – auto debit

PRICE cost : – $367.29

PURCHASE on : – 21ST jan 2022

your subscription has been ACTIVATED. that’s the reason why we sent you this mail or if you want to continue this subscription THEN kindly forget this mail or if you are facing any kind of problems then please feel free to connect WITH our help care department.

you can reach us ON: – 1+ 804-(742)-0254

BEST regards

JOHN WILLIAMSON

The scammer’s phone number was emailed as 804-742-0254. We called the number but did not receive an answer. The goal here was once again to lure unsuspecting victims to contact the scammers to try to obtain a refund. This would again result in the theft of money from the consumer’s financial accounts.

What To Do If You Receive One of These Emails

The best course of action is to delete scam emails that make claims about Norton, renewals, and refunds.

For more details, we recommend visiting the company’s official website, Norton.com. The company published a page about these renewal refund scams.

They also listed several email addresses Norton has used to send official correspondence: norton@nortonlifelock.com, norton@secure.norton.com, ems@norton.com, lifelock@secure.norton.com, and information@mail.nortonstore.hk. These can be trusted, according to the company.

Curious about how Snopes’ writers verify information and craft their stories for public consumption? We’ve collected some posts that help explain how we do what we do. Happy reading and let us know what else you might be interested in knowing.

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Norton Renewal Email Scam Lures Victims with Fake Invoice
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