The Fake Geek Squad Renewal Email Scam — What It Looks Like and What to Do

Twice in the last few weeks we’ve had customers bring in the same email, almost word for word: a “receipt” for a Geek Squad subscription — $591.31 one time, $799.99 the other — for a service they never bought. Both looked, at a glance, like something from Best Buy’s Geek Squad.

Neither one was.

What the email actually says

The format is almost always the same:

• A subject line like “Your order is being processed” or “Purchase Confirmation Notice”
• The real Geek Squad logo, colors and layout, copied exactly
• A “subscription” you supposedly bought — PC security, device protection, something plausible — with a suspiciously specific price ($591.31, $799.99, numbers that feel “real” instead of round)
• A line telling you that if this wasn’t you, call a phone number to dispute it or cancel

That last line is the entire scam. There’s no subscription, no charge, and no refund department on the other end of that number — there’s a person whose job is to keep you on the phone until you give them remote access to your computer, your card number, or both.

The tells, once you know where to look

• The sender address doesn’t match. One of the two we saw came from a random Gmail address, not a Best Buy or Geek Squad domain. Tap or hover the sender name — real Geek Squad email won’t come from @gmail.com.
• The phone number is formatted strangely. Scam numbers are often written with odd spacing or symbols — braces or brackets around the area code instead of a normal (XXX) XXX-XXXX — to dodge spam filters that scan for clean phone-number patterns.
• It’s addressed generically — “Hi Pioneer,” “Dear Member” — not your actual name, because they don’t have it. A real receipt from a company you have an account with uses your real name.
• Gmail (or your provider) already flagged it. Both of ours landed straight in Spam. That’s a strong signal on its own, even before you read a word of the message.

What to do instead of calling

1. Don’t call the number in the email. If you’re worried there’s a real charge, open your bank or card app yourself and look at your actual statement.
2. Don’t click anything in the message. Delete it, or mark it as phishing/spam so your provider gets better at catching the next one.
3. If you already called and gave access or a card number, see the FAQ below — act quickly, it’s recoverable.
4. If you’re not sure, send us a screenshot or bring the device to our Marlboro shop. Checking whether something is a scam is free; we’d rather look at ten fake ones than have you call the eleventh.

This is one version of a broader pattern — fake urgency dressed up as a real company. See also: the “we’ve blocked your account” email scam, which uses the same playbook with a different brand.

If your computer already has pop-ups, redirects, or you’re worried something got installed, our virus and malware removal page covers what we check and what it costs.