I Just Got a McAfee Subscription Scam Email Based on Old Optus Info

GordonD on 29/09/2022 - 15:12
Last edited 29/09/2022 - 16:17 by 2 other users

Was an Optus customer a while back.

Have changed some things like my email address since then. But not my credit card.

Just got a fairly obvious scam email saying my credit card had been charged with a substantial amount of money to pay for a McAfee subscription. The email address it was sent from was a gmail address. The contact number was a mobile. It told me I had 24 hours to contact them if I wanted to cancel.

Checked with my bank. No such charge.

But it does confirm Optus info is out there, info that wasn't in those 10,200 leaked ones, info about past customers, and its being used.

Internet

Related Stores

McAfee
McAfee
Optus
Optus

Comments

  • djkelly69 on 29/09/2022 - 15:17
    +12

    I don't understand how you have come to the assumption that this has to do with the Optus hack? The email had your credit card details written in it?

    • GordonD on 29/09/2022 - 15:24
      +4

      The email address used. I have an email account that lets me use lots of aliases, then create new ones as required. And this is the alias I used on my Optus account.

      • Mibo on 29/09/2022 - 15:44

        did you use [email protected] ?

        • GordonD on 29/09/2022 - 15:45
          -7

          Absolutely not.

          • Davo1111 on 29/09/2022 - 17:15

            @GordonD: so every time you start up a new service… you create a new gmail account?

            • kerfuffle on 29/09/2022 - 18:22
              +2

              @Davo1111: Don’t need to; just use alias as per Mibo’s comment

              • USER DC on 29/09/2022 - 18:59

                @kerfuffle: With some providers it can get pretty messy, mostly when you have to reply back to the provider or send them an email. (AMAZON is a good example, they will say that you aren't the account holder etc.)

                • GordonD on 30/09/2022 - 07:26

                  @USER DC: My email provider lets me select which alias I'm replying as. But, yes, I've made the mistake of replying with my default email address, and it has confused communication by them seeing someone else as having replied to them.

                  • USER DC on 30/09/2022 - 10:15

                    @GordonD: Who gmail ?

                    cannot reply with the new allias in gmail I think

              • Davo1111 on 29/09/2022 - 23:08
                +1

                @kerfuffle: I'm asking because Gordon said "absolutely not"

  • Jimothy Wongingtons on 29/09/2022 - 15:21
    +3

    I’ve come to accept it’s probably best from here on out just to call the people (google the number to verify the contact number is legit) if there is any chance the email sounds legit. While there are a lot of very poorly executed and obvious scams there are also a LOT of legit looking ones.

  • [Deactivated] on 29/09/2022 - 15:26
    +2

    But it does confirm Optus info is out there, info that wasn't in those 10,200 leaked ones, info about past customers, and its being used.

    yup. even if you are not one of the 10 k, you should be changing details. no one should trust the word of the hacker that he just "deleted it". sooner or later, your info will probably be sold, if it hasn't been sold already.

  • HairyChickens on 29/09/2022 - 15:43

    Do you guys thing it's safe now to sign up with Optus/GOMO for sim slutting or steer clear?

    • holdenmg on 29/09/2022 - 15:47
      +1

      Why sign up?
      "They" will probably call you.
      Big clue if they don't ask for ID because we already have it… Lol

      • BewareOfThe Dog on 29/09/2022 - 19:25
        +1

        Or they ask, are you sure you are john Citizen DL 98765432? DOB 1/1/1992

  • cerealJay on 29/09/2022 - 17:44
    +2

    But it does confirm…

    It doesn't confirm anything, and your post is confusing.

    McAfee scam emails are common because people who buy McAfee know their subscription will expire one day. Scammers leverage the expectation of expiry with "click here to renew your anti-virus" emails.

    What information of yours was in the scam email? Are you saying your email was one you only used for Optus and never ever used it for anything else ever in your life? So your email was unique and impossible to guess such as "[email protected]" ??

    • Change My Mind on 29/09/2022 - 19:35

      The email will include your full name to an obscure dummy email address.

      I can confirm this… It sucks, that hacker lied and sold the information already. I got the email on the second day of the hack. Nothing else appears on haveibeenpwned, and the dummy address is not used for anything else and is deliberately obscured to the point that I would have forgotten about it if I didn't accidentally save the password for one of the accounts in Chrome.

      • cerealJay on 29/09/2022 - 20:09

        None of that makes any sense.

        • archiexyz on 30/09/2022 - 13:01

          It would explain the change of heart if the hacker sold it for more than a million that they didn't want the million from Optus anymore

  • BewareOfThe Dog on 29/09/2022 - 19:23

    I've been getting these for a few weeks now, on an email address that as far as I know had nothing to do with Optus, other than I was using Optus perhaps at the time (I would have been using my phone on Amaysim, for this email), but I doubt that.

  • AndyC1 on 29/09/2022 - 19:54
    +3

    Have you checked the email at https://haveibeenpwned.com/ ?

  • SmiTTy on 29/09/2022 - 21:04
    +3

    I've been getting those McAfee emails recently too.. But I started receiving them before the optus hack. And I haven't been an optus customer for about 20 years… So I doubt it's related in my case. You may want to consider the possibility that it isn't for yours either.

    • GordonD on 30/09/2022 - 07:29

      If that is the case I will definitely consider that possibility. Because whilst I did use the email alias for my Optus account, they weren't the absolute only organisation I used it with. And I haven't used it for years.

    • chuderino on 30/09/2022 - 08:48

      I got them earlier this year too and I got similar ones for Norton. Have never used either.

  • Myone888 on 30/09/2022 - 14:11

    I was Optus past customer. Why do the hack they keep my personal info? They shud have deleted it or they have untoward intentions!

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join