Scammers targeting North County victims with refund schemes, police say

Atascadero Police issue alert about subscription service email scams

– The Atascadero Police Department has reported an increase in email scams involving Norton, GeekSquad, and other service providers. These emails reportedly falsely claim that an account has been charged for a subscription service and instruct recipients to call a number to dispute the charge. When individuals call the number, scammers trick them into providing bank account information to “return the money.” The scammers then deceive the victims into believing they have refunded too much money and request the excess be returned via wire transfer or cash.

The police department offers the following advice to protect against these scams:

• Verify all purchases by checking bank statements for any suspicious charges.
• Be cautious if you do not remember signing up for a service.
• Contact companies directly using official contact information to dispute charges, rather than relying on email messages.
• Protect your computer by not allowing remote access from unknown sources.
• If someone claims to refund your money, they should issue a check. If they have your account information to charge you, they can use it to return the money.