Forum Topic

dubious email help

Ive been getting emails everyday on PC and mobile from 'norton' 'mcafee?'saying my protection is up for renewal, computer in danger. Ive never used them. First I just deleted them then I tried sending to spam and noticed that each time they were from a different email address, and they just keep coming. I almost pressed 'unsubscribe' but thought that possibly this might be like a trojan horse and their way in. Any ideas appreciated.

Stephen Gould ● 2082d19 Comments

Whatever you do, don't reply in any way. That just tells them that the address is live (even unsubscribe).Spam only gets rid of that sender's address. With multiple addresses either be patient and delete each message without replying or you can try blocking them (look for options). It's not likely that they'll use the same sender's address twice but at least if they do you won't have to delete it.You may find eventually that you may be getting email from your own address. If you do, try the website "Have you been pawned". It will check if your address has been hacked. If it does, change your password. Above all be patient, they're just a pain.

Jeffrey Cope ● 2082d

I've been getting these daily for a couple of months now!

Rebecca Hobson ● 2082d

For email or telephone scam, never reply to either. Just delete or put the phone down without replying.

Jeffrey Cope ● 2082d

I've been getting those too, both Norton and McAfee and also Total AV.  Like you, I've never used those products, though I think a free year's McAfee was on my laptop when I bought it, but I never used it and uninstalled it straight away.They are all sent to my Virgin Media address, and are mostly not picked up by VM's second-rate spam filters.

Richard Jennings ● 2082d

Thanks Jeffrey, but what about the 'unsubscribe' Is that pointless?

Stephen Gould ● 2082d

Richard. Interesting. I first noticed them months ago in one of my family's, pretty much unused, VM accounts. It only came up on mine after I sent email to that address.

Stephen Gould ● 2082d

Mine are to a Virginmedia email also....

Rebecca Hobson ● 2082d

I only use my virgin email for a few things... but I get tons of spam email to it?

Rebecca Hobson ● 2082d

"I first noticed them months ago in one of my family's, pretty much unused, VM accounts. It only came up on mine after I sent email to that address."Interesting. It might be coincidence, or it might mean that the VM address has been hacked. The owner should change the password.Your earlier question re "unsubscribe" links...  You are right to be wary.  I had a "Norton" mail this afternoon from a Panama-registered .com address which had an Unsubscribe link leading to a Swiss-registered (.ch) address.  That link, even when cleaned up to the basic domain (naturkarten.ch), produced a response from my browser (Avast Secure Browser) that said there was malware on the site, and declined to take me there.

Richard Jennings ● 2082d

I think this may have been posted before, but this website, Chiswick W4.com always shows Not Secure on my browser. Fortunately I don't get much spam etc in my mail. (famous last words).Do others get this notification?

Bob Guyett ● 2082d

Yes Firefox often says that.

Jennifer Selig ● 2082d

If it was a legit email then unsubscribe would work.But it’s not legit ... so at best unsubscribe would do nothing at all.

Andrew Jones ● 2082d

Chiswick W4 is "http" and not "https" like every single other site - or at least every other professionally run site.That's why Chrome gives the "Not Secure" warning.I really like ChiswickW4, but their platform is terribly out of date.

Ed Saper ● 2082d

The best way to ascertain if it is at least coming from Norton, Mcafee etc is to click on the ‘from’ at the top of the email. A pop up box will show the actual email address it has come from.  Obviously if the email address ends in something like Norton.com or Norton.co.uk it will have come from them.  If not it’s almost certainly bogus.  This is obviously a useful check on other emails too.  eg HMRC!  Richard

Richard Bryson ● 2082d

Further to my last comment, I too have had one in from Norton and the ‘From’ Just said ‘Urgent’. Clicking on this, the email address is actually came from was  c512s@dc2.online.net so obviously bogus!

Richard Bryson ● 2082d

"The best way to ascertain if it is at least coming from Norton, Mcafee etc is to click on the ‘from’ at the top of the email. A pop up box will show the actual email address it has come from."That's a useful facility, but it depends on the software you are using to read your mail. What are you using?

Richard Jennings ● 2082d

Hi Richard - I think it should work on most if not all platforms.  I can do this on Outlook on my desk top, my iPhone and my iPad - Richard

Richard Bryson ● 2082d

Quite a lot to think about here. I would think that even if I change passwords, I'm still going to get these emails.Another strange thing is that when i tried to show these to a friend, they have automatically disappeared from my trash/recycling folder. Would forwarding them to phishing@virginmedia.com help?

Stephen Gould ● 2081d

Hi Stephen - I'm with Virgin Media too, but with the sheer volume of Phishing emails going through they wouldn't have the resources to do anything even if you did forward them to Virginmedia.  Also the email addresses that these phishing emails come from keep changing, making them almost impossible to block.  The only way really is to have very good anti virus/spam software. https://www.techradar.com/uk/best/best-antivirus

Richard Bryson ● 2081d