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Hayton
Reliable Contributor
Reliable Contributor
Message 1 of 4

Email about McAfee renewal

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Note : I've edited the subject line. It's my thread, I can do that. Of course I have to do the same for the replies ...

I received an email supposedly from McAfee about renewing my subscription. Now, as far as  know, my ISP provides me with McAfee as part of my broadband package, so I looked into this email. It looks like it might be a fake.

The text of the email is below; information from the email headers below that.

Suspect renewal email.PNG

Note that the URL hiding behind the "McAfee Renewal Center" link is (I've obfuscated it for safety)

"https://secure[dot]livechatinc[dot]com/licence/9130465/open_chat.cgi "

- which brings up what may be, perhaps, a chat link to the McAfee Renewal Service; I haven't used this before. Comments are welcome as to whether this is the genuine article or not.

McAfee chat maybe.PNG

I am not prepared to put my trust in this Chat service nor this web page because evidence from the email headers strongly suggests that it was not sent by McAfee. Again, if anyone else has seen this email and can verify it as genuine, please say so.

First, there are two sender domains in the email headers.

The first of these is "subscription@mcafeerenewal[dot]com" - a domain which, according to DomainTools, was registered by BigRock Solutions only in 2013 and the ownership records for which are hidden behind Privacy Protect LLC. Not a hint of McAfee ownership.

The second domain - the ultimate sender - is "antiviruspaymentspaid@gmail.com". which is unknown to Google. The IP address maps to a Google server, that's as much as I can find out.

So, is this email genuine?

     I don't know. It looks very much like a fake, a phishing attempt.

Do I trust it?

     No. An email from McAfee needs more than a picture of the McAfee logo to make it genuine.

If I ignore it, will I lose my McAfee subscription?

     Maybe. Wait and see. But if it does turn out to be genuine then McAfee are at fault for sending out an apparent phishing email.

Has anyone else received one of these? If so, did you use the link in the email, and what happened?

1 Solution

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Hayton
Reliable Contributor
Reliable Contributor
Message 4 of 4

Re: Email about McAfee renewal

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Oops. My subscription has indeed expired, so this email may well be genuine. It still looks like a fake, but, okay, I'll take it as an email from McAfee.

I had a free subscription from Sky, but I switched to BT. From the look of it Sky kept on renewing my subscription after I left them. I think I'll keep quiet about that, but presumably someone at Sky noticed and pulled the plug.

So I need to get a renewal pretty soon. Oh well.

I'll mark this Answered and lock it. Nothing more to say as far as I'm concerned.

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3 Replies
Peacekeeper
Message 2 of 4

Re: Has anyone else had a suspicious email about McAfee renewal?

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What does your product show regarding the subscription end date?  Didn't you get a free trial copy from the T3s as well as the ISP branded 1?

    thoughts?

Hayton
Reliable Contributor
Reliable Contributor
Message 3 of 4

Re: Email about McAfee renewal

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I will look into this. I am still wondering about that email, even if it's genuine it doesn't look it.

Hayton
Reliable Contributor
Reliable Contributor
Message 4 of 4

Re: Email about McAfee renewal

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Oops. My subscription has indeed expired, so this email may well be genuine. It still looks like a fake, but, okay, I'll take it as an email from McAfee.

I had a free subscription from Sky, but I switched to BT. From the look of it Sky kept on renewing my subscription after I left them. I think I'll keep quiet about that, but presumably someone at Sky noticed and pulled the plug.

So I need to get a renewal pretty soon. Oh well.

I'll mark this Answered and lock it. Nothing more to say as far as I'm concerned.

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