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shiloh
Contributor
Message 1 of 6

Desktop pop ups - McAfee or phishing?

Just come off a support call with a McAfee tech support engineer - I've recently (past couple of weeks) been getting desktop pop ups supposedly from McAfee offering me GBP40 cashback on subscriptions. He seemed to think I would have seen an option to dismiss these pop ups, however, the only option I had was to click "OK" and then be taken to a McAfee promo website. Looks very much like phishing to me but I can't be sure, has anyone else suddenly started getting these?

If it's McAfee pushing these out, I'd be very surprised - surely the best way to create suspicion and worry in the consumer's mind is to start putting random pop ups on people's desktops?

5 Replies
exbrit
MVP
MVP
Message 2 of 6

Re: Desktop pop ups - McAfee or phishing?

They could also be being offered by your ISP or computer maker.

exbrit
MVP
MVP
Message 3 of 6

Re: Desktop pop ups - McAfee or phishing?

Another thought:  go to Control Panel > Programs and Feeatures and look for an entry called McAfee Security Scan Plus.  It's an advertising tool that downloads optionally with 3rd party products (Adobe - anything, for example).  If found uninstall it.

Hayton
Reliable Contributor
Reliable Contributor
Message 4 of 6

Re: Desktop pop ups - McAfee or phishing?

I doubt SSP has anything to do with this. The poster says the pop-up offers "GBP40 cashback on subscriptions". That means that this has geo-location built into it, and i don't think SSP is as sophisticated as that. Now, if it were offering a US-dollar incentive, that might fit the SSP theory.

The messages may well be fake, given the absence of any way of dismissing the pop-ups, and the "McAfee page" could be a phishing page. Can't really say without knowing what the domain address is, and this is where WOT, McAfee Secure, and browser plug-ins such as "IP Address and Domain Information" come in useful.

exbrit
MVP
MVP
Message 5 of 6

Re: Desktop pop ups - McAfee or phishing?

True, thanks Hayton.

selvan
McAfee Retired
McAfee Retired
Message 6 of 6

Re: Desktop pop ups - McAfee or phishing?

Jonatha Swift wrote:

Just come off a support call with a McAfee tech support engineer -

Please post back the Ticket number or Service Request number that you received from Tech Support Engineer so that I can investigate from my end.

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