Tech Support Scammers Try to Use Spotify Forums to Trick Users

McAfee

Dec 12, 2017

3 MIN READ

We’ve seen scammers imitate Amazon, PayPal and other major companies this holiday season. And it seems that the scams just keep coming, as a collection of big name companies are now being mimicked on the forums of a legitimate one: Spotify. It’s been discovered that tech support scammers have been using Spotify forums to inject their phone numbers into the first page of the Google & Bing search results in order to offer fake services.

Not only do these offers make it harder for those who have valid questions to use Spotify’s forums, they also allow tech support scammers to rank extremely well within internet searches. What’s more – they can trick unknowing callers into purchasing unnecessary or even malicious services and software.

The tech support scams being posted to Spotify feign to be from organizations such as McAfee, Apple, Microsoft, Norton, Tinder, Linksys, AOL, Turbotax, Coinbase, Amazon, and more. The sheer volume of scammers can be largely attributed to a lapse in proper verification, as Spotify does not require email verification before allowing a user to post. That means any fake email address can still post on these forums. However, the good news is — while the number of scammers out there is concerning, Spotify has acknowledged the problem and has said they’re in the process of working on a fix.

So now the next question is – what can you as a user do to ensure you avoid the influx of scams hitting the internet this holiday season? You can start by following these security tips:

Go directly to the source. It’s a good security rule of thumb: when you need to contact support services, always go directly to a company’s website to be sure you’re working with the real deal.
Do your homework. Before engaging with any service or software, always look into its legitimacy. Google the number provided and read online reviews — if something comes up that seems remotely fishy, avoid interacting with the company entirely.
Stay secure while you browse. Sometimes it’s hard to identify whether a website or a post is full of malicious activity or is being operated by a cybercriminal. So, add an extra layer of security to your browser, and surf the web safely by utilizing McAfee WebAdvisor.

And, of course, stay on top of the latest consumer and mobile security threats by following me and @McAfee_Home on Twitter, and ‘Like’ us on Facebook.