McAfee Popup Scam

The McAfee popup scam is a common scheme proliferated through countless dubious websites. The fraudsters try to use the name of the reputable anti-malware and security solutions providers to make their false and completely made-up claims and alerts appear more legitimate. It should be immediately obvious that the actual McAfee company has no connection to any of these untrustworthy pages that abuse its name, logo and branding.

The goals of the con artists could differ from page to page, and users should always exercise caution when seeing seemingly important alerts or messages delivered by random websites. In some cases, the dubious page could be trying to earn illegitimate commission fees by scaring users into buying a subscription for a product. Others could be pushing intrusive PUPs (Potentially Unwanted Programs) under the guise of a security tool that could help users deal with whatever fake threat the hoax page claims to have detected.

Another alternative is that the McAfee popup scam could be a part of a phishing scheme. Users who interact with the page could be redirected to a dedicated phishing portal masquerading as a legitimate login or purchase page. Any information entered into the page will become available to the fraudsters. The data can include phone numbers, home addresses, emails, passwords and even banking details. Afterward, these people could try to assume control over various accounts belonging to the compromised user or simply package and sell the data to third parties.