Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station officials are investigating a report of “theft by false pretense” after a Best Buy customer was scammed through a fake technical support number she called for her new computer purchase, according to court records.
The victim told station deputies she bought a new computer from the Best Buy off Bouquet Canyon Road, and then drove home to set up her new tech, the record stated.
The victim stated that she called a number she was given for the “Geek Squad,” which ended up having an 806 number, the area code for a region in north Texas, per courthouse documents.
The Geek Squad’s actual national customer service number has an 888 area code.
In the detective’s report, the victim stated she did not recall where she found the fake number she had for the national IT service.
The Federal Trade Commission issued an alert about the “fake Geek Squad renewal scam” a few years ago, with related online security services like LifeLock issuing alerts about it in their online-security blog.
Best Buy’s website also has a page that provides information and advice for customers on how to recognize and avoid scams, such as the Geek Squad scam as well as gift card scams. That page can be found at tinyurl.com/5xws8ade.
With her computer plugged in and connected to the internet, the victim granted remote access to the person she thought was an IT support professional, according to the court records.
The remote person helped the victim connect her printer to the computer, and then she was transferred to another representative, according to the detective’s statements in the search warrant affidavit.
The second representative told the victim that her Geek Squad membership had expired, and she would have to purchase a new one, according to the victim in her report.
The victim was asked to email the supposed “Geek Squad” a picture of a blank check to a Gmail account, and soon thereafter noticed a suspicious charge on her account for more than $410. It also didn’t match her previous legitimate Geek Squad transactions, according to her statements to the detective in a court report.
The victim sought to dispute the charges with Chase, and she was told the transaction was a scam and closed the account, according to statements from station officials. Detectives indicated they are now seeking the bank’s records to determine who took control of the funds in an attempt to track down the scammers.
There was no information available regarding an arrest as of Wednesday afternoon, but the incident is still under investigation.
The October 2022 FTC alert warns, “If you call the number — which you should not do — the scammer might ask for remote access to your computer. If you give it to them, they can install spyware programs on your computer, steal your online banking credentials and drain money from your bank account.”
Victims are encouraged to report potential scams to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. The FTC also offers advice for those who suspect they might have been a victim of a scam or had their information compromised: bit.ly/4kQRroz.
