Geek Squad scam emails: how to spot a fake renewal, and what to do if you called

If an email says Geek Squad is charging you hundreds of dollars and gives you a number to call, don’t call it. Check your card or bank statement for the charge, then sign in at BestBuy.com (type the address yourself) to see whether any plan is due to renew. If there’s neither, treat it as a scam and delete it.

If you or someone you love already called the number, skip to what to do now.

The one-minute check

1. Use nothing from the email. Not the phone number, not the link, not the attached invoice. Some versions put the number inside a PDF.
2. Check your card and bank statements. If you’re told you have a charge for a tech support plan you didn’t agree to, call the number on the back of your card and ask them to reverse it. No charge is good, but if the email says the charge is still coming, do step 3.
3. Check your Best Buy account. Sign in at BestBuy.com and open Memberships, Protection Plans and Subscriptions. Best Buy lists every plan you have there. No account, no plan, nothing due to renew: it’s a scam. If you’d rather talk to a person, call Best Buy at 1-888-BEST BUY (1-888-237-8289), the number on its own site.
4. Delete it, or report it first.

Do these checks on a phone or computer nobody else has had access to. If someone has already been inside your computer, the screen may not be telling you the truth, so call your bank on the number on your card instead.

What a fake Geek Squad email looks like

Fake Geek Squad scams have been happening for years. In FTC reports for 2023, Best Buy and Geek Squad together were the most impersonated company in the country, with about 52,000 reports, ahead of Amazon. The details change from wave to wave, but the shape stays the same.

The message says your Geek Squad protection, subscription or membership just renewed, or is about to, for hundreds of dollars. Recent versions have asked for $359.99 and $489.99. It usually comes by email, sometimes by text, and lately as an unexpected Google Calendar event with the “bill” inside. And it gives you a short window to call and cancel or claim a refund, usually 12 to 24 hours.

Two things make the newer versions harder to spot:

• They can come from a real company’s address. Scammers have pushed fake Geek Squad invoices through real invoicing services, including QuickBooks, PayPal and Housecall Pro, which helps them slip past spam filters. The one Fox News examined in May 2026 came through a real payment company’s account, one the company said was a test account that couldn’t take payments. But scammers didn’t need it to take payments, they needed you to call, so checking the sender isn’t enough.
• They look like a bill you might really have. Best Buy does sell memberships that renew every year (more on that below), so the email doesn’t have to be absurd to work.

Here’s the shape of a typical one:

The amount is there to sting. The deadline and the phone number are there to get you dialing before you check anything.

What a real Best Buy renewal looks like

A renewal notice isn’t automatically a scam, so it helps to know the real thing. Best Buy sells two paid memberships, My Best Buy Total at $199.99 a year and My Best Buy Plus at $29.99 a year, plus tax. Both renew automatically every year until you cancel, and Best Buy says you can cancel either one on your account’s Plans and Subscriptions page or by calling 1-888-BEST BUY.

Protection plans on individual products are less tidy. Best Buy’s FAQ says Geek Squad Protection Plans are not renewable, but its own billing page lists annual renewals and monthly charges for some Geek Squad products and protection. So don’t judge by the product name in the email. Check the specific plan in your account.

Best Buy also sends real emails. For example, if you bought a protection plan recently, Best Buy says you’d have received a “for your records” email with your plan number shortly afterward.

So the question isn’t whether Best Buy emails people, it’s whether you can see the charge or a plan that’s due to renew anywhere other than the email.

• Where you can confirm it. The real thing: your BestBuy.com account and your card statement. The scam: only the email, and the number in it.
• How you cancel. The real thing: in your account, or by calling a number from Best Buy’s own site. The scam: “Call this number within 24 hours.”
• How they want to be paid. The real thing: the card on your account. Best Buy says its gift cards can’t be used to pay bills. The scam: gift cards, wire or bank transfers, crypto or a payment app.

Having a real membership can make the fake more believable. One woman had a real Geek Squad account and had renewed it a few months earlier, so when a $349.99 renewal email arrived, the timing didn’t add up. She called Best Buy’s customer service herself. They already knew about the scam and asked her to report it.

Does Geek Squad call, text or email you?

In short: yes, selectively. Here’s what Best Buy says:

• Like most companies, Best Buy generally doesn’t make unsolicited calls to customers. If someone calls out of the blue claiming to be Best Buy or Geek Squad, treat it with suspicion.
• Trusted brands won’t contact you asking for personal information or payment about a support issue unless you contacted them first. Even then, Best Buy’s advice is to hang up and call its public support line yourself, not a number the caller gives you.
• Most legitimate companies, Best Buy included, won’t ask you to “verify” personal information through an email.

The same scam also shows up as a pop-up on your computer claiming to be from Geek Squad. The FTC says real security pop-ups never ask you to call a phone number, so one that does is a scam.

The real Geek Squad phone number, and where to get it

Best Buy’s main numbers, from its own pages:

• Best Buy customer service, memberships and billing: 1-888-BEST BUY (1-888-237-8289)
• Geek Squad and protection plans: 1-800-433-5778
• Your own plans, online: sign in at BestBuy.com and open Memberships, Protection Plans and Subscriptions

Best Buy lists a few other numbers for specific kinds of charges. If a Geek Squad charge really is on your statement and you don’t recognize it, Best Buy’s Geek Squad charges page matches each billing name to the number to call.

Be careful searching for Best Buy’s number. The FTC warns that tech support scammers try to get their websites into search results and run their own ads, hoping you’ll call. When I checked in October 2026, several customer questions on Best Buy’s own website showed up in Google with phone numbers that didn’t match the numbers on Best Buy’s help pages. They were posted by other users, not by Best Buy. Under the question “How do I cancel my geek squad membership,” the second answer was nothing but a toll-free number repeated three times, labeled as Best Buy and Geek Squad support. Six people had marked it helpful.

A search result proves nothing, and neither does an answer from another customer, even on bestbuy.com. Type the address yourself and take the number from Best Buy’s contact or help pages.

What happens if you call the number

The FTC lays out the usual sequence: the scammer asks for remote access to your computer, takes you to a website that looks real, and has you enter your bank or card details to “process your refund.” Then there’s been an error. They refunded you too much, and they need you to send the difference back with gift cards, a wire transfer, a bank transfer, crypto or a payment app.

Here’s how it went for a 73-year-old man in western New York in 2025, as the Justice Department described it in August 2026. An email said his “Geek Squad subscription” would renew within 12 hours for $329.99 unless he called. He called. A “Geek Squad supervisor” told him he’d get a $440 refund. Then the story changed: $30,000 had been refunded by accident, and he needed to return $28,000. He could see a “pending” $30,000 deposit in his own account. So he withdrew $28,000 in cash and handed it to two people at a spot they chose. The next day, the $30,000 was gone; it had never cleared.

Very little about a call like that feels like a scam while it’s happening. First they’re fixing a billing mistake for you, then you’re helping them fix theirs. But the “overpayment” is never new money. The FTC says scammers fake a transaction to make it look like you were overpaid, and the FBI has seen them move a victim’s own money between their accounts, say from savings to checking, so it looks like a deposit arrived. And while they’re connected to your computer, the FTC warns, they can install spyware, steal your online banking login and drain your account.

One rule covers all of it: never send money to someone who says they refunded you too much. Not by gift card, wire, crypto or cash. If you think a real refund landed by mistake, hang up, call your bank on the number you know, and let them sort it out.

Some calls go further. The FBI calls it the “phantom hacker” scam: the fake tech support agent says your accounts have been hacked, then hands you to a second scammer posing as your bank or a government agency, who tells you to move your money somewhere “safe.” The FTC’s answer is plain: never move or transfer your money to “protect it.” Only a scammer will tell you to do that. Some of these end like the New York case, with someone collecting cash or gold in person. In 2025 the FBI logged about 725 of these courier complaints across all ages, with $311.8 million in reported losses. If anyone tells you a courier is coming for cash or gold, hand over nothing and call your local police.

None of this is about carelessness. Tech and customer support scams cost people 60+ about $1 billion in 2025, second only to investment fraud in the FBI’s count. The people on the other end of the line make these calls all day, and they’re professionals.

If you already called or paid

Don’t feel embarrassed or ashamed; you’re far from the only person this has happened to. Do these in order:

1. End the contact. Hang up and stop replying. If they’re connected to your computer, disconnect it from the internet (turn off Wi-Fi or pull the cable), then shut it down. Don’t call back to argue.
2. Stop the money. Call whoever handled the payment immediately on a number you look up yourself: the back of your card, a statement, or the company’s own app or website. Ask them to stop or reverse it, and ask for your money back.
   • Bank or card: tell them a scammer had access to your computer or your account details, so your online banking login may be compromised. Ask them to watch for new payments, and mention any “refund” the caller showed you. For a wire or bank transfer, ask the bank to request a recall right away; the FBI says time is of the essence. If you see a transfer you didn’t make, say so plainly: “I did not make this transfer.” If you sent it yourself because you were tricked, say that instead. The bank needs the true story to help.
   • Payment app or money transfer service (PayPal, Zelle, Western Union and the like): report it to that company too, not only your bank.
   • Gift cards: call the company that issued the cards and ask for a refund. Keep the cards and the receipts.
3. Lock your accounts from a clean device. Change your email password first, then your bank’s, then anywhere you reused the old one. Turn on two-step verification where it’s offered. Don’t wait for the computer to be fixed before doing this.
4. Clean up the computer. Uninstall any program the caller had you install, which Microsoft says to do after giving scammers access to your device. Then update your security software, run a scan and delete anything it flags. If you’d rather have help, go to someone you choose yourself. Stores that sell computers offer in-person support, and that includes the real Geek Squad desk at a Best Buy store.
5. Keep everything. Don’t delete the email. Save the number they used, screenshots, and every transaction and reference number. The FBI asks tech support scam victims to keep all original documentation.
6. Report it (see where, below). If money went out, file at ic3.gov the same day if you can, with the transaction details. If you’re 60+, or helping someone who is, the National Elder Fraud Hotline at 833-372-8311 (weekdays 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern) can help with the rest.
7. Expect a follow-up call. The FTC says scammers buy, sell and trade lists of people who have already been scammed successfully. If anyone calls offering to help you get your money back, hang up and call your bank on the number you know.

For the full first hour, including how to ask for money back by how you paid, see what to do if you’ve been scammed.

If your mom, dad or another loved one got the email

The best thing that can happen is the forward: a screenshot, or a text that says “is this real?” For any uncertainty, the best thing is for a target to talk to someone trusted, like a friend, a family member, or a neighbor.

In the comments on the FTC’s alert, one woman opened the attached PDF without a second thought, because she gets emailed invoices all day for work. Then she forwarded it to her husband and asked if they owed it. He noticed it had been sent from a Gmail address. A second pair of eyes caught what the email was built to hide.

How you answer their forward decides whether you get the next one. Skip the “how could you think this was real.” Try:

Then agree on one rule you’ll both use: nobody calls a number from a bill they weren’t expecting. Check the statement, then the account.

If your parent already called, the steps above are still theirs to take. Offer to sit with them while they make the calls, and let them make them.

One line to keep

Knowing that line and using it when a $489.99 charge lands in your inbox are two different things. The scammers rehearse their side all day; most of us never rehearse ours. That’s what ScamPrep is: practice emails, texts and calls that feel like the real thing, with friendly coaching after a slip. How it works. For the bigger picture, including the accounts worth locking down together, see how to protect your parent from scams.

How to report a fake Geek Squad email

Forwarding it takes a minute, and it’s worth doing even if you never called. If you lost money or gave someone access to your computer, keep the email and your notes until you’ve reported it.

• Best Buy: forward it to abuse@BestBuy.com.
• The Anti-Phishing Working Group: forward it to reportphishing@apwg.org.
• A scam text: forward it to 7726 (SPAM).
• The FTC: ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
• The FBI: ic3.gov, if you lost money or gave someone access to your computer.
• Your email app: mark it as phishing or junk.
• The invoicing service, if it came through a real one like PayPal or QuickBooks: report it on that company’s own website.