Geek Squad Email Scam: Fake Invoice or Renewal? What to Do

An email or text says Geek Squad charged you, or is about to charge you, hundreds of dollars to renew a membership, and you have 24 hours to call and cancel. The FTC calls it a fake Geek Squad renewal scam: the number reaches a scammer, not Best Buy. Here’s how to check with the real company, what to do based on how far it went, and how to report it.

Is the Geek Squad email real? How to check

Don’t use the phone number, links or attachment in the message. The FTC says to contact the company using a phone number you know is real. Then:

1. Look for the charge in your credit card and bank accounts. If there’s no tech support charge, the FTC says, that tells you the message was a scam. Best Buy’s Statement Charges page shows how real Geek Squad charges appear, such as GEEKSQUAD RENEW.
2. Check your Best Buy account. Type bestbuy.com into your browser, sign in, and open “Memberships, Protection Plans and Subscriptions,” where Best Buy says your plans are listed.
3. Call Best Buy yourself at 1-888-BEST BUY (1-888-237-8289) or use a contact method on BestBuy.com, as Best Buy advises. Be careful searching for a “Geek Squad number”: the FBI says numbers in “sponsored” results are often boosted by advertising.
4. Found a charge you didn’t make? Ask your card issuer or bank to reverse it (FTC).

You don’t need to be a customer to get one: the FTC describes notices about an account you never opened. In 2023, more people reported Geek Squad impersonation to the FTC than any other impersonated company, with reports up more than 100-fold from 2020 to 2023, the agency reported in April 2024.

Red flags of a fake Geek Squad invoice or renewal

• A charge of hundreds of dollars. In 2022, the FBI saw amounts commonly between $300 and $500.
• A renewal “due” within 24 hours. The FBI’s example subject line: “Service Renewal from [Company Name].”
• A phone number to call. That’s the trap. The FBI says it may look like a toll-free 800 or 888 number.
• An invoice you don’t recognize. The FTC lists this among common phishing tricks and warns that attachments and links might install malware.
• A generic greeting, like “Dear Customer,” which the FTC lists as a sign of phishing.
• An official-looking sender. That proves nothing: the FBI says these emails come from domains that “seem authentic.”
• A request to “verify” personal information. Best Buy says most legitimate companies, including Best Buy, will never request personal information that way.

What to do now: find your situation

What happened	Do this first
You got the email but didn’t call or click	Don’t respond. Check for a real charge, report the email, then delete it.
You called the number	Hang up, don’t call back, and write down what you shared.
You let them connect to your computer	Disconnect it from the internet and stop logging into accounts on it.
You paid, or gave card or bank details	Call your bank or card issuer’s fraud line now.
They say they “refunded too much”	Don’t send anything back. Call your bank yourself.

The scam recovery checklist can turn your answers into a step-by-step list.

If you got the email and did nothing

1. Don’t call, click, reply or open the attachment. The FBI says not to contact the phone number in an email.
2. Check for a real charge, as described above.
3. Report it (see below), then delete it. If you find no charge, the FTC says to ignore and delete it.
4. Opened the attachment or clicked a link? Update your security software, run a scan and remove anything it flags, the FTC says. More: what to do if you clicked a phishing link.

If you called the number

Hung up without giving them information or access? There’s nothing to cancel. Don’t call back, and report the number. The danger is the next step: the FTC says the scammer might ask for remote access to your computer and, if you allow it, install spyware, steal your online banking login and drain your bank account.

If you shared something:

• Your Social Security number: follow the steps at IdentityTheft.gov, as the FTC advises. Full steps, including a credit freeze: I gave a scammer my Social Security number.
• A password: change it, plus anywhere else you use it, and turn on two-factor authentication (FTC).
• Card or bank details: see the payment steps below.

If you let them into your computer

The FBI says scammers ask victims to log into their bank to confirm the “refund,” capture the login, then lock them out or black out the screen while wiring money away.

1. End the call and disconnect the computer from the internet. Remote access software only requires an internet connection, the FBI notes.
2. Stop logging into accounts on that computer, especially banking and shopping (FTC).
3. Call your bank’s fraud line if you logged in while they were connected, to stop any unauthorized transactions (Best Buy). Use the number on your card.
4. Update your security software, run a scan and delete anything it flags. Then change your passwords and turn on two-factor authentication (FTC).

Full steps: I let a scammer into my computer.

If you paid them or gave card or bank details

Payments that work like cash are hard to get back, but the FTC says it’s always worth asking the company you used. Its first steps:

How you paid, or what they got	First step
Credit or debit card	Call the issuer (number on the back of the card) and ask for a refund.
Bank account numbers or your banking login	Call your bank to stop any unauthorized transactions (Best Buy).
Bank transfer or Zelle	Report it to your bank and ask it to reverse the payment.
Payment app (PayPal, Venmo, Cash App)	Report it to the app and ask it to reverse the payment.
Wire transfer company	Report it, say a scammer tricked you, and ask for a refund.
Gift cards	Call the card company (number on the back). Keep the card and receipt.
Crypto or a Bitcoin ATM	Tell the exchange or ATM operator it was fraud and ask it to reverse it.
Cash by mail or a shipping company	For U.S. mail, call the U.S. Postal Inspection Service at 1-877-876-2455; for a fee, it can intercept an undelivered package. Otherwise, call the carrier right away.

If they said they “refunded too much”

The FTC says scammers ask for your bank information to “refund” you, then fake a transaction so it looks like they refunded too much, and tell you to pay back the difference with gift cards. Other versions demand a wire, bank transfer, crypto or payment app (FTC). Some say they’ll lose their job unless you return it, sometimes as cash hidden in a magazine and shipped.

What you saw may not be real. Once connected, scammers make it look like too much money was refunded, the FTC says. And if money really did land in your account, the FBI says scammers may call it a “mistake” and ask you to send it back by wire or share more banking details, which they then use to empty your accounts.

• Don’t send anything back, in any form.
• Hang up and call your bank at the number on your card. Ask what really moved, and don’t check on the computer they used.
• Got a “refund” check for more than you’re owed? Don’t deposit it or send back “the difference.” The FTC says that’s always a scam, and a bank can take weeks to find out a check was fake.
• Already sent money? Use the payment table above.

Same trick, other names

The FTC says fake renewal notices also use names like McAfee and Norton. PayPal warns that fake invoices can arrive through PayPal itself, with an alarming note and a fake customer service number. Don’t call it; log in to PayPal yourself to check. See Scammed on PayPal? Geek Squad’s name also turns up on fake security pop-ups; real ones never ask you to call a phone number, the FTC says.

Businesses get them too. In May 2026, the FTC warned that fake invoices for things like tech support can arrive in the mail, appear to come from Geek Squad and carry a “past due” notice. It advises checking every invoice closely against vendors you actually work with.

Can I get my money back?

It depends on how the money left, and how fast you report it.

• Cards. Federal law protects you from unauthorized use of your credit and debit cards, and the FTC says to ask for a refund even if a scammer tricked you into paying (FTC).
• Money the scammer moved with a login they captured: tell your bank exactly who had access and who pressed “send.” The bank account guide explains how federal rules treat transfers you didn’t authorize.
• Gift cards, wires, crypto and cash you sent yourself are hard to recover. Report it anyway, right away.

How to report a Geek Squad scam email

Keep the email until you’ve reported it; the FBI asks victims to keep originals.

1. Best Buy: send it to abuse@BestBuy.com, the address Best Buy gives for reporting suspected scams.
2. Anti-Phishing Working Group: forward it to reportphishing@apwg.org, as the FTC advises. Got a text instead? Forward it to 7726 (SPAM).
3. Your email app: mark it as phishing, spam or junk, as Best Buy suggests.
4. FTC: report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, even if you lost nothing. The FTC uses reports to build cases against scammers.
5. FBI: file at IC3.gov as soon as possible, especially if you lost money or gave access. Include the phone numbers, websites and email addresses the scammer used, and paste the email into the complaint, as the FBI asks. More: what happens after you file at IC3.
6. Local police, if you lost money, as Best Buy suggests.
7. 60 or older, or helping someone who is? Call the National Elder Fraud Hotline at 833-FRAUD-11 (833-372-8311), Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern. A case manager helps you report (Office for Victims of Crime).

The where to report a scam tool lists each channel.

Watch for the follow-up scam

• An unexpected call from “Best Buy” or “Geek Squad.” Best Buy says it generally doesn’t make unsolicited calls to customers, and that you should treat one with suspicion.
• “Refund” or “recovery” offers. The FTC says scammers buy lists of people who’ve paid scammers and may pose as the company that took your money. Legitimate organizations never ask for money to help you get a refund.
• Fake FBI or IC3 contacts. IC3 never contacts people directly by phone, email or social media, and never asks for payment to recover money.
• Anyone telling you to buy gift cards or move money to “protect it.” Real businesses and government agencies will never do that, the FTC says.

What varies

• Whether you’re a real customer. Real Geek Squad renewals exist, so check with Best Buy directly instead of guessing.
• How you paid, and who moved the money. Cards have federal protections; cash-like payments are hard to get back.
• Your bank or card issuer. Fraud procedures and refund decisions differ.