"Mcafee" fake scan and download, but it actually takes you to the real website

I found this popup website that impersonates as McAfee saying you have multiple malware and viruses, and then will redirect you to the actual McAfee website to download the real AV. (Date: 26/03/2022 GMT+0)

Links:
https://bst.protective-system.com/c/614a1db6d91001f9?CLCUSD=0.07&s1=kd2-mcaf-gb&s3=twl&s4=321638&s5=1381428168758474&s6=5349805&s7=551543&s8=Virgin%20Media&s9=FIREFOX&s10=Windows%2010&clickid=cnv289c3ea84b7f27673faf62790d6dec37

https://bit.mydesktopsecurity.com/c/c79116a34ac28453?click_id=87a5898b-6111-4f3f-9308-2687286-315-4493391-44&s1=st3-mcf-uk&s3=315&s4=1&s5=10&s6={s6}

Unless this is McAfee making this to trick people to get their antivirus, This is probably the most useless scam popup website ever. I wonder what the guy who scripted this had in their minds. But even then, dont be a dirty, cold hearted, selfish scammer :slight_smile:

3 Likes

so now McAfee started scamming.

No, it is NOT McAfee, its a scammer who is changing the scripts. Right now both sites are redirecting to clickbait sites and the scripts are originating from https://cdn-adef.akamaized.net/

They may be doing some kind of affiliate scheme, where they convince McAfee they’re a real business that will be getting them real customers in exchange for a small commission, only to scam people.

1 Like

Yup, those are affiliates of McAfee, same as many YouTubers (cough cough me as well) are making advertising for VPNs and earn a commission for every new customer that purchases the software from the link. Same here, the scammers earn money if a person buys the real McAfee software. So it’s not directly McAfee itself.

The problem is that McAfee never really takes action. If you check on the McAfee landing page and check through the URL, you’ll find affid=1494. This means it’s always the affiliate ID 1494 which is doing the scam and McAfee does not take any action. This is not acceptable at all!

Oh, I wonder what else it would be redirecting too

When I clicked “Proceed”, it redirected me to this website. The reason why the content didn’t show up for me could be because of my vpn, but I don’t know.

Also, when you refresh the page, it redirects you to another random website. And it is quite random.