Disclaimer: This post was made in partnership with McAfee, but the views expressed in are our own.
Scroll back through today’s texts and count the ones you never asked for. There’s that one about a package that couldn’t be delivered, another about a toll you supposedly owe, and something from an old coworker with a new number who just wants to catch up?
McAfee’s research puts the average American at 14 scam messages a day, plus nearly 114 hours a year spent sorting real messages from fake ones. On top of that, one in three Americans has already lost money to a scam, and it’s not peanuts, either; on average, an American loses $1,160 to a scam.
Your stolen laptop can typically be replaced after an afternoon, but a stolen identity? That drags on for months as you dig up credit reports, bank disputes and phone trees, so McAfee now builds its protection around you, not just the device.
Your Texts Get a Second Opinion
Scam Detector is McAfee’s newest tool, and it watches your texts, emails and social DMs for anything that looks off. It’ll flag suspicious messages even when they carry no malicious link, so the scams that open with a friendly hello and ask for money three messages later get caught too.
It comes included across McAfee’s core plans at no extra cost too, which means you don’t need to shell out for an upgrade.
Scan QR Codes Without a Worry
Scam Detector also checks QR codes the instant you scan them. McAfee found 68% of consumers recently scanned one, and 18% of those scans would take you to suspicious or unsafe pages.
They show up in places you’d expect legit QR codes to show: parking meters, restaurant tables, and flyers taped to a pole are all easy, natural targets. A scammer only needs to slap a sticker on the real code and you won’t know until it’s too late.
Protection That Follows Your Money
The plans McAfee offers come in three tiers, with McAfee+ Premium covering unlimited personal devices with Secure VPN, identity monitoring, Personal Data Cleanup and a Social Privacy Manager for your accounts.
The Advanced tier adds full-service removal of your personal information, credit monitoring and up to $1 million in identity theft coverage on top of what you get with Premium. Meanwhile, Ultimate raises that coverage to $2 million and adds three-bureau credit monitoring with daily updates, a credit lock, 401(k) and investment monitoring, and ransomware coverage.
Your Kids Already Know More Than You Do
More than one in five kids have already been targeted by an online threat, according to McAfee, and nearly half of parents admit their child knows more about technology than they do. Cyberbullying, harmful content and AI deepfakes now rank among parents’ biggest worries.
McAfee+ Family covers up to six people (two adults and four kids under 18) and each person gets their own protection. Depending on the tier you get, that includes parental controls, identity and financial monitoring, data removal, VPN, Scam Detector and up to $2 million in identity theft coverage, all on one bill.
Buy a Year for $50
New customers get introductory pricing for both Individual and Family plans. McAfee is offering Premium Individual for $49.99 for the first year, and Family for $119.99.
Instead of putting money towards a new laptop after it gets compromised, protect your identity instead, and keep that from ever happening to begin with.
