McAfee Institute is Fraudulent scam company offering worthless certifications
This is a very deceptive company that uses the name McAfee to garner sales. The CEO uses his last name, McAfee and has designed very "cool" named certifications using outdate material and a non-verified some Multiple choice exam to say people are board certificated. He is the board!
If you are a student and find out this to be true - and you have already watched more than 5% or 3 days has gone by - NO REFUND. If you complain online and publish reviews like this - and he finds out your identity - he REVOKES your certification. In the US, there is a US Constitutional right called the 1st Amendment and you are also covered by fraudulent business practice to protect the buyer from people like Josh McAfee.
Look up this company and you find that they are NOT a global leader or a high end company. Check out: https://www.dnb.com/business-directory/top-results.html?term=McAfee%20Institute&...⇄ to see that they are switched names 3 times and dissolved one entity in FL. Also, for being a global leader he is very very low on the Internet traffic range: https://www.cruchbase.com/organization/mcafee-institute--inc/technology
He is a former Amazon security guard who self-promotes these courses to unsuspecting people. Do yourself a favor and spend you money for professional development on REAL vendors and not this one. Check InDeed, ZipRecruiter for any job that uses these certifications - and if you do come across 1 (which I did, just 1 out of hundreds of thousands) - check the company website and HR to see if its real.
Josh McAfee has posed as different people on REDDIT (OSINT-Guy, Cybercop 2020, Intel-Guy) and he has posted jobs for companies using ONLY his certifications - but checking with the actual company - it's not listed. Their HR did not have it - they know nothing about this company. He advertises that SAIC, CACI, SOCOM all use his training. I checked there as well. THEY DO NOT!
His fraud is finally catching up to him. Too many people have been scammed by the worthless training he is offering on a flashy website - and he is hostile and freaking out. Even his self-styled YouTube videos only have 217 hits on them. IF THIS WAS AN ACTUAL GLOBAL LEADER - you'd expect to see 100,000's of hits and people, businesses, and others professional entities talking about MI.
The trust is - they are not and he is trying to ride the wave of cyber training by saying he has generated very specialized courses. He has even taken them himself. WHO DOES THAT? Josh McAfee was a small town cop and a security guard and he is not placed himself as a BOARD certifier for everyone else.
Josh McAfee also generates fake sales receipts of fake students and then post 5 star reviews on multiple sites - such as this one - to try and deceive people in believing that is the most awesome place in the world to go for training. Sorry folks, it's not.
Do your research like I did and you will realize that this outdated and useless material is a waste of time and funds! It's only online videos and a multiple choice exam that is non-proctored. It's recorded income is no more than $196K --for 10 yrs! ... that should tell you something about the fraudulent approach he has taken to sell this outdated and worthless training to professionals!
Josh McAfee & McAfee Institute is a scam, worthless certifications, and give no real professional training or worth to those that have taken their courses.
McAfee Institute is not a global leader, but a scam training company
My research into this company over the last month has gathered details as follows;
McAfee Institute
695 Trade Center Blvd
Chesterfield, MO
United States
Phone: 888-263-1650
Web: https://www.mcafeeinstitute.com
Category: Computer Training & Education
I discovered through online research looking into this company that ALL 5 STAR reviews that are written are actually generated by the CEO - Josh McAfee - they are 1 liners and are fake. He has the ability to produce fake purchase receipts to post non-existent people that ultimately generate 5 star reviews to sell his courses. Josh McAfee is not the well-known anti-virus company, McAfee. There are companies within the cyber security realm that do offer training. However, this one is not related to the proven and well-known company within the same name.
DUE DILIGNECE CHECK: Type the certification name into any job bank like Indeed, ZipRecruiter, Clearancejobs, etc - and you will find ZERO listed. The CEO poses as different users on REDDIT hyping his company up - and as gone so far as self-generating sales receipts to post 5 star reviews online. He also poses as recruiters from other companies and will post job descriptions online using ONLY his certs. Go to the actual website of the company and talk to a recruiter - the job does NOT exist and they know nothing about his company. It's called a SCAM !
McAfee Institute is a self-promoting company owned and operated by an individual that is promoting criminal investigative, intelligence, and cyber type certifications that have no recognition in the professional world.
Online research found the following areas to be of great concern.
(1) This company is a money grabbing entity that claims several "high-end" elements, all of which are not true.
(2) McAfee Institute is NOT a global leader in training.
(3) They do not have 2.5 million students.
(4) Several individuals (who have filed multiple complaints with BBB & other online forums) from various companies who thought they were signing up to “high end” training only to find dated and irrelevant online videos were offered two choices:
(a) Complain to the owner and lose their certification, which they over paid for...
(b) Or keep quiet and hope that industry leading companies would not question the certifications when presented to show competence in certain areas that employers were seeking.
Those who did write reviews or seek refunds were harshly treated by the owner, had their certifications that they paid for and earned through simple multiple choice tests “REVOKED”!
No professional company or law enforcement agency is requiring these certifications. The list of police departments shown on the MI website basically had every LE agency in the US listed. (https://content.mcafeeinstitute.com/companies) However, when contacting their training departments, no one has ever heard of them OR a certain person did sign up and take these low quality, meaningless courses and think that it shows competency towards whatever the certification claims it to be. It does not.
No real company or agency is requiring these certifications.
The "board certification" that Josh McAfee states exists, is actually him. It's a revolving scam that he promotes to sell these courses to unsuspecting people. The certs have cool and professional names, but are actually meaningless. I looked through every major job board to discover if anyone is requiring these certifications and the results were always, none! No jobs, no MI certifications, nothing at all. ZERO POSITIONS ! ! !
There are agencies like the US Army, Navy, Air Force that train their personnel in intelligence and cyber operations that outside industrial companies will find useful. There are also private companies that ARE globally recognized for their cyber certifications such as CompTIA, ISC2, CISCO, eLearnSecurity, EC Council, Offensive Security, GIAC/SANS, and many more. There are professional protection companies such as Executive Protection Institute, ESI, Academi, and others - but not McAfee Institute. This is not a "real" training company with any recognized standing at all.
The outdated material purchased by Josh McAfee to generate these online videos training also come with a non-proctored exam that is supposed to be a closed book, but there is no verification that the student who actually have signed up and spent some serious money are actually verified to not using books or materials when taking the exam.
The exams are reported to be very easy to ensure students pass. Therefore, the quality of training is poor compared to other actual professional certifications by other recognized vendors who professional organizations and government entities do seek out.
When using a web browser and opening up the website, one will find that McAfee Institute is an “online” only training company. There are not “numbered” seats despite what the owner claims as “in house” instructors waiting diligently to answer questions a student may have on a particular course. I highly doubt their claim that their website is never silent or the phone never stops ringing. The owner, Josh McAfee, has stated in very hostile replies to those that did complain that they were given grants that allowed a lower price to be paid. However, these were displayed as cost reductions or price drops with added pressure buying flashing on the website.
Those that do get his certs always give out 5 star ratings - as if this is the "go-to" place for all high-end James Bond certifications from a former Amazon security guard. HE is a master scammer!
WARNING TO US Veteran using the GI Bill could actually pay full price for an outdated and irrelevant course. Use Wayback Machine and check the results - where a price drop would be displayed and the possibility that another person would pay only $495 compared to the actual price of $7,700. So - which is it? The CEO talks about GRANTS and TUTITION assistance being given. No company operates like this in the real professional world. What McAfee Institute is doing is trying to PRESSURE you into spending your GI BILL on worthless courses by advertising a serious drop in price. SCAM ARTISTS do that - and this "CEO" who touts that he is sooooo smart - would know that scamming people will eventually catch up to the scammer!
Background on the owner. The owner is a hostile former Amazon security guard that once was a small town police officer. For some reason he left law enforcement (I wonder why?). At some point he got the brilliant idea to start a “super bad” training company with “really-cool” certification names so that those who were scammed could walk around and act like they really know what’s going on without EVER joining the military or serving in a LE capacity.
He wants people to think that they too can train like the best in the US military or some other large police departments around the nation - all from the comfort of your home by watching outdated useless videos and taking some quirky multiple choice exam with a LARGE price for the course - to make the buyer feel even better about spending their hard earned cash!
I am reporting this so actual professionals/VETERANS will STAY AWAY FROM McAfee Institute! The company is at the bottom of the pit scam company who has been dimed out all over the place on the Internet for its scam and it’s finally catching up to the owner. He has generated at least 2 fake accounts on REDDIT and is hostile to anyone posting the truth about their experiences with this company. He has done the same on other sites where former students post their disgust and being ripped off are treated unfairly and have their certifications revoked for speaking out.
I look up the owner on LinkedIn. He has no real talent and his little off the shelf company purchased some stupid videos from someone and is marketing them as a global sensation. They are not! I've seen too many people with a laundry list of these certs that have no actual experience or quality training sitting in employed spots thinking their actually know what they are doing. They do not and it's setting those individuals up for failure and the companies that are relying on them to know actual threats in the world they operate in. This is serious and needs to stop.
On top of this, if a veteran actually thinks these certifications will open up doors to high paying or specialized positions, either privately or within the US Government, they will not. Therefore, those GI BILL benefits are being fraudulently taken from the veteran. I looked up SOCOM, SAIC, CACI, and other organizations to see if they are using his certifications or hiring people that have them.
Not one listing at all ! I've also informed them that this company is using their logos to sell this crap. Looks like "lawsuit" material and false claims.
Check out the well done YouTube video. The company is made up of this one guy, Josh McAfee. The comments are turned off. For being so popular as a global leader the videos only have 204 views. That is a tell-tale sign that the advertisement is fraudulent and what he is selling is worthless. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGDwrStf0iY ) He has no background to design or "board" certify anyone or anything. Look up job postings on Indeed or ZipRecruiter for these certifications - they don't exist. If this was a "global leader" one would think that it would be popping up all over the place. They are not.
Advertising is fake and is the CEO. I highly suggest ALL VETERANS do their research into valid training, online or in person, before you commit your funds to training of any sort.
I am taking this very seriously, since I used my GI BILL various times to get the required cyber security training I needed to be successful. I would have been crushed had I spent it all up on any of these worthless courses and found out that I could not qualify for any professional job.
McAfee Institute is by far the best at what they doThey are passionate aboutadding value to the lives of others and do it effortlesslyThe training one recieves here is by far the best in the industry and taught by the experts in the fieldThe staff is caring andpassionate about helping you be successful and will go out of their way to help you succeed in every area of your professional careerThe courses of study are the best I have taken anywhere and the value is exceptional as the costs are kept at a minimum compared to other training in the field that is no as in depth as this I am extremely pleased with the training I have received through this organization and I highly recommend them to anyone who wants to excel in the industryThere is no other option of the magnatude out there at this low costI consider it a blessing to have sat under their teaching and leadership and recommend this organization to everyone I meetFor me there is no substitute for this, they simply are the best, practicaland informative training out there bar none Thank you McAfee Institute for all you do to train those in our industry to be the best we can beYou are awesome and have certainly added tremendous value to my life and careerKeep up the awesome work that you are doing and we all look for greater things in the future
If you are a student and find out this to be true - and you have already watched more than 5% or 3 days has gone by - NO REFUND. If you complain online and publish reviews like this - and he finds out your identity - he REVOKES your certification. In the US, there is a US Constitutional right called the 1st Amendment and you are also covered by fraudulent business practice to protect the buyer from people like Josh McAfee.
Look up this company and you find that they are NOT a global leader or a high end company. Check out:
https://www.dnb.com/business-directory/top-results.html?term=McAfee%20Institute&...⇄ to see that they are switched names 3 times and dissolved one entity in FL. Also, for being a global leader he is very very low on the Internet traffic range: https://www.cruchbase.com/organization/mcafee-institute--inc/technology
He is a former Amazon security guard who self-promotes these courses to unsuspecting people. Do yourself a favor and spend you money for professional development on REAL vendors and not this one. Check InDeed, ZipRecruiter for any job that uses these certifications - and if you do come across 1 (which I did, just 1 out of hundreds of thousands) - check the company website and HR to see if its real.
Josh McAfee has posed as different people on REDDIT (OSINT-Guy, Cybercop 2020, Intel-Guy) and he has posted jobs for companies using ONLY his certifications - but checking with the actual company - it's not listed. Their HR did not have it - they know nothing about this company. He advertises that SAIC, CACI, SOCOM all use his training. I checked there as well. THEY DO NOT!
His fraud is finally catching up to him. Too many people have been scammed by the worthless training he is offering on a flashy website - and he is hostile and freaking out. Even his self-styled YouTube videos only have 217 hits on them. IF THIS WAS AN ACTUAL GLOBAL LEADER - you'd expect to see 100,000's of hits and people, businesses, and others professional entities talking about MI.
The trust is - they are not and he is trying to ride the wave of cyber training by saying he has generated very specialized courses. He has even taken them himself. WHO DOES THAT? Josh McAfee was a small town cop and a security guard and he is not placed himself as a BOARD certifier for everyone else.
Josh McAfee also generates fake sales receipts of fake students and then post 5 star reviews on multiple sites - such as this one - to try and deceive people in believing that is the most awesome place in the world to go for training. Sorry folks, it's not.
Do your research like I did and you will realize that this outdated and useless material is a waste of time and funds! It's only online videos and a multiple choice exam that is non-proctored. It's recorded income is no more than $196K --for 10 yrs! ... that should tell you something about the fraudulent approach he has taken to sell this outdated and worthless training to professionals!
Josh McAfee & McAfee Institute is a scam, worthless certifications, and give no real professional training or worth to those that have taken their courses.
McAfee Institute
695 Trade Center Blvd
Chesterfield, MO
United States
Phone: 888-263-1650
Web: https://www.mcafeeinstitute.com
Category: Computer Training & Education
I discovered through online research looking into this company that ALL 5 STAR reviews that are written are actually generated by the CEO - Josh McAfee - they are 1 liners and are fake. He has the ability to produce fake purchase receipts to post non-existent people that ultimately generate 5 star reviews to sell his courses. Josh McAfee is not the well-known anti-virus company, McAfee. There are companies within the cyber security realm that do offer training. However, this one is not related to the proven and well-known company within the same name.
DUE DILIGNECE CHECK: Type the certification name into any job bank like Indeed, ZipRecruiter, Clearancejobs, etc - and you will find ZERO listed. The CEO poses as different users on REDDIT hyping his company up - and as gone so far as self-generating sales receipts to post 5 star reviews online. He also poses as recruiters from other companies and will post job descriptions online using ONLY his certs. Go to the actual website of the company and talk to a recruiter - the job does NOT exist and they know nothing about his company. It's called a SCAM !
McAfee Institute is a self-promoting company owned and operated by an individual that is promoting criminal investigative, intelligence, and cyber type certifications that have no recognition in the professional world.
Online research found the following areas to be of great concern.
(1) This company is a money grabbing entity that claims several "high-end" elements, all of which are not true.
(2) McAfee Institute is NOT a global leader in training.
(3) They do not have 2.5 million students.
(4) Several individuals (who have filed multiple complaints with BBB & other online forums) from various companies who thought they were signing up to “high end” training only to find dated and irrelevant online videos were offered two choices:
(a) Complain to the owner and lose their certification, which they over paid for...
(b) Or keep quiet and hope that industry leading companies would not question the certifications when presented to show competence in certain areas that employers were seeking.
Those who did write reviews or seek refunds were harshly treated by the owner, had their certifications that they paid for and earned through simple multiple choice tests “REVOKED”!
No professional company or law enforcement agency is requiring these certifications. The list of police departments shown on the MI website basically had every LE agency in the US listed. (https://content.mcafeeinstitute.com/companies) However, when contacting their training departments, no one has ever heard of them OR a certain person did sign up and take these low quality, meaningless courses and think that it shows competency towards whatever the certification claims it to be. It does not.
No real company or agency is requiring these certifications.
The "board certification" that Josh McAfee states exists, is actually him. It's a revolving scam that he promotes to sell these courses to unsuspecting people. The certs have cool and professional names, but are actually meaningless. I looked through every major job board to discover if anyone is requiring these certifications and the results were always, none! No jobs, no MI certifications, nothing at all. ZERO POSITIONS ! ! !
There are agencies like the US Army, Navy, Air Force that train their personnel in intelligence and cyber operations that outside industrial companies will find useful. There are also private companies that ARE globally recognized for their cyber certifications such as CompTIA, ISC2, CISCO, eLearnSecurity, EC Council, Offensive Security, GIAC/SANS, and many more. There are professional protection companies such as Executive Protection Institute, ESI, Academi, and others - but not McAfee Institute. This is not a "real" training company with any recognized standing at all.
The outdated material purchased by Josh McAfee to generate these online videos training also come with a non-proctored exam that is supposed to be a closed book, but there is no verification that the student who actually have signed up and spent some serious money are actually verified to not using books or materials when taking the exam.
The exams are reported to be very easy to ensure students pass. Therefore, the quality of training is poor compared to other actual professional certifications by other recognized vendors who professional organizations and government entities do seek out.
When using a web browser and opening up the website, one will find that McAfee Institute is an “online” only training company. There are not “numbered” seats despite what the owner claims as “in house” instructors waiting diligently to answer questions a student may have on a particular course. I highly doubt their claim that their website is never silent or the phone never stops ringing. The owner, Josh McAfee, has stated in very hostile replies to those that did complain that they were given grants that allowed a lower price to be paid. However, these were displayed as cost reductions or price drops with added pressure buying flashing on the website.
Those that do get his certs always give out 5 star ratings - as if this is the "go-to" place for all high-end James Bond certifications from a former Amazon security guard. HE is a master scammer!
WARNING TO US Veteran using the GI Bill could actually pay full price for an outdated and irrelevant course. Use Wayback Machine and check the results - where a price drop would be displayed and the possibility that another person would pay only $495 compared to the actual price of $7,700. So - which is it? The CEO talks about GRANTS and TUTITION assistance being given. No company operates like this in the real professional world. What McAfee Institute is doing is trying to PRESSURE you into spending your GI BILL on worthless courses by advertising a serious drop in price. SCAM ARTISTS do that - and this "CEO" who touts that he is sooooo smart - would know that scamming people will eventually catch up to the scammer!
Background on the owner. The owner is a hostile former Amazon security guard that once was a small town police officer. For some reason he left law enforcement (I wonder why?). At some point he got the brilliant idea to start a “super bad” training company with “really-cool” certification names so that those who were scammed could walk around and act like they really know what’s going on without EVER joining the military or serving in a LE capacity.
He wants people to think that they too can train like the best in the US military or some other large police departments around the nation - all from the comfort of your home by watching outdated useless videos and taking some quirky multiple choice exam with a LARGE price for the course - to make the buyer feel even better about spending their hard earned cash!
I am reporting this so actual professionals/VETERANS will STAY AWAY FROM McAfee Institute! The company is at the bottom of the pit scam company who has been dimed out all over the place on the Internet for its scam and it’s finally catching up to the owner. He has generated at least 2 fake accounts on REDDIT and is hostile to anyone posting the truth about their experiences with this company. He has done the same on other sites where former students post their disgust and being ripped off are treated unfairly and have their certifications revoked for speaking out.
I look up the owner on LinkedIn. He has no real talent and his little off the shelf company purchased some stupid videos from someone and is marketing them as a global sensation. They are not! I've seen too many people with a laundry list of these certs that have no actual experience or quality training sitting in employed spots thinking their actually know what they are doing. They do not and it's setting those individuals up for failure and the companies that are relying on them to know actual threats in the world they operate in. This is serious and needs to stop.
On top of this, if a veteran actually thinks these certifications will open up doors to high paying or specialized positions, either privately or within the US Government, they will not. Therefore, those GI BILL benefits are being fraudulently taken from the veteran. I looked up SOCOM, SAIC, CACI, and other organizations to see if they are using his certifications or hiring people that have them.
Not one listing at all ! I've also informed them that this company is using their logos to sell this crap. Looks like "lawsuit" material and false claims.
Check out the well done YouTube video. The company is made up of this one guy, Josh McAfee. The comments are turned off. For being so popular as a global leader the videos only have 204 views. That is a tell-tale sign that the advertisement is fraudulent and what he is selling is worthless. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGDwrStf0iY ) He has no background to design or "board" certify anyone or anything. Look up job postings on Indeed or ZipRecruiter for these certifications - they don't exist. If this was a "global leader" one would think that it would be popping up all over the place. They are not.
Advertising is fake and is the CEO. I highly suggest ALL VETERANS do their research into valid training, online or in person, before you commit your funds to training of any sort.
I am taking this very seriously, since I used my GI BILL various times to get the required cyber security training I needed to be successful. I would have been crushed had I spent it all up on any of these worthless courses and found out that I could not qualify for any professional job.
DO NOT SPEND YOU $$$ on this worthless training!
McAfee Institute is by far the best at what they doThey are passionate aboutadding value to the lives of others and do it effortlesslyThe training one recieves here is by far the best in the industry and taught by the experts in the fieldThe staff is caring andpassionate about helping you be successful and will go out of their way to help you succeed in every area of your professional careerThe courses of study are the best I have taken anywhere and the value is exceptional as the costs are kept at a minimum compared to other training in the field that is no as in depth as this I am extremely pleased with the training I have received through this organization and I highly recommend them to anyone who wants to excel in the industryThere is no other option of the magnatude out there at this low costI consider it a blessing to have sat under their teaching and leadership and recommend this organization to everyone I meetFor me there is no substitute for this, they simply are the best, practicaland informative training out there bar none Thank you McAfee Institute for all you do to train those in our industry to be the best we can beYou are awesome and have certainly added tremendous value to my life and careerKeep up the awesome work that you are doing and we all look for greater things in the future