Netflix Payment Scam
Hackers who refuse to pay for their streaming services are stealing your Netflix logins and passwords and selling them online, in the Dark Web, for as little as $0.25.
It all starts out as a phishing scam, which uses social engineering, fake sites and malware to trick you into coughing up your credentials. Oftentimes, the victim will be sent an email that claims something was wrong with their payment verification. However, the emails look legitimate, and that’s what takes the cake. Next, the victim enters their payment information, only the money doesn’t go to Netflix. Your information and payment card numbers are now in the hands of a criminal.
What to do: Educate yourself on the surefire signs of a phishing email, such as typos, spoofed addresses, suspicious “From” lines and more. Click here to take our Phishing Quiz and see if you can spot all the red flags common to all phishing emails.
You’ll also want to take control of your Netflix account and kick off anyone who may be intruding. Follow these instructions.
Game of Thrones Scam
The hugely popular hit HBO show “Game of Thrones” was the most pirated program in 2015. It’s been a constant problem for HBO and the company often has to send out warning emails to users and take down demands to torrent sites.
But now, even if you’re not pirating “Game of Thrones” you could get one of these notices – but it’s not what it seems. Scammers have started to send spoof warning emails from HBO in order to get victims to to send over some serious cash. Click here to see an example of the phishing email vs. HBO’s real cease and desist letters.
The spoof emails instruct the victim to pay a few hundred dollars as part of a settlement for being caught pirating Season 6, Episode 10 of “Game of Thrones.” The email later says you only have 72 hours to complete your settlement, otherwise further legal action will be taken.
What to do: The email is very convincing and could fool nearly everyone. It is professionally-worded and has minimal typos. So in this case, the best defense might be knowing what HBO’s real cease and desist letters look like. Click here to see it. It’s important to note that the real cease and desist letter doesn’t demand money and there’s no time limit. It also specifically names the IP address, whereas the fake email doesn’t.