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Entertainment

14th Jan 2017

Watch out for the Netflix scam doing the rounds

Megan Roantree

Be careful about what information you’re giving away.

Unfortunately, we hear about online scams almost every day. Eir was recently targeted in an email scam in which people tried to take money from Eir customer accounts.

Netflix is the latest popular website to be used in an attempt at phishing through emails.

The scam will send an email, which may appear relatively normal, and will ask Netflix account holders to update their information for the site.

The email will bring up a link that shows a fake log-in page and asks them to enter things like payment information. Netflix have adamantly stated that they will not ask for payment details via email, so if you see this, it should be the first red flag.

After this, another page appears requesting that user’s name, date of birth and address.

When all this information is given, they have all they need to access bank accounts.

Worryingly, the scam redirects to the real Netflix page once the information is all handed over. So users would likely not even be aware that they have been scammed.

This scam was reported in the US and the UK and although no official reports were made about it within Ireland, it is important to beware of possible ways customers can be hacked.

”Phishers will go to great lengths to try to hijack your account or steal your personal information. They may create fake websites that look like Netflix, or send official-looking (but fake) emails asking you for personal information.” Netflix state.

They add that Netflix will never ask for any personal information in an email. This includes:

  • Payment information (credit card number, debit card number, direct debit account, PIN, etc.).
  • Social security number or tax identification number.
  • Your account password.

”Be careful if you receive an email message asking your for this or any other personal information. If you’re unsure about a link in an email, you can always hover over the link to see where it goes (you’ll see the real linked web address at the bottom of most browsers).

”If you get an email that looks suspiciously like a phishing attempt, please let us know by forwarding it to [email protected]. Be sure to include the message header information, which can be found by using this Google article.” They added.

 

Topics:

netflix,Scam