15 May Netflix Scams Target People Sheltering in Place
Netflix scams are on the rise since people are sheltering in place for COVID-19. Google searches for Netflix jumped 142% since the advice to stay home became serious. Netflix-themed phishing campaigns are in progress against those who are keeping their social distance at home.
The most prominent campaigns use fake sites that appear to be Netflix sign-up pages but were established simply to steal from those who think they’re registering for the service. It has been reported that, so far, there have been a total of 639 fraudulent domains that use the word “Netflix” have been registered. 236 of those were established during March alone. 41% of these fake domains have a mail server, and that indicates that they’ve probably been sending phishing emails to prospective victims.
As the world goes into lockdown, cybercriminals are capitalizing on people spending more and more time online. Consumers of streaming websites are increasingly at risk of successful phishing attacks, and with that, there has been a massive increase of criminals looking to catch financial or personal records.
One example of the Netflix scams that we have seen was carried out with WhatsApp messages that offered to help people weather the pandemic with free passes to Netflix. The message stated, “Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are giving away free access to our platform for the period of isolation until the virus is contained.” All you had to do to claim your “free pass” was fill out an online questionnaire and then forward the offer to ten friends. This, of course, was fake.
This type of scam does very well, because you may be suspicious of an offer of a free pass that comes out of the blue from an account that looks vaguely legitimate. However, if an email comes from a friend, you just might look twice and even take them up on the offer.
With a little bit of education, these types of scams can be prevented. That is why we highly recommend security awareness training for your business. Contact our team to see how we can educate your employees today!