The popularity of Netflix makes it a preferred subject for phishing emails sent to people appearing to come from Netflix in which you are told you need to update your credit card information or asking for other personal information. Reproduced below is a copy of an email received by a Scamicide reader. The email looks somewhat legitimate although the salutation of “Hi Costumer” is pretty much an indication that this is a scam. The Netflix logo appears on the email, but it is easy to counterfeit the Netflix logo and make the email appear to be legitimate when it is not.
Two things can happen if you click on the links in the email. Either you will be directed to a phony but legitimate looking website where you will be prompted to input your credit card information and thereby turn it over to an identity thief or, even worse, merely by clicking on the link, you will download keystroke logging malware that can steal all of the information from your computer and use it to make you a victim of identity theft. I have removed the links in the email below.
Your account is on hold. |
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Please update your payment details |
We’re having some trouble with your current billing information. We’ll try again, but in the meantime you may want to update your payment details. |
The Nеtflіх team |
TIPS
As I always say, “trust me, you can’t trust anyone.” You can never be truly sure when you receive an email seeking personal information such as your credit card number whether or not the email is a scam. The risk of clicking on a link or providing the requested information is just too high. Instead, if you think that the email might be legitimate, you should contact the company at a telephone number that you know is legitimate and find out whether or not the email was a scam.
The telephone number in the phishing email has the area code of 007 which is the international area code for Russia which again is another indication that this is a scam. The number to call Netflix for customer service is 844-505-2993.
Another indication that this is a scam phishing email is that the email address from which it was sent has nothing to do with Netflix and most likely is the email address of someone whose email account was hacked and made a part of a botnet used to send out phishing email
For those of you receiving the Scam of the day through an email, I just want to remind you that if you want to see the ever increasing list of Coronavirus scams go to the first page of the http://www.scamicide.com website and click on the tab at the top of the page that indicates “Coronavirus Scams.” Scamicide was cited by the New York Times as one of three top sources for information about Coronavirus related scams.
If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive free daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is to go to the bottom of the initial page of http://www.scamicide.com and type in your email address in the tab that states “Sign up for this blog.”