BEWARE: Man loses Rs 1.85 lakh in email scam targeting Netflix subscribers in Bengaluru

Bengaluru: A man lost around Rs 1.85 lakh in an email scam targeting Netflix members that seeks to steal the personal information of the company’s subscribers.

The man identified as Raghavendra, a businessman from SJP Road, Bengaluru received an email stating that  Netflix was unable to validate his billing information for the next billing cycle, therefore they are suspending his membership. The email  further stated that he will have to renew his membership by paying a certain amount of fees.

Raghavendra clicked on the given link and entered his credit card details to make the payment.  A few moments later, Rs 1,85,757 was debited from the card.

He then filed a complaint at the Central CEN Crime police station and investigations are underway.

OTT users have recently become the target of cyberattacks. In 2019, Netflix had issued a statement regarding the scams that read,” “We take the security of our members’ accounts seriously and Netflix employs numerous proactive measures to detect fraudulent activity to keep the Netflix service and our members’ accounts secure.'”

“Unfortunately, scams are common on the internet and target popular brands such as Netflix and other companies with large customer bases to lure users into giving out personal information,” it added.

Here are a few steps you can take if you think you may be the target of a phishing scam:

• Beware of any email message that urges you to act quickly.
• Most of the fraud emails contain typographical and punctuation errors which can be common in scams seeking to trick recipients into providing sensitive information.
•  Don’t click on links. Go directly to your account on the legitimate website to review your personal information and make any changes.
• Always use strong passwords.

If you have already entered details on a phishing page,

• Change passwords for the account in question, be it Netflix or any other service.
• Also, change passwords for all other sites you used the same email and password combination because they could also be at risk.
• If you have entered payment information, immediately contact your bank to block your cards and prevent transactions.