Significant phishing attack attempt involves Netflix subscribers
Netflix users in 23 countries have recently become a victim of a huge sms phishing campaign, reveals a report by Bitdefender, that sought to mislead them into surrendering their login details, personal details, and even credit card details.
The Techniques used by Scammers
In a blog post put up by this cybersecurity firm, this intimidation campaign, which this firm says started in September, is typical of cyber scams that seek to fraudulently make customers assume their subscription has not been paid and that their account would soon be deactivated.
For example, there is a message that comes with a link that scammers encourage the target users to click, so that their accounts can be verified. They are also asked to refill their account by providing their fresh credit card numbers. As you may imagine, those delicate details are not going to Netflix. They will simply be repackaged and put out on the market on the black market instead.
A global threat
This SMS phishing campaign seems to extend to twenty three countries such as United States, Germany, Spain, Australia, Greece and Portugal. While the link itself may look authentic to the onlooker, some will be precautionary enough not to click on the link. Yet the situation when people can lose the possibility to have an access to the Netflix account makes them agree with the conditions offered by the site even in case they are less informed.
What most people do not know about SMS scam and how to prevent it
However, the reader should understand that Netflix has never communicated with its customers using text message and in fact many businesses do not. One of the few downsides the site has is that the members can only use login and password to secure their account, and there is no 2-factor authentication here even though there are several ways to protect you from scammers.
Make sure you have a security solution, such as one of the best antivirus software or antivirus apps for Android, installed on your devices to protect you from malware and threats.
Never open links from unknown senders. If in doubt, don’t open the link, but manually visit a website by typing its address into your browser’s search bar.