As scammers continue to get more and more creative with their endeavors, it is becoming increasingly important that we keep our guard up at all times. We recently covered a new scam that targets Verizon Wireless subscribers and looks to take over control of their accounts, but a new scam targeting Netflix customers is even more dangerous.
Malwarebytes’ Jérôme Segura recently uncovered the scam, which uses a fake website to steal Netflix users’ login credentials. The scam doesn’t stop there, however.
After a user enters his or her credentials on the login page, an error message is displayed.
“We have detected unusual activity on this account,” the message reads. “To protect this account from unauthorized use, we have temporarily suspended this username. To regain access to your account please contact member services at 1-800-947-6570.”
Segura called the number provided and played along with everything the scammers instructed him to do.
After identifying himself as a Netflix customer care representative, one scammer instructed Segura to download and install “NetFlix Support Software,” which was actually just popular remote PC login client TeamViewer.
“After remotely connecting to my PC, the scammer told me that my Netflix account had been suspended because of illegal activity,” Segura wrote. “This was supposedly due to hackers who had infiltrated my computer as he went on to show me the scan results from their own ‘Foreign IP Tracer’, a fraudulent custom-made Windows batch script.”
The scammer then went on to tell Segura how they would fix the problem, and to give him a fake $50 Netflix credit to apologize for the inconvenience. During their conversation, however, the security researcher monitorED the scammers as they dug through his computer and downloaded any files that looked appealing, including various planted files such as “banking 2013.doc.”
Segura’s findings are linked below in our source section and needless to say, beware this scam and never enter your login credentials into any site other than Netflix.com. Segura’s video of the ordeal follows below.
