Phishing scams aren’t exactly new, and for the most part a lot of times email services such as Gmail do a good job at hiding them in our spam folders meaning that we’ll never have to look at them. However recently it appears that a new phishing scam targeting Netflix users is making its rounds, so much so that the FTC has issued a warning about it.
As you can see in the image above which was shared by police in Ohio, it shows an email which makes it look like it was sent by Netflix. It warns the user that their account has been put on hold, and that they will need to update their payment details if they want to unlock it. Presumably as is the case with most phishing scams, users will be redirected to a website that looks like Netflix’s website, and upon entering your information, that information will be sent to the attackers who can then either resell your information or use it for themselves.
For those who are unfamiliar with phishing scams, basically it involves emails that are designed to look like they were sent by the company or person they claim to represent. Usually such scams are design to fish for personal information like bank login information, credit card details, and so on, which is why phishing emails from “banks” are one of the more common ones around.
In any case if you do receive such an email, the best thing to do is delete the email and not click on any of the links within it. If your Netflix account is truly barred or on hold, you will probably realize it the next time you try to login.