Netflix issues £1,730 scam warning to anyone who has an account | Personal Finance | Finance

Netflix users have been issued a warning to stay vigilant of malevolent emails or texts pretending to be from the popular streaming service. There have been incidents of people falling prey to fraudulent messages appearing to be sent by Netflix, often requesting payment or concerning supposed issues with their account.

Netflix chiefs are advising customer not to engage with suspicious messages and to resist clicking on any dubious links. Crooks frequently masquerade as widely-used companies such as Netflix, Amazon or Royal Mail, in the hope that their victims will be fooled into thinking the correspondence is authentic.

The higher the customer base of the company, the greater likelihood that recipients may be expecting communication from them and therefore are more likely to be deceived. Recent statistics revealed that victims of these scams lost an average of £1,730, with half admitting they felt angry with themselves or even “stupid”.

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Faux Netflix scam communications might hint that an account will be deleted or deactivated unless a prompt payment is made. In some cases, multiple message are dispatched over a matter of days in a bid to instil fear and persuade the recipient to click the deceitful link, reports Birmingham Live.

In response, Netflix sent out a cautionary note to its millions of subscribers, highlighting characterized signs of potential scams: “If you get an email or text message (SMS) asking for your Netflix account email, phone, password, or payment method it probably didn’t come from Netflix.

“We’ll never ask you to share your personal information in a text or email. This includes:

• Credit or debit card numbers
• Bank account details
• Netflix passwords

“We’ll never ask for payment through a 3rd party vendor or website. If the text or email links to a URL that you don’t recognize, don’t tap or click it. If you did already, do not enter any information on the website that opened.”

They added: “Scammers can’t get information from you unless you give it to them. So don’t click any links in the messages or reply to them.”