IT company warns Netflix users of phishing scam

The estimated 175,000 users of Netflix in Ireland are being warned about the threat of a major phishing scam which has been identified by IT security company Smarttech.ie.

An email appears in the email of the Netflix account holder telling the person to click on a link and update their credit card details or else their Netflix account will be cancelled.

The hyperlink in the email brings them to a dummy page, where they are told to enter their financial details.

Ronan Murphy, chief executive of Smarttech.ie, said: “Phishing scams are one of the most common forms of security threats that users experience. While the message may appear genuine and has the company logo [in this case Netflix] attached to the message, it is fake and Netflix did not send it.

Expert advice from Smarttech on the Netflix phishing scam http://t.co/0jlAVV3Js5 #cybersecurity #tech #smarttech #netflix #phishing

— Ronan Murphy (@Smarttech01) June 5, 2014

Mr Murphy said the best course of action is to delete the email.

“If you have clicked on the message, do not enter any of your personal information or credit card or bank account details,” he said. “If you still have concerns about your account, look up the contact number for Netflix and talk to someone in Netflix. Do not use the number in the message.”

Mr Murphy said phishing scams of this nature pray on peoples’ tendency to trust the authenticity of message and the company logo.

“Once the criminals carrying out the scam have collected enough information from the unsuspecting victims, they can use it for credit card fraud or identity theft,” he said.

“As a general rule, one should always be wary of any unsolicited emails or messages looking for your personal information or credit card details, no matter how genuine they look, and you should never, never click on anything that requires credit card details or that requires update followed by a link or attachment.”