November is a great month to be a Netflix user, so anyone getting an email notification about their account being suspended would be justifiably worried about missing out on great television. After all, who wants to risk a subscription snafu ahead of the premiere of The Punisher, or a second watch-through of Stranger Things Season 2? Users of the service who receive such suspension notices should be wary, however, as a group of clever scammers is trying to steal folks' personal information via emails posing as Netflix asking for updates to billing information.
The email scam, which was spotted and reported on by Mailguard, informs users (by using their account name) that their account has been suspended due to Netflix being unable to confirm their billing. The email looks shockingly similar to an email Netflix would send out for a new show, but instead informs subscribers their account has been suspended and encourages them to visit their website and update their billing information. Users who fall for the scam are then taken to a Wordpress site which looks very similar to Netflix's site and can update their billing information only for it to be snatched up and distributed amongst scammers.
As far as how anyone can avoid this scam or any scams like it in the future, there are a couple tips folks can follow. First, always check the URL of the site that the email is attempting to redirect you to. In this case, the URL people were redirected to (VeganKiss.Net) did not even remotely resemble a name Netflix would choose for its domain, which should've been the first red flag something was amiss. (I mean, it doesn't even rhyme.) Anyone still unsure could've also simply logged into their Netflix account and actually confirmed the account was or wasn't suspended, which also would've served as an alert that not all is as it seems.
If those two methods fall through, there are always handy websites (like us) that may have a current story on whatever email scam is running around out there, which will generally confirm with 100% certainty that such an email is a fraud. It's really important to stay wary of questionable emails, as apparently 9 out of 10 cyber-attacks are delivered via that method. It's not so deep and hard to pinpoint that one should consider deactivating their Gmail or anything, but it's always good to do a little due diligence before handing over credit card information to any company over email.
Be sure to alert friends of the Netflix scam traveling around the web especially now, as more and more great shows make their way to the platform. Keep up with all the latest to come to the platform via our fall premiere guide, Netflix guide, or listen to The Cord Cutter Podcast for in-depth analysis and previews for great streaming exclusive programs.
