PROTECT YOURSELF FROM SCAMS!

Want to foil fraud artists? Follow this primer

- Marc Saltzman WITH Kunal Purohit

I’M AN AVID MOVIE STREAMER, and it’s not unusual for me to receive emails from Netflix about things to watch. So a new message about updating my account information didn’t seem out of place—especially as it featured the familiar red Netflix logo. Here’s what the email looked like:

We were unable to validate your billing information for the next billing cycle of your subscription. therefore we’ll suspend your membership if we do not receive a response from you within 48 hours.
Obviously we’d love to have you back, simply click restart your membership to update your details and continue to enjoy all the best TV shows & movies without interruption.
We’re here to help if you need it. Visit the Help Centre for more info.
–The Netflix Team

This common ‘phishing’ scam was engineered to trick the recipient into providing their credit- or debit-card number, bank account details or Netflix password. Through email (often with questionable grammar, as with the message I got), text messages, social media requests or old-fashioned phone calls, cybercriminals are doing everything in their power to deceive and defraud you. All around the world, people are falling victim to data breaches and viruses, as well as ransomware (when you’re locked out of your computer unless you pay to regain access).