Netflix Email Scam Stole Private Documents

And a Pinterest scam is going around, too
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 14, 2014 2:42 PM CDT
Netflix Email Scam Stole Private Documents
In this Friday, Jan. 17, 2014 file photo, a person displays Netflix on a tablet in North Andover, Mass.    (AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File)

Click on any Netflix tech-support emails lately? Then you may have fallen victim to a phishing scam that swiped your login information at the very least, CBS News reports. The Better Business Bureau says the phony emails, sent out by con artists, have been linking customers to a login page that urges people to call a 1-800 number for support. Those who make the call end up talking to a friendly crook who requests access to the customer's computer, and once that's done, poof—private documents are stolen in seconds.

"I had set up fake banking sheets on the desktop and they were taken as we were speaking," said a computer expert who called as a test. The fake Netflix site has been taken down, but other scams are still around—including phony Pinterest emails that urge people to click on images that link to websites selling counterfeit goods, ABC-7 reports. How to spot a scam? Verify phone numbers given in an email, beware of popup Web pages, and never let a supposed rep gain full access to your computer. See ABC-7 for more advice, or read about a woman duped out of $500,000 on a Christian dating site. (More Netflix stories.)

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