Morning Edition; Denise Gronie

It's morning edition on KRPS. Joining me this morning from the Better Business Bureau in Kansas is Denise Groney to tell us about a scam going around about how consumers can receive a free year of Netflix. Denise, good morning and thank you for joining me. Yeah, thanks for having me, good morning. So this free year of Netflix, it sounds too good to be true. So how are consumers reporting that the scam is going around? And what are some of the red flags we should look for? Better Business Bureau has been receiving reports that scammers are targeting consumers with a tax message. And the tax message says due to the pandemic, Netflix is offering everyone a free year service to help you stay at home and stay safe. It's been providing a link that they want you to click and sign up. So obviously several red flags here. First, Netflix does not text its customers and it does not text non-customers, nor are they giving a free year program so that you can sign up for free Netflix.

And we're receiving this text. One of the things with a tax message is when I think about it is we don't know exactly where they're coming from either or does the Better Business Bureau have any information about that? So similar to Robo calls, these scammers can also use spoofing techniques when they are texting as well. So the phone number that it looks like that text is coming from can also be spoofed. And that's the tricky thing with a lot of these scams is that it is impossible to know who's on the other side of that message, which is why it's so important not to click on any links that you receive from unsolicited texts or emails. And you get one of these texts. And I mean, a lot of us see a text and see a link. Well, automatically click on it. We wouldn't even think. It's just like human nature now these days, just to click on a link that you get in the text from somebody. What happens when you do click on the link? What's the worst case scenario here? Well, what's going to happen is that these gamers

have set up a website. And a lot of these websites, like in this instance, it looks like it's official. So you may see the official Netflix logo on there. It's going to ask you some sensitive information about you so that way you can find up for this quote, free year of Netflix. And so now you're starting to divulge personal information about yourself, which is what that scammer's after. Not only that, that link can also download malware and viruses onto your device. So you're also potentially open yourself up to other virus related scams, which would allow the scammer to have access into whether that be your phone, or if you'd receive an email on your computer as well. Does Netflix ever text its customers for anything? It does not. And Netflix has that stated on their website. They are aware right now that there is a text scam using their name that's going around. So that's another thing to keep in mind.

If you do get an unsolicited text message, go directly to that source. So in this case, go directly to Netflix's website. They do have a one month free trial offer. But that's as far as it goes. So there is no one year free. And you'd be able to quickly understand and identify that by going directly to the source to verify that information. All right. Is there anything else you'd like to add? Just reminding folks, you can check out scams online at bbb.org slash scam tracker. You can also go to that website to report any scams. All right, Denise Groney is with the Better Business Bureau in Kansas. Denise, thank you for your time this morning. Thanks for having me.