Beware, Cybersecurity Experts Find Criminals Drain Stranger Things Fan Accounts

Cybercriminals take advantage of Stranger Things euphoria (photo: Kaspersky)

JAKARTA - In early July, the fourth season of one of the most anticipated series, Stranger Things, was released. Despite a three-year hiatus due to pandemic-related delays, the series was highly anticipated and, once again, managed to top the streaming charts.

Unfortunately, the enthusiasm of loyal fans to see new episodes has been actively abused by scammers. Kaspersky researchers found many examples of spam emails and phishing pages designed to steal fans' money and personal information.

“The fourth season finale was a roller coaster for many fans, myself included, as a personal fan of the event,” said Olga Svistunova, security expert at Kaspersky.

Even though a new episode has been released, fans are still not safe, because not all of them choose to watch the series on the official website.

When users refuse to pay for streaming service subscriptions and choose to watch them via illegal sites, they end up paying a higher price by losing their personal information and banking card data.

Taking advantage of the enthusiasm of the popular series, several cybercriminals have offered users "watch new episodes for as little as $1."

To access this offer, users are required to register a new account and enter their address and bank details. After entering the information, the fraudster then drains the victim's account, and without giving access to the serial.

Kaspersky experts have detected spam emails that also abuse the popularity of Stranger Things. These emails are used to sell products of suspicious quality and are distributed via promotional emails without the recipient's consent. For example, in one of the spam emails, users were given the opportunity to purchase a limited edition graphic t-shirt related to the latest season of Stranger Things.

This site supports all language and currency features for payments. This may not be a phishing page, but the fact that the advertisement for this product is promoted via spam and the newly created domain raises suspicions about the safety of the purchase.

According to Olga, the enthusiasm of Stranger Things fans is enough to attract the attention of cybercriminals and scammers who are always trying to make money from this euphoria.

"Fans need to be careful because choosing to save money on a streaming service could cost them more," he responded.