A scam page offering a free download of the final season of Stranger Things
These scams typically begin with enticing offers for free or early access to the series. Victims who click the links may be immediately redirected to a malicious page or asked to "register for a free account," which requires sensitive details like full name, date of birth, phone number, and bank card information. Users may end up with no content or charged a fee that they never intended to pay.
Adding to the deception, fraudsters have introduced a special tactic that requires users to "verify that you are human" before granting access to the stream. This step often mimics legitimate CAPTCHA challenges but is actually a phishing mechanism. The fake verification prompt may ask users to enter their login and password from other accounts (for instance, their email account) or to create a new account and input their bank card data to activate the free trial. The claim is that it is needed to prevent bots. Once credentials are entered, attackers capture them directly, allowing unauthorized access to the victim’s real accounts or funds.
A scam page prompting "human verification" and account registration to watch Stranger Things
"Our monitoring shows that scammers are ramping up their tactics around major releases like new seasons of popular TV series, blending familiar lures with other tricks. These ’streaming’ sites often look identical to trusted platforms, but the goal remains the same – to exploit your fandom for profit. We strongly recommend sticking to official sources and scrutinizing any unexpected prompts as your security is more important than free entertainment," says Olga Altukhova, Security Expert at Kaspersky.
