Beware of this Disney+ impersonation email which leads to a phishing website
Scammers are sending emails with Disney+ branding to lure victims with the promise of cut-price streaming subscriptions.
If you receive a scam email, you’d hope it would go straight into your spam folder – but unfortunately, that isn’t always the case. This latest dodgy email targets recipients with a '98% discount' on subscriptions to the Disney+ streaming service.
It's an example of an impersonation scam. We’ve recently reported on other scam emails promoting diet pills using fake Dragons’ Den endorsements and fraudsters imitating Hotmail to phish for personal details.
Read on to find out more about how this scam works.
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Disney+ scam email
This scam email is sent from the address ‘DisneyPlus@costumercontact.com’. It claims to offer a Disney+ TV package for 12 months for the price of just £2 – a saving of 98%. A genuine Disney+ subscription costs £7.99 a month or £79.90 a year.
The email includes an image of the movie 'The Avengers' to make it appear more convincing.
The link included in the email encourages readers to click to activate a trial of the service.
Link leads to suspicious websites
When we clicked on the link, we were taken to a website with the URL [c.zombiezalad.co.uk]. Each subsequent time we clicked we were taken to identical webpages with different URLs – [c.tenderfootninja.co.uk], and then [c.bumfuzzles.co.uk].
When you arrive on these websites, you’re asked to create an account by entering an email address and password. The site also prompts you to select your gender and home address.
The site features a countdown clock to tell you that the ‘offer’ will soon expire – this is designed to pile on the pressure and make you act quickly without thinking things through. If you enter your details, you’ll be giving them to the scammer.
All of these URLs are linked to a ‘digital gaming’ company called Skill Games ApS, based in Belgium. Which? contacted Skill Games ApS but did not receive a response.
Online reviews of Bumfuzzles and Zombiezalad accuse the websites of actions such as taking unauthorised payments from accounts and making users pay shipping fees for items they’d won in games, which then never turned up.
Be aware of dodgy emails
Unsolicited emails should always be treated with caution. Offers like this might seem tempting at first, but it's always best to check with the company (in this case Disney) to see if it's legitimate. Advertising great deals to lure you into a scam is a common tactic used by fraudsters.
Disney provides its own guidance on spotting and avoiding impersonation texts and emails.
You can report dodgy emails by forwarding them to report@phishing.gov.uk or by selecting ‘Report spam’ on Gmail, ‘Report phishing’ on Hotmail or by forwarding emails to abuse@yahoo.com from a Yahoo account.
Suspicious websites can be reported to the National Cyber Security Centre (NSCS). If you’ve fallen victim to a scam, contact your bank immediately and report the crime to Action Fraud.
