Millions of people use Netflix every day, but many may not know their account is also being used by complete strangers.
“None of these shows are anything that I've been watching, at all, ever,” explained Chris Allen, who found out his account was being used by someone he didn’t know.
Allen is an employee at 41 Action News, so he did some investigating.
"I can see that there is all my devices in Kansas on my Netflix account, but then there is one device in California," he said.
Noting the user’s IP address, Allen tracked it to a 47-year-old man in Windsor, California.
Tech expert Burton Kelso believes Allen’s account was either hacked or sold.
"If your account is compromised, your account can be sold on the dark Internet, and that allows people to sell your account for a low price for a promise of a lifetime Netflix account,” Kelso explained.
Personal info at risk
If someone has access to your account, the concern goes far beyond sharing shows.
"It allows them to get access to say credit card information, or say personal home information. It can lead to credit card theft or identity theft, so it's a pretty scary thing,” Kelso said.
Allen checked his activity on Netflix and found the unauthorized user started watching several months ago.
"I went all the way back to try to find the root of the problem, and I found this happened seven months ago. Seven months ago, it’s been going on,” Allen said.
What you can do
To check if your account has been accessed elsewhere, go to “My Account,” then at the bottom find “My Activity.” On that page, you can click “Recent Account Access” and see the date, time, location and type of devices using your account.
Netflix told Allen there isn’t much the company can do but advises users to log out of all devices immediately and change the password.
When possible, Netflix will work with police to help.
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Lexi Sutter can be reached at alexandra.sutter@kshb.com.
