Scammers exploit OTT subscription-sharing trend, leaving hundreds with little recourse

In January, a 19-year-old surnamed Son saw a post on X recruiting members for an Apple Music family account and transferred 54,000 won ($36) — enough for a one-year subscription for herself and her older sister — to a seller identified only by the surname Kim. The service worked without issue for the first two months. But starting in March, she could no longer log in, and her messages to the seller went unanswered.

Scams in which fraudsters provide legitimate shared streaming accounts at first — only to disappear months later — are on the rise. The practice of splitting subscription fees among multiple users, known colloquially as "account splitting" or recruiting "party members," has grown as the number of streaming services has multiplied and the cost of subscribing to each individually has become a burden. With so many OTT services available and individual subscriptions an increasing expense, demand for what amounts to group purchases has surged.

According to a survey on content consumption habits published last December by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency, 89.1 percent of South Koreans use OTT services, subscribing to an average of 2.1 platforms. Monthly spending among paid subscribers reached 10,909 won on average, and 64.7 percent said they used discounts or partnership deals to keep costs down.

Victims typically encounter recruitment posts on X or secondhand trading platforms. Participants transfer their share of the subscription fee to an organizer, who then provides an account ID and password. The scheme covers a wide range of services, including Apple Music, Netflix, Tving, Disney+, Watcha and Millie's Library.

The fraud methods followed a familiar pattern. Sellers reassured buyers by saying things like, "I wouldn't scam anyone over such a small amount," or "If you think it's a scam, just report me to The Cheat" — a website where fraud victims share information. Some went further, sharing their phone numbers and bank account details registered in their own names to build credibility.

Sellers also fabricated reviews to put buyers at ease. A 28-year-old victim surnamed Jeong said a seller promoted the arrangement as a stable deal, claiming to have maintained the same group of subscribers for three years without problems, and showed screenshots of reviews from actual users. "It turned out those screenshots were photos the seller had received from someone else and simply passed along," Jeong said.

In cases involving one-year subscriptions, sellers allowed access for the first few months to avoid raising suspicion. "I had no suspicions at all because the account worked normally for the first two months," Son said. After confirming the fraud, she joined a group chat where 44 other victims scammed by the same seller had gathered.

A man in his 20s surnamed Kim, who paid a total of 140,000 won to a different seller for one-year subscriptions to Netflix, Tving and Wavve, had a similar experience. "I kept checking The Cheat before the transaction, and there were no reported cases at the time, so I trusted the seller," he said. "I had been using the services since last October, but the accounts stopped working in April."

Even after problems arose, sellers stalled with various excuses. When subscribers complained after losing access, sellers would claim they had been busy or had been in an accident. Kim said that when he kept contacting the seller after losing access, the seller sent a photo of a hospital stay, claiming to have been in a traffic accident. "That photo turned out to be one you could find with a simple internet search," he said. Other victims in his group chat confirmed the seller had sent the same photo to multiple people.

Evidence also emerged that sellers rotated bank accounts while continuing to recruit new subscribers. When victims pooled their transaction records, they found the same seller had used multiple accounts. Some victims said they continued to see new recruitment posts from the same seller even after realizing they had been defrauded.

A 23-year-old victim surnamed Kang, who purchased a one-year Apple Music subscription in March, said victims found six different bank accounts registered under the same name when they compiled their transaction records. The sellers who had dealt with Son and Kim were each found to have used four separate accounts.

Some sellers also ran what amounted to a refund shell game, using money from new victims to pay off those demanding refunds. According to a 25-year-old victim surnamed Yang, a seller directed a new victim's payment to cover the refund owed to an earlier victim who had demanded their money back. The earlier victim believed they had received a legitimate refund, but in reality the money had come from another subscriber's fee.

People who lost small amounts trying to access OTT services cheaply have banded together in online cafes and group chats, with membership exceeding 500. They share information on sellers and updates on police reports. Individual losses ranged from roughly 20,000 to 100,000 won — not large sums — but many say that is precisely what made them hesitant to report the fraud. Son said, "Being a minor made the reporting process feel daunting, and since the amount wasn't that large, I just let it go."

Kim said that even after registering a complaint through the Cyber Crime Reporting System, he still had to visit a police station in person and bring printed copies of the documents he had submitted. "The police also told me that because it was a small-amount case, getting the money back might not be easy," he said.

These practical obstacles have led many victims to hold back from pursuing legal action. Yang Tae-jeong, an attorney at law firm Gwangya, said individual losses are often in the tens of thousands of won, making it difficult to hire a lawyer or file a complaint directly. "However, when there are multiple victims, the total scale of the damage can be far greater," Yang said.

Yeom Geon-ung, a professor in the department of police and fire administration at Uwon University, said victims may feel the time and stress of filing a report outweigh the financial loss itself. "Even so, reports need to accumulate for police to grasp the full scale of the damage and develop a response," Yeom said.

The fact that sharing accounts with others may violate OTT platform terms of service is another factor that discourages victims from coming forward. Netflix, for instance, requires that a single account be shared only among members of the same household. Sharing with someone outside the home requires registering them as an "extra member," which costs an additional 4,000 to 5,000 won per month depending on the subscription plan.

On this point, Yeom said that because terms of service typically restrict account sharing to family members or people in the same household, victims may feel uncomfortable reporting the fraud. "There is also room for scammers to exploit that vulnerability," he said.