Netflix rocked by leak scandal as 'Teach You a Lesson' pirated across the globe

"Even 'Teach You a Lesson' has fallen victim."

Netflix original series "Teach You a Lesson" has been leaked onto illegal streaming sites. Despite carrying a rating restricting viewership to those 19 and older, the show had topped global charts and sparked a viewing frenzy — and now all episodes are accessible on pirate sites with nothing more than a simple search.

The unauthorized viewing of original content is becoming a serious headache for Netflix. As copyright infringement of K-content reaches alarming levels, moves to sharply tighten penalties are gaining momentum.

According to industry sources Monday, all episodes of "Teach You a Lesson" are fully exposed on at least one illegal streaming site, identified as Site A, with no login required — viewers can watch all 10 episodes simply by visiting the page. Each episode on the site has racked up more than 2.5 million views.

The series has also been leaked illegally in China, where Netflix does not officially operate.

Seo Gyeong-deok, a professor at Sungshin Women's University, said on his social media that more than 140,000 people had rated "Teach You a Lesson" on a content review site in China, even though Netflix is not officially available there, and that more than 50,000 reviews had been posted. He added that searching for "Teach You a Lesson" on Baidu, China's largest portal, makes it easy to find illegal sites where the show can be watched for free.

The leaking of original content onto illegal streaming platforms has become a serious problem for Netflix.

Beyond "Teach You a Lesson," a string of major Netflix titles — including "Culinary Class Wars," "Squid Game 3," and "Can This Love Be Translated?" — have been leaked one after another, with pirated copies sometimes surfacing immediately after official releases. High-budget productions are being exposed on illegal sites with no safeguards, raising serious concerns that the ability to attract new subscribers through marquee content will be undermined. The problem has gone even further: in the case of "Culinary Class Wars," spoilers including the winner leaked before the show concluded.

Nunu TV, one of the most notorious illegal streaming sites, has had its operators arrested and the site temporarily shut down, but it has repeatedly gone offline and come back, leaving the piracy problem unresolved.

As the global popularity of K-content makes Korean productions a prime target for illegal distribution, a growing sense of crisis has emerged that the entire domestic content ecosystem could be threatened.

Efforts to legislate significantly tougher penalties for those who profit illegally from copyright infringement are now picking up speed.

Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Im O-gyeong has introduced what is being called the "Nunu TV Prevention Act." The bill's core provisions would impose a prison sentence of at least three years for copyright violations yielding profits of between 500 million won ($332,000) and 5 billion won, and a sentence of life imprisonment or no less than five years for profits of 5 billion won or more.