The European Consumer Centre Luxembourg said it received a small number of complaints last summer, rising to five in the last 10 days.

According to the consumer protection agency, some dubious streaming portals, which have similar designs but different urls to authentic sites, offer a free five-day trial. But then consumers receive an invoice of around €350 for an annual subscription. “Shortly afterwards, the consumer receives aggressive payment reminders with the threat of forced recovery, court proceedings, bailiff, etc,” the site explains.

A quick internet search about these companies returns so-called analysis in which people posing as experts claim the invoice must be paid.

The European Consumer Centre Luxembourg says this is not the case as consumers must be fully informed of the terms (e.g. cost of the contract, duration, etc.) before concluding a contract. In the case of these dubious platforms, the pre-contractual information provided is absent or inaccurate, so that these "memberships" are void and there is no obligation to pay. Thusfar, all complaints have been in relation to German-language streaming providers.

Anyone who has received such emails should remain calm and, above all, not pay. They can report these instances to the European Consumer Centre Luxembourg or reach out for further advice.