CHICAGO (WLS) — They usually come to you in a text or email, but there’s a chance you might stumble upon one while searching online.

They are big brands that you trust, and thieves pretend to be the real deal to scam you.

These sites look like they could be legitimate login pages for brands like Microsoft, Google, Meta, USPS, and even a fake Netflix login page. And the scammers aren’t trying to stream your shows!

“And so, some people at home might be asking, ‘Well, why would they want my Netflix password?’ ,” said ABC7 Consumer Investigator Jason Knowles.

“Do you have your credit card saved on your Netflix account?” Karin Zilberstein added cybersecurity group Guardio. “All cybercrime leads to dollars… It can be in one step, it can be in a couple, but everything leads to financial loss.”

Guardio recently found the fakes and listed the top sites and brands that are being imitated the most.

“A lot of people have Microsoft accounts, Google accounts, Meta accounts. And it’s very routine to receive a request like that. The only thing about these requests is that they’re not real. They’re fake and they’re trying to phish trying to get people’s login information,” Zilberstein said.

When the hacker tricks you into logging in, they can steal your password, account information, and any other personal information you have stored on the account.

“So, with the rise of AI, all these fake websites that communication leads to look extremely real,” Zilberstein said.

Here is another scam, cloning the popular site Coinbase.

Guardio’s tech experts say you could see more crypto-based scams like this now with a crypto-friendly Donald Trump administration.

“We’re seeing a spike in crypto fraud, especially around election season and beyond. And we expect this trend to continue,” Zilberstein said.

You should always avoid going to links sent to you and go directly to your account login or company website on your own. Even if you don’t provide information, you can just click on it to install malware on your device.

You can also usually tell that a link is fake by inspecting the address bar and the URL. You can usually find extra words and letters that don’t match or look right.

We also reached out to many of the brands being imitated. Many of them said they proactively warn consumers about these scams and sent us links that educate consumers:

Microsoft said it encourages customers to always practice good computer habits online, including being careful when clicking on links to web pages, opening unknown files, or accepting file transfers from unknown sources.

Microsoft also recommends using a multi-layered security strategy with strong authentication measures.

For more information, see: Phishing protection and prevention solutions | Microsoft security