The crackdown reportedly began over the Christmas break, when several providers of virtual private networks (VPNs) - tools used to make it appear you are in another country - noticed their internet protocol (IP) address ranges blocked from accessing Netflix, according to TorrentFreak, a blog that reports news and trends on file sharing.
An updated version of Netflix's Android app also started to make it harder to bypass location restrictions, the blog said.
One of the largest VPN providers, TorGuard, told TorrentFreak it started noticing problems mid-December.
Despite this, Netflix told technology publication Engadget there had been no change in the way it handled VPNs.
"This is a brand new development," TorGuard's Ben Van der Pelt told the publication.
"A few weeks ago we received the first report from a handful of clients that Netflix blocked access due to VPN or proxy usage. This is the first time I've heard Netflix displaying this type of error message to a VPN user."
Unblock-Us, another service that allows people to bypass geolocation blocks, also noted issues on its website, but said it had found a work-around.
TorrentFreak said the crackdown didn't come as a surprise. A leaked document it obtained showed a draft of the content protection agreement Sony Pictures Entertainment prepared for Netflix earlier last year, which required Netflix to verify that registered users were where they said they were.
Netflix must "use such geolocation bypass detection technology to detect known web proxies, DNS-based proxies, anonymising services and VPNs which have been created for the primary intent of bypassing geo-restrictions", the document, posted on the publication's website, stated.
