Culture

<cite>World of Warcraft</cite> Phishing Attempts on the Rise

If you’re a World of Warcraft player, you may have recently seen an increase in the number of e-mailed phishing attempts asking you for your account information. Despite their claims, these are all attempts at stealing from you. I mention this because over the last month I’ve seen a vast increase in the number of […]

wowfishingIf you're a World of Warcraft player, you may have recently seen an increase in the number of e-mailed phishing attempts asking you for your account information. Despite their claims, these are all attempts at stealing from you.

I mention this because over the last month I've seen a vast increase in the number of such e-mails sent directly to me.

Currently I'm getting 5 or 6 of them every day, some of which even go so far as to threaten account suspension if the recipient doesn't follow specific instructions. Most are easily blocked by Gmail's built-in spam filters, but the more clever phishers are able to circumvent such protections.

Initially curious about the correspondences, I scanned the URLs offered in the messages, and while the majority do appear legit, the site the e-mail asks you to visit to enter your account details is most definitely not owned by Blizzard Entertainment.

I'm including a copy of one of the e-mails below so you can see an example of what to keep an eye out for.

Whenever you receive a correspondence purportedly from Blizzard, remember the single most important message from the World of Warcraft website: "No employee of Blizzard will ever ask for your password."

I received this e-mail moments ago from a person calling themselves "WoWAccountAdmin." I've stripped out the hyperlinks, but otherwise the text remains unchanged:

*** NOTICE OF FINAL WARNING **

Account Action: 3 Hour Suspension

Account Offense: Violation of EULA and Terms of Service - Transfer of Account Ownership

Details: An investigation of your World of Warcraft account has found strong evidence that the account in question is being sold or traded. In accordance with EULA section 4, Paragraph B, listed below:

World of Warcraft -> Legal -> End User License Agreement

and Section 8 of the Terms of Use:

Blizzard Entertainment -> Legal -> Terms of Use

A 3-hour probationary suspension is pending on this account, awaiting confirmation from a specialist. A final warning has been issued. The investigation will be continued by the Account Administration team to determine the any further suspensions. If the account in question is found in violation of the EULA and Terms of Use, further action will be taken. Be aware that any additional inappropriate actions may result in the permanent closure of the account.

Thank you for respecting our position on this matter.

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** We request that you verify your legitimate ownership of the account here: (https://us.battle.net/login/login?service=https%3A%2F%2Fbattle.net%2Faccount%2Findex.html)

Any disputes or questions concerning this account action can only be addressed by Account Administration. To learn more about how Account Administration is able to assist you, please visit us at http://www.blizzard.com/support/wowaa/.

Account security is solely the responsibility of the accountholder. Please be advised that in the event of a compromised account, Blizzard representatives typically must lock the account. In these cases the Account Administration team will require faxed receipt of ID materials before releasing the account for play.

Please visit the World of Warcraft Policies and Terms of Use Agreement: (http://www.blizzard.com/support/wowgm/?id=agm01712p) and (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/termsofuse.shtml) for further information.

Regards,

Billing & Account Administration
Blizzard Entertainment
http://www.blizzard.com/support/accountadmin/

If you find yourself on the receiving end of anything like this, I urge you to delete it. Feel free to grin knowingly while doing so.Image courtesy Blizzard EntertainmentSee Also: