PSA: Bogus Blizzard mails
by Krystalle Voecks 
May 19th 2007 at 7:25PM
Issuntril, one of the CMs from the EU forums posted this warning earlier letting people know about a new account scam that's been happening through regular (out-of-game) email. Apparently it states that the person who received the mail is breaking the TOS by attempting to sell their account. They further indicate that if the account isn't "verified" (meaning you send them all the juicy details) then Blizzard will permanently shut your account down.
I've included the full text of the email going around beyond the cut for those interested. Obviously some of the wording will undoubtedly be changed for the American iteration of this, such as the addresses and the tag line.
It has come to our attention that you are trying to sell/trade your personal World of Warcraft account. As you may or may not be aware of, this conflicts with the EULA and Terms of Agreement. If this proves to be true, your account can and will be disabled. It will be ongoing for further investigation by Blizzard employee's. Blizzard might consider taking legal actions against your crime, if it seems too be of an extreme nature.
If you wish to not get your account suspended you should immediately verify your account. This action is taken because we at Blizzard Entertainment takes these sales quite serious. We need to confirm you are the original owner of the account. This is easiest done by confirming your personal information along with concealed information about your account. You can confirm that you are the original owner of the account by replying to this email with:
Use the following template below to verfiy your account and information via email.
* First and Surname
* Address
* Zip code
* Phone number Daytime
* Country
* CD-key, alternative a photograph of your CD-key that is located on your manual for World of Warcraft.
* Account name
* Account password
* Secret Question and Answer
If you ignore this mail your account can and will be closed permanently
Blizzard Entertainment Europe
Account Administration Team
TSA 60 001
78143 Vélizy Villacoublay Cedex France
As soon as we have this information we will be able to progress the resolution of this matter for you.
If you wish to review our current Rules and Polices, they can be found at: http://www.wow-europe.com/en/policy/
Regards,
Xenkao
Account Administration Team
Blizzard Entertainment Europe
Remember, if you get anything that looks even vaguely suspicious, you should forward it to billing@blizzard.com per the WoW Billing/Account support site. (Of course, the horrid way this is written should give it away as being fake anyway.)
But if you think about it, there's a reason Blizzard wouldn't ask for your account information... They've proven before that if they suspect you of account sharing they'll just shut your account down without warning and talk to you when you contact them.
Filed under: Odds and ends, Blizzard, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Sanders May 19th 2007 8:15PM
sneaky.. very sneaky
Galipan May 19th 2007 7:45PM
I believe you are understimating the sneakiness of my moves sir.
RogueJedi86 May 19th 2007 7:54PM
These scams sound silly. It's like the scammers/scammees forgot that their account info is on their account page on worldofwarcraft.com. Blizzard doesn't need them. And I'm pretty sure a CD Key isn't required to play WoW. Or at least I wasn't required to use one.
Hellbena May 19th 2007 8:08PM
@3
A CD Key is required, and it is part of your account information when you first registered. You don't put it in every time you log in.
michel May 19th 2007 8:19PM
an official never NEVER
NEEEVEEEER
WIIL
ASK
you PASSWORD !
(and the cd key)
NEVER NEVER
!!!
why ? because they control the authentification system, THEY DO NOT NEET THE PASSWORD.
in my job, I manage the network of my enterprise, I NEVER ASK THE DAMN PASSWORD of my fellow colleague !!! I CAN change IT and control identity WITHOUT it. it's THE SAME for key employees of blizzard or Paypal, or amazon, or you bank or WHATEVER.
NEVER NEVER NEVER GIVE YOUR PASSWORD. _NEVER_
seriously : NEVER.
--
so, can I have your online bank account password ? pleaaase
RogueJedi86 May 19th 2007 8:31PM
Maybe it was because I started off the Free Trial of WoW, and never had to use a CD.
Bbcversus May 19th 2007 8:50PM
Sneakek
Jesse May 19th 2007 8:54PM
@ michel
its fluffy6.
seriously.
tallguy59 May 19th 2007 9:10PM
That email is a dead giveaway. Blizzard emails got good spelling and grammar, and this sure as heck don't. I'd be suspicious of this for sure if I got it in my inbox.
G May 19th 2007 9:43PM
Language skills should help identify this scam right away. "If you wish to not get your account suspended.." is laughable, and would (hopefully) never appear in an official email from any company.
Of course, any time you receive an email which makes you think "WTFBBQ?" you should investigate the sender before proceeding. Phishing like this can also be reported to reportphishing@antiphishing.org to help prevent it spreading.
Laurens Holst May 19th 2007 11:16PM
@RogueJedi86,
I did too, you get the CD key by mail in the confirmation message when you sign up.
It’s not really important though, I don’t think I ever had to input it anywhere.
~Grauw
Kilawhar May 19th 2007 11:23PM
Asking for you CD-key is actually something Blizzard does if you call to ask for help with your "favorite activity" question. If you don't have it, you have to FAX them a copy of your photo ID. So that part is kind of in line with what Blizzard actually does.
skuska May 20th 2007 1:08AM
Online banks, and many other sites, don't store your password anywhere. It would be a HUGE security risk to do so. Rather, they store a hash of your password. Which means that there is no way for them to access it, other than to erase it completely or set it to something else. They cant see what your password is. Michel, I dont know what enterprise you manage, but I would suggest you dont store user passwords ANYWHERE in cleartext. Thats a security nightmare just waiting to happen.
Laurens Holst May 20th 2007 5:08AM
Skuska, Michel never claimed he stored the passwords. He says he controls the security system, and thus has administrator rights to modify things as he wishes. And he can change the password if he wants, but not retrieve a new one.
Laurens Holst May 20th 2007 5:09AM
*but not retrieve the old one. I meant :).
Tool May 20th 2007 7:10AM
"This action is taken because we at Blizzard Entertainment **takes** these sales quite serious. We need to confirm you are the original owner of the account. This is **easiest** done by confirming your personal information"
Bloody classic...
Thijz May 20th 2007 11:57AM
People fall for this shit even if the scammers use a freaking hotmail.com email-address, it really shows the stupidity of some of our fellow WoWers!
Bart May 20th 2007 12:10PM
My question is, how did they get the emails of the players? Isnt that information hidden? SO did they hack in to get it? Isnt this a lapse in security at Blizzard?
Kilawhar May 20th 2007 1:14PM
@18
The same way email scammers "know" you have a Bank of America account. They don't. They just send out thousands of emails and assume that some of the folks who get it will have a WoW account and fall for it. With over 8 million accounts out there, it's not such a long shot.
HaHaIfYourAcctGotHacked! May 20th 2007 1:17PM
#18, Well let's see, either Blizzard is as evil as they are which won't surprise me one bit and they just sell the list, or seeing how there are supposed "7 million" accounts, maybe the scammers just send it to any spam list and see who responds!
For all you idiots who think it's "sneaky" or "very sneaky," here's a clue -- it's not -- it's quite idiotic and only idiots would fall for this stuff.
People who get hacked are likely to be victims (or eventual victims) of other types of identity theft. ID theft will only work on stupid, gullible, greedy people. End of story.
Blizzard has been warning people how they will never ask for passwords, etc. And people still stupidly get hacked. Maybe, it would work better if they said "Hey, if you get hacked it's because of your own stupidity!" Then when the stupid people get offended (assuming they're smart enough to realize they're being insulted), they'll quit and the quality of the game will improve substantially for the rest of us.