Beware of scam e-mails!
by Elizabeth Harper 
Jul 5th 2007 at 8:18PM
First off -- this didn't come to my primary e-mail address. Blizzard doesn't know me as "aroundazeroth@gmail.com" so any mail going there has to be bogus. And secondly, it's coming from Blizzard Europe, while I don't have a European account. However, if this had landed in my primary mailbox, and substituted US contact information for EU contact information, I'd have to take it seriously -- after all, it appears to have been sent from blizzard.com and it sounds awfully ominous. They suspect me of trying to sell my account and they're going to suspend it unless I verify it! Yikes!
However, here's the big catch: after going through all of their ominous threats, they tell me to give them my account name and password. Nope, sorry. A Blizzard representative will never ask for your account name and password -- so don't give it out to anyone claiming to be with Blizzard, because that's all the information they need to take over your account. And if you get a mail like this that you're just not sure about -- don't give them any information, but confirm its authenticity with Blizzard, first. Get in touch with their billing support team by phone or e-mail!
For those of you curious as to what one of these scams looks like, the full text of the e-mail is after the jump.
Greetings!
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
* Account e-mail
* 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.
We ask you to NOT change password until the investigation is fully completed.
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,
Khemborea
Account Administration Team
Blizzard Entertainment Europe
http://www.wow-europe.com/en
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
scholargipsy Jul 5th 2007 8:40PM
Of course, you might also be able to tell the message is fake by the fact that -- one hopes -- the real Blizzard would never use such horrible English as "If you wish to not get your account suspended you should immediately verify your account." *English-teacher shudder*
someone Jul 5th 2007 8:42PM
The same email was on blue tracker not too long ago and confirmed by a blue to be fake.
khaosworks Jul 5th 2007 8:46PM
What I love about spam mails is the really bad grammar. "It will be ongoing for further investigation by Blizzard employee's" is the least of it.
"We ask you to NOT change password until the investigation is fully completed" made me laugh out loud, though.
RogueJedi86 Jul 5th 2007 9:02PM
Of course they'd ask you not to change your password. If you do that, they can't take over your account. Apparently Blizzard's servers have your passwords saved, but you have to tell Blizzard your password anyways, and Blizzard doesn't know your password if you change it, even though you can still log into WoW.
Isn't it amazing how inept the keyloggers think that we think Blizzard is?
Tumples Jul 5th 2007 9:04PM
Despite reading the "Blizzard employee will never ask for your password" hint hundreds of times on loading screens, there will be countless people who would think its ok to hand it over.
jtwhissel Jul 6th 2007 1:30AM
Greetings!
Congratulations,
You are 1 of 20 World Of Warcraft players who have been randomly selected off our servers to win a free copy of Starcraft II.
As of yet Starcraft II is still to be released and in beta development. You will be one of the first to play Starcraft II in the wold .
We have added a new security verification to stop game piracy until we have the game shipping please read below.
To access the Starcraft II you must first verify you are indeed the owner of the World of Warcraft Account.
Use the following template below, verify your account and information via email by replying back to us.
* First and Surname
* Address
* Zip Code
* Daytime and Home Phone Number
* Country
* Account e-mail
* 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
On retrieval of your Wow account information we will then send you a direct download link to the Starcraft II Beta, you will then be required to enter your WoW account and password to download the installer until the Game is released you will be required to log on to verify you are indeed the World of Warcraft Account owner.
All winners will be posted on The World of Warcraft Homepage
Please reply "NO" if you would like to forfeit your prize and we will randomly select a new Account.
Terms And conditions:
All content and Private information will not be shared with anyone but Blizzard Entertainment and is kept as a reference and proof of purchase.
Regards,
Blizzard Entertainment Inc
Account Administration Team
P.O. Box 18979, Irvine, CA 92623
Coherent Jul 6th 2007 1:33AM
Yeah, the first clue for me would be the bad grammer and poor grasp of legal concepts.
Read the email: it says "Blizzard might consider taking legal actions against your crime,"
One, you don't take legal _actions_, you take legal _action_. AND violating the EULA is not a _crime_. It is a civil rather than criminal matter, and civil matters are not _crimes_. No lawyer would ever write that phrase (except maybe Jack Thompson).
So, having verified within the first paragraph that it was written by morons, I would laugh for a bit and then get pissed off even more at the scammers for the audacity to try shiat like this.
awender Jul 6th 2007 5:53AM
BLIZZARD DOES ASK FOR YOUR ACCOUNT NAME!
See a mail from them:
"Also please could you provide us with the following information to confirm the account:
- Your full real name
- Your full address including postal or zip code
- Your full email address (used for account creation)
- Your account name (please do NOT send us your password)
- Your authentication key"
This was in a mail they sent me, when I reported a problem on their web site.
It didn't disturb them, that I actually logged in with my account onto their site and they all the info about me. They need this information in a cleartext mail - dilettantes, amateurs - your choice of adjective.
Libri Jul 6th 2007 6:21AM
Although it's nto exactly the same thing, it's remarkabily similar to the Nigerian 419 Scam. Just tuned differently for World of Warcraft. If you are unsure too, look up the 419 scam on Wikipedia or try 419eater.com. Although they can't give you a definate answer, it can show you things to identify bogus e-mail, doing a bit of research never hurt anyone. =)
Thankfully it seems all the bases are covered for scams like the ones shown above, the fact Blizzard never ask for your password would be evidence enough it seems. Hopefully people are smart enough to simply decipher and delete =)
Lian Jul 6th 2007 7:39AM
The grammar is this e-mail reminds me of a quote from Henry Rollins talking about an English as a second language response he got:
"For making landing, immediate time, incredibly! Broken now, not moving; stupid motor on flaming. I declaration emergency!"
Adagar Jul 6th 2007 8:51AM
did anyone happen to notice the website address is blIzzard.com, capitol "L" not an i.
homant Jul 6th 2007 9:13AM
@9 - Thank you for the link to 419eater.com - Pure entertainment.
FireStar Jul 6th 2007 9:16AM
I got one of these type of things from pay-pal.com (real site is paypal). I wonder how many people fell for it because it looked really good...i just pay attention to details. It amazes me how many scammers are out there and how nothing would stop them from taking money they didn't earn. No moral values.
Eztonic Jul 6th 2007 10:21AM
The thing is of course, that this mail is aimed at Europeans, who are more likely to overlook the spelling mistakes...
Theserene Jul 6th 2007 1:06PM
>>The thing is of course, that this mail is aimed at Europeans, who are more likely to overlook the spelling mistakes...
Theserene Jul 6th 2007 1:07PM
And again, it cut off my response which was - I am not aware that european servers are inhabited by people who are any more likely to fall for such scams as US ones.
Jennifer Jul 11th 2007 3:10PM
@16/Theserene
I don't believe he was saying that players on european realms are dumb -- the point was that european players often do not speak english, or do not speak english as a first language, and are less likely to recognize the improper grammar. However, it should be noted the grammar in the e-mail is not the ONLY scam identifier (not that it was Eztonic's point, just making things clear)
Zurahk Jul 12th 2007 7:19AM
Yeah i actually got the same exact email today, from that "Khemborea" person and i mean same exact word from word lol damn whata sh**bag anyways yeah thanks for the info and im glad i had the common sense to look this up because it was to fishy when it edned in EU i was like hey i dont have a european account