First things first: the correct address for the WoW Armory is wowarmory.com. Bookmark it. Memorize it. But don't ever, ever search for it again. We've talked before about how misspelling searches can get you into trouble. But even if you spell WoW Armory correctly when Googling, the first sponsored site that shows up is a phishing site -- and it's a really good one.

Update 1:10pm: Google seems to have removed the site from their sponsored listing in the short time since I wrote this post. Kudos! Nonetheless, there are and will be more sites using the same technique, so the warning remains valid.

Do not go to the following site: armory-worldofwarcnaft.com/wowarmory/, it is evil. Notice the n in warcnaft? You may not when you are clicking on it in your search page or when it shows up in your address bar. And that's what they are counting on. Because the rest of the site looks authentic. When you type in what you want to search for, you get asked for your Battle.net info. Then, no matter what you type in, it gives you a password error. (I typed in profanity. It was fun.) They have stolen all of the elements of the actual Blizzard pages, so that if you want your login page in other languages, just a click of the button will get you there. But don't. It's evil.

So let's say you do fall for this (many people are) and you don't have an authenticator... The next time you log into WoW, there will be an authenticator on your account. You'll have to call up Blizzard Support, convince them you are you, and work with them to get your account back. And the whole time you're doing it, someone is fondling your characters, hocking your bank contents and disenchanting your gear. They may even use your good name to scam someone else.

Please double check where you are anytime a site asks you for your account information. These social engineers are clever, so your safest best is not to search at all for official WoW pages. Just go to WorldofWarcraft.com and navigate to where you need to go.

And please, please, please get an authenticator, either in keyfob form or via your mobile. The pet is adorable and the added layer of security is relaxing. Don't wait for the possibility of them shipping with Cataclysm. Get one now and play in safety.

[Thanks to all those who sent this in.]

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Tags: armory, authenticator, phishing, phishing-scam, scam, scams, social-engineering, wow-armory

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Account Security