I Just Got Banned From WoW (was game=268)Follow

I didn't get an e-mail...my FFXIV account was hacked. I went to log in today and not only was my character gone, so was my client and my installation discs. Them RMT are getting super sneaky these days.

Also keep an eye out for fake beta invites.
I get plenty of them for cataclysm.

I've had my WoW account stolen once and almost stolen a second time (got an email saying the account was blocked due to unauthorized access) since I quit.

I don't even click the links in the emails either; I just call them. First time, since they actually DID steal ****, I ended up with a free month of playtime (since I had a canceled account) to log back on and check my mail to retrieve all the crap the GMs restored (they mail it to you).

Second time (after having changed my battle.net ID, password, all security questions), about a month later I get an email to the email I had changed my battle.net login to, saying the account was locked due to attempted unauthorized access (or something like that). Email sender info was valid but I still went to battle.net manually and checked; sure enough it was. So I had to get it unblocked again.

Pain in the *** for a game I don't play anymore; I only did it because if I ever decide to play WoW again for some reason, it's a lot easier to pick up an inactive account than an account that was banned 6 months prior but I never did anything about it. Ditto if any stuff was taken.

Can't say I've ever seen such zealous attempts at stealing accounts on any other MMOG besides WoW (granted, WoW is arguably "the most popular" one out there currently so that's likely why). Honestly I'd like to say MMOGs should just write off Chinese IP addresses altogether, but 1) They can just proxy their way in anyway and 2) significantly more than half of their legitimate subscribers are in Asia, so there's no way they're going to lose that large of a chunk of their income, even if it did cut back on RMT.

At any rate, I haven't seen any emails about an Aion account that I don't have, nore have I seen any about FFXI or any of the other MMOGs I've played over the years. I've gotten currency spammers in FFXI and DDO and such, but I expect any game with a decently sized subscriber base has that.

I would love to get banned from Aion though, especially since I don't play, and I hear so many others who don't play Aion get banned from it too. If only just for the laugh.

LOL phishing.

I get blizz phishing emails at least twice a week.

How to avoid getting phished:



1) The GM part comes before their name, not immediately after the arrows/colon.
2) Typos or grammatical errors, especially in excess indicate that this is most likely not a GM.
3) Asking you to visit a web address in an initial message is a blatant hint. Even if a GM were to suggest you review the ToS/EULA regarding an offense, they wouldn't give you a web address unless you explicitly asked for one.
4) Threatening to ban you for failure to respond in a way that would require exiting the game or minimizing/alt-tabbing the game would never happen. If you're not using windower and you're not playing in windowed mode, you CAN'T alt-tab, so the game itself would prohibit you from doing this. Furthermore, if you are playing on PS2/360, they can't prove you HAVE a PC and wouldn't require you to somehow come up with one on the off chance you didn't own one.
5) A GM's name DOES NOT show up when you /sea them. If it does (especially if they're level 1, rank 1) then it isn't a GM.

Edited, Jun 9th 2010 7:12pm by Mikhalia

The thing is, you did something to start GETTING these emails. The whole 'random net cast into the sea of phish' thing doesn't add up when I've got multiple emails on multiple carriers and never get phishing mails.
This, in turn, puts forward the theory that anyone getting these emails is on a much larger 'mailing list' for spam. To get on these lists, you do stupid things, such as when you sign up for your yahoo account (lol, yahoomail), they ask you "What are your interests?" If you actually click any of those boxes, you're setting yourself up for phishing.
When you sign up for a website, there is always a box that says "Do you want to receive emails from our carefully selected partners?" Again, ticking that box just sets you up for phishing mails.
This means that your email address is well known, and ANY email you get is now suspect. A simple email from your buddy "Hey man, check out this hot chick I found on facebook" could be from someone who isn't your buddy at all, and then, despite not having a WoW account, your... FFXI.... account.... is stolen. That's at LEAST sixty hours of grinding per level they stole, and they even stole your jump key!

what game is game 268 anyway?