World Of Warcraft, WoW Hand Armor

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Blizzard Phishing Email - Authenticator Giveaway

Hey folks!

A while back, Blizzard had a giveaway from their website for an Authenticator. It was easy, just a simple Twitter to BlizzardCS saying "I want an Authenticator". Ends up, I won it, and got one sent to me in the mail. With all these phishing emails coming up again, I thought to myself, I should give it away to someone in need. So that's what I am doing. =)




All you need to do is comment below stating the same thing (in your own way- gimme the authenticator! I want, I want! whatever you decide), and on Sunday, June 18th (thats a few days from now) I will announce a winner (so make sure and come back to see if you won!). Also, please don't use just a anonymous, unless you add your "name" at the end. And please don't put your address or email in comments, wait until Sunday when I announce the winner, then you can email me your shipping information. So now, on with the post....

Here we go again. I get anywhere from 3 to 6 of these "phishing" emails a week, and it just gets redundant after a while. Do not fall for any of these, as it seems week to week they are getting more and more legit looking.....here's an example:

FAKE EMAIL- A PHISHING ATTEMPT- 

Greetings

An investigation of your World of Warcraft account has found strong evidence that the account in question is being sold or traded.
As you may not be aware of, this conflicts with Blizzard's EULA under section 4 Paragraph B which can be found here:
WoW -> Legal -> End User License Agreement

and Section 8 of the Terms of Use found here:

WoW -> Legal -> Terms of Use

The investigation will be continued by Blizzard administration to determine the action to be taken against your account. If your account is found violating the EULA and Terms of Use, your account can,and will be suspended/closed/or terminated. In order to keep this from occurring, you should immediately verify that you are the account owner. To verify your identity please visit : http://eu.battle.net/account/security.

Only Account Administration will be able to assist with account retrieval issues.
Thank you for your time and attention to this matter,and your continued interest in World of Warcraft.

Blizzard Entertainment Inc Account Administration Team
P.O. Box 18979, Irvine, CA 92623


After sending in a ticket, I received a very helpful response from a GM, and I wanted to share this with ya'll:


Heya!

Thanks for contacting us! Unfortunately, I didn't have the opportunity to speak with you, but I certainly hope everything is going well!

We have recently seen an increase in phishing attempts received via e-mail, which pose a real threat for account security. Below I've listed some information regarding these email scams. I would like to thank you for taking an active role in helping us stop these scams, and I assure you that we will be taking the appropriate actions using the information you've provided us with.

Please keep in mind that many scams will ask you for your password, which is something Blizzard will NEVER ask for. Also, there are often a few indicators in e-mails such as the one you received that should tip you off. For instance, it was directing you to the European Battle.net. For more information regarding how to tell if the e-mail you received is legitimate, please visit http://us.blizzard.com/support/article/30828.

For additional security tips and information, please visit the following sites:

- Security Checklist: http://us.battle.net/security/checklist.html

- Types of Account Thefts: http://us.battle.net/security/types.html

- Email Address Security: http://us.blizzard.com/support/article/30814

Authenticators are an optional security device that can help prevent unauthorized account access. For more information about how the authenticator works or how to add one to a World of Warcraft account, please visit the Battle.net Authenticator FAQ at http://us.blizzard.com/support/article/BLIZZARDAUTH.

If you responded to the email scam, please call the Billing department before reporting the account as stolen. With proper verification our representatives will be able to assist you in recovering your account. Billing representatives are on hand to take your call between 8AM and 8PM Pacific Time, 7 days a week at 1-800-59-BLIZZARD (800-592-5499). Customers in Australia should call 1-800-041-378.

I hope that this response has adequately resolved your petition! If it hasn't, feel free to select Need More Help. Be sure to provide as much information about what is going on as possible. :)

If it has resolved the issue, go ahead and click on 'Message Read'. Doing so, you may receive the option to fill out a survey for us today. Filling these out gives us information we need to make our customer service even more epic! ^.^ If there is any reason I did not get top scores in your book, please leave a comment and let me know how I can improve and/or what I should keep doing. *Please note* that if you do not receive a survey you can still send this information by emailing wowgmfeedback-US@Blizzard.com. I frequently review my surveys, and would appreciate any and all feedback.

Regards,
Game Master Silokir
Customer Services
Blizzard Entertainment
www.blizzard.com/support



Hopefully this clears up any questions you have about emails, or where you should send them for review. Basically, don't trust any you get. There are times when you will get one from them, opening a ticket, server transfers, character name change, etc. But as long as you don't do anything shady in WoW, you never have to worry about account compromising. Good luck to you!

24 comments:

Anonymous said... Reply To This Comment

I could use this to protect my AH toon.. now that I have made 10K in a month using your tips!!

Erin Jo

Anonymous said... Reply To This Comment

What about those of us who are actually IN the EU, and use the European battle.net on a (semi)daily basis? If we are directed to EU.battle.net, then 99% of us will think "fine, no probs with that" and probably click the link.

Unless you ahve a good head on your shoulders, and actually TYPE in the URL to go there.

In anycase: I already have an autheticator, I don't need another one.

Cheers, Doc ;)

Matt M said... Reply To This Comment

Uh... Today is June 14th... this Sunday is June 19th... lol

but I'm not asking for it cause I already use one for our 3 accounts...

Good luck to everyone that still needs one!
Matt

Martz said... Reply To This Comment

Alto,

I have one on my iTouch but it constraints me to only using it where wifi is available. Would be nice so I could log in at my uncles, work, etc.

Rincy said... Reply To This Comment

gimme gimme gimme :D
Been getting phishing Mails on a regular basis, they used to amuse me, now they are just anoying :(

Anonymous said... Reply To This Comment

I DARE YOU TO GIVE IT TO ME! DARE! IN FACT, I DOUBLE-DOG-DARE YOU! SCARED? WATCH EVERYBODY, HE WON'T GIVE IT TO ME... CUZ I AM WAY, WAY TOO AWESOME AND INTIMIDATING! NO NEED TO CHECK BACK, CUZ YOU WON'T GIVE IT TO ME... CUZ I D - A - R - E YOU!

P.S. - My 7 year-old keeps giving my password to his dumb little friends when they're over... My gold is a ticking time bomb, please help!

Dave Erickson

Karot said... Reply To This Comment

I received a phising e-mail a bit over a week ago that had me completely fooled. Granted I get these all the time, ever since I was hacked around Christmas 2009. At the time, my account was actually frozen as I hadn't bought game time since that Thanksgiving. The hacker actually attached an authenticator to my account and bought game time! Needless to say, once I got my account back I bought an authenticator myself.

As I was saying, this latest phising e-mail actually fooled me this time. It had official Blizzard graphics and everything! Now I haven't played for the last two and a half months, and this e-mail was offering me 7 days of free game time. Well, I fell for it. It led me to a site that looked exactly like the battle.net login screen. Once I submitted my account info (it didn't ask for an authenticator code, which I thought was odd), the next screen asked for more info, including my first and last name, and security question and answer (although the ACTUAL security question and answer I have attached to my account wasn't even an option, thank goodness). So after seeing no confirmation that I'd gotten 7 free days of game time I dug deeper and sure enough, hovering over the link in the e-mail I was baffled as to how I could have been duped like that, especially since I'd been so good before at spotting the fakes. The e-mail was dated January 2007, the newsletter itself said it would expire July 22, 2011, and then at the bottom there was a separate expiration date for this offer: March 22, 2011.

Luckily, I've already got an authenticator on my account, but I changed my password anyway. I'm seriously considering creating a brand new e-mail account and change my battle.net address, and have that account just receive official Blizzard messages. That way there will be no doubt.

Tony G. said... Reply To This Comment

Hey, Alto. I would love to get my hands on that authenticator. While I have never had any type of account issue with scammers, I have wanted that pet that comes with the authenticator for some time. I do get the once a week or more e-mail requesting I click a link or send my Battle.net account name and password.

I have came so close to sending them that info along with my name, date of birth, social security number, my mothers maiden name and even my bank account info. /end sarcasm

Thanks for your continued gold advise.

Azuriel said... Reply To This Comment

have one on my iTouch but it constraints me to only using it where wifi is available.

Err... what? I have the Authenticator on my iTouch and no WiFi is necessary. I am typing this a work and just turned the Auth on and let it cycle through 3 different codes. After the initial download, you shouldn't have to have any internet access at all to bring up codes. There was an update a few days ago, but that shouldn't have impacted anything.

Anonymous said... Reply To This Comment

Will Dance for Authenticators.

Anonymous said... Reply To This Comment

GIEF ^^

Cheers

Will P.

Rabbit said... Reply To This Comment

I want it!

Anyway the closing date seems to be wrong? 14th Jun is the date of this post which is a Tuesday. Sunday should've been 18th June.

Cheers

Mark said... Reply To This Comment

Hey, give it to me :):) i'm also confused about your dates... :P

Admin said... Reply To This Comment

Fixed! Now I should explain how I got Sunday the 14th, but I don't have a good answer, so I am just gonna play the blonde card.....but I am not blonde, how about the bald card? Nah, that don't work either. Let's just agree I was wrong.

Anyways, good luck to all that enter!

Nigel said... Reply To This Comment

What a wonderful gift that would make. I get about 2 phish mails per week (fortunately gmail places into spam). Tried for a mobile one but alas my phone was not on their 'approved' list (newer model number). That day also happens to be my sister's birthday (guess I could have said it was mine if I were a low goblin).

and btw, I enjoy your blog almost daily.

sharinoel55 said... Reply To This Comment

I could soooooooo use this. Thank you

Patrick said... Reply To This Comment

Gimme gimme gimme

NoobWoWGold said... Reply To This Comment

I would really like it.......please :)

Anonymous said... Reply To This Comment

mmm is it my turn to say gief yet? :O so, gief!

~diz

Michael said... Reply To This Comment

I've been reading your blog for a very long time, and for the first time I realized I've been reading it wrong all along... and it made me laugh so hard I had to share.

I always thought this was "Alto's Goldfish Advice". Never understood it, but people can be odd sometimes, so I just shrugged and moved on.

But hey, it brings a whole new meaning to educating us about phishing attempts!

AJ said... Reply To This Comment

I want one!!!

Dwhittman said... Reply To This Comment

Yo quiero Taco Bell...y un authenticator.

Nigel said... Reply To This Comment

Grats to the winner. May you never need the Blizz for recovery.

Omii said... Reply To This Comment

Well I just got hacked yesterday, so Gives me the authenticator of awesomeness now plox! <3

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