Posting about "Blizzard" Emails will earn you a ban!

[Aurabolt]

These days I ignore and delete any emails from Blizzard--even official ones. I only talk to Blizz over the phone now since a GM basically said "I wouldn't recommend E-Mailing us since scammers have been getting better and better at emulating our style of E-Mail."

This does sort of explain the jump to Facebook and Twitter :

[Geckomayhem]

Please include those people that talk about getting "hacked". I'd like to see those posts reduced, too. Yes, Blizzard will renew their characters; and yes, they should run a virus scan. Case closed.

Thanks for posting this, Chaud. I hope that we will see fewer of those types of posts.

[Erutan]

Can we get an update of those people who already had a ban on their hiny?
Because i still se the "is this legit / scam / hackzors / bad?" posts....

[TheRabidDeer]

I got this one in my spam box which I find rather funny. I guess they messed up on the code for a bit or something:

This is an automated notification regarding your Aion Game Account. Someone at 220.xx.xx.xx has reset your account options.

If you made this change to your subscription type, please disregard this automatic notification.

*** If you did NOT make any changes to your account or subscription, we recommend you login to Account Management at the following link to review your account settings:
http://www.fakesite.com

If you cannot sign into Account Management using the link above, or if unauthorized changes continue to happen, please contact NCsoft Support Services for advanced assistance.

Regards,

The NCsoft Team
http://www.fakesite.com
Hello,

This is an automated notification regarding your World of Warcraft account. Your account options was recently modified through the Account Management website.

If you made this change to your subscription type, please disregard this automatic notification.

*** If you did NOT make any changes to your account or subscription, we recommend you login to Account Management at the following link to review your account settings:
http://www.fakesite.com

If you cannot sign into Account Management using the link above, or if unauthorized changes continue to happen, please contact Blizzard Billing & Account Services for advanced assistance.

Billing & Account Services can be reached at 1-800-59-BLIZZARD (1-800-592-5499 Mon-Fri, 8Am-8PM Pacific Time) or at billing@blizzard.com.
Account security is solely the responsibility of the accountholder. Please be advised that in the event of a compromised account, Blizzard representatives will typically lock the account.
In these cases the Account Administration team will require faxed receipt of ID materials before releasing the account for play.

Regards,

The World of Warcraft Support Team
Blizzard Entertainment
http://www.fakesite.com

Yes, all of that was in the same email. Both aion and WoW.

I have been getting a LOT of these emails lately though. Usually at least one per day, sometimes two, the most recent one managed to avoid my spam block entirely and landed in my actual inbox.

[Riboe]

you could just... you know... maybe try logging in?

Lol, actually this has just happened to me. I got hacked and the hacker manged to change my password and the email / account name..

Oh, just for the record.. I didn't click any link in a email looking like a official one.. Nor did I find any trojans / virus on my machine when I scanned it (Using AVG Internet Security, with the latest update installed)..

[Deleted]

Bad move.

There are still people out there who visit MMOC and don't have the capability to distinguish between a real Blizzard mail and a fake one. Doesn't matter if they're stupid or not, helping them is way more appropriate than flaming them.

Oh wait, th3s3 r t3h MMO-C forums, if you're a moderator and you're not a 'bad boi', you're nothing.

Agreed, you should be banning the people flaming them.

Some aren't that good with those kind of problems (so was i few years ago) so why would you cut them off support. Atm you are banning people who don't deserve it (in most cases ofc) while there are 41646546134 post about "how is your sexlife irl" and so many different crap...yes lets support them.

I rather awnser 6546547 topics about someone who needs help than seeing all the other r*tarded posts around here.

PS: I am not saying you are a bad moderator cause your not...i saw anoff off your other posts who wer helpfull in many cases. Just saying this topic is wrong.

[ComputerNerd]

Is there not a blizzard address you can forward suspicious emails to ?
I seem to vaugely remember mention of one, but have not been able to find it.
A post detailing that (if it actually exists), and general advice on spotting/identifying fakes might be more constructive than simply a ban.

[ATTHEREADY]

Agreed, you should be banning the people flaming them.

Some aren't that good with those kind of problems (so was i few years ago) so why would you cut them off support. Atm you are banning people who don't deserve it (in most cases ofc) while there are 41646546134 post about "how is your sexlife irl" and so many different crap...yes lets support them.

I rather awnser 6546547 topics about someone who needs help than seeing all the other r*tarded posts around here.

PS: I am not saying you are a bad moderator cause your not...i saw anoff off your other posts who wer helpfull in many cases. Just saying this topic is wrong.

This here, this is a forum for helping people...not for people who are sick of reading the same things over again. I'm sorry mods, but if somebody doesn't really violate the rules, there are no grounds for banning.

[wasniahC]

So what? They can be helped on the same thread. Didn't they say there would be a sticky about this?

Did you READ the post? :>

As to the guy all "lolol stop asslicking mods and trying to be funny", all I saw was 1 person being an ass, and 1 person making a joke as he told the guy to piss off. Cos going "Oh wait mods or bad bois" or whatever the hell he said just makes you look like a douche, to be frank. More of a "i hate mods" and "stop being an ass" than a "i have a problem with it" "i like mods" problem.

Oh, I also hate people who think anybody who agrees with anything a mod says is an asslick. Did I mention that? There are good mod decisions and bad ones, but this one has all bases covered - They said they'd put a sticky up about it, and they said they would remove any new posts put in. Whats actually WRONG with having just one sticky about it instead?

[Skullmaster]

Bad move.

There are still people out there who visit MMOC and don't have the capability to distinguish between a real Blizzard mail and a fake one. Doesn't matter if they're stupid or not, helping them is way more appropriate than flaming them.

Oh wait, th3s3 r t3h MMO-C forums, if you're a moderator and you're not a 'bad boi', you're nothing.

If they lack the intelligence to discern between an actual e-mail and a fake one then it will just be one less bad person that we'll have a chance of grouping with, further propelling us towards Blizzard's proposed 10 man raid finder :P.

[Sava]

If you even consider looking into it further without first trying to see whether you can log into game or not, then yes, you sir are an idiot.

spot the sarcasm in the link.

[pomop]

This here, this is a forum for helping people...not for people who are sick of reading the same things over again. I'm sorry mods, but if somebody doesn't really violate the rules, there are no grounds for banning.

I must approve of this. There are thousands of different fake emails, and i highly highly doubt that every one of them has been posted on these forums. There are also new fake emails coming out every month. Now as moderators you need to decide.

1. Let people post "Fake blizzard email?" or variations, knowing that its not the same email as hundereds others here. You can help them, tell them yes its fake, or no its real.

OR

2. Ban them outright. Let them make another account asking why they got banned or reposting the same question. Ban them again. Then they go on either thinking its fake, only to find out its real and have something happen (or nothing at all). They could decide that the email is real, follow the link, and get keylogged.

So... help people who are requesting information on a public forum, or ban them and have a chance that they get their account hacked due to your actions.

[pomop]

If they lack the intelligence to discern between an actual e-mail and a fake one then it will just be one less bad person that we'll have a chance of grouping with, further propelling us towards Blizzard's proposed 10 man raid finder :P.

You must not have seen any recent emails. I'm sure you believe that fake emails are full of misspelled words and bad grammer.

Well, bad ones are. Good fake emails are... realistic to say the least. Take http://i604.photobucket.com/albums/t...s/scammers.jpg as an example. It looks extremely legit. Hell, at the time they even put videos on youtube. This is one of them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll2QiG0a_CI



edit - lol this is easy to tell its fake with the information we have now. However when it was posted, there was no information about the expansion. "New Hero Class!" is the give away btw.


edit edit - Please tell me whether "<SC2betaUS@blizzard.com>" is a real or fake email. I want to know what youall think.

[Wheres]

I had the same email and I did 2 things.

1) Hovered over the link to see a fake link (Java script or something) instead of just the URL
2) Logged into the game and... oh... my password hasn't been changed.

That and... pro tip...PEOPLE WHO STEAL STUFF OFF OF YOUR ACCOUNT DON'T BOTHER TO CHANGE THE PASSWORD.

They just login, take stuff, and leave it.

I've never heard of anyone going "The damn hackers changed my password aswell" its always "I've/I think I've been hacked!"

Actually it is common practice to change the password. One my of my friends not only had his account hacked, password changed but the person also put a authenticator on the stolen account. This just made it that much MORE difficult and lengthy to retrieve the account. What did it cost the hacker to gain extra time to use the toon? A minute or two to set up the free authenticator.

[Panoramixe]

This here, this is a forum for helping people...

No actually it's not. You're thinking of the Blizzard support forums I believe.

This is a discussion forum, meant to discuss things. On the subject of fake e-mails there's no discussion to be had. All people can say is 'yes it's fake, don't go to the link." followed by 10 smart-asses calling the OP an idiot. Then you have a dozen idiots going to the site in the e-mail the original idiot didn't edit out. So in short it's messy and it doesn't bring any meaningful discussion with it.

So I agree with the mods, keep the fake mail crap to this thread or better yet off these forums. We can't help them, that's what Blizzard online support is for.

ps. If you don't notice the stickies or don't read the rules, this isn't the place for you. I'm quite certain anyone who isn't able to read the rules can't read a topic and actually add something constructive either.

[pomop]

No actually it's not. You're thinking of the Blizzard support forums I believe.

This is a discussion forum, meant to discuss things. On the subject of fake e-mails there's no discussion to be had. All people can say is 'yes it's fake, don't go to the link." followed by 10 smart-asses calling the OP an idiot. Then you have a dozen idiots going to the site in the e-mail the original idiot didn't edit out. So in short it's messy and it doesn't bring any meaningful discussion with it.

Agreed to the sticky part, however i dont agree with this.

Yes, it is a helping forum. If it weren't, then people who flame would not be banned. Asking if an email is fake is the same as asking how to improve your characters dps. Almost everybody will say the same thing (replace X glyph with Y glyph, gem Z, put W talent in F). Thats not really a discussion, its people helping that person. Discussions can arise from that thread, but the thread itself will be getting generally the same answers as a fake email thread.

[Panoramixe]

Guess we'll have to agree to disagree.
But then again if it was up to me I'd ban any topic discussed in the stickies, which I would make of elitist jerks level (actually I'd copy paste their guides with proper references of course) Now that I think of it, topics discussed in the sticky might actually be against forum rules, can't be bothered going through them again.

[pomop]

Guess we'll have to agree to disagree.
But then again if it was up to me I'd ban any topic discussed in the stickies, which I would make of elitist jerks level (actually I'd copy paste their guides with proper references of course) Now that I think of it, topics discussed in the sticky might actually be against forum rules, can't be bothered going through them again.

Guess we shall agree to disagree.

Please note that i am not against going against the forum rules, as i myself think they are not even being held up to what they should be. However i do not think that fake emails should be anywhere in the rules.

Typically breaking a forum rule by trolling or something, does nothing. Few days ban, no big deal. If a person gets a fake email and comes here (Meaning he is seeking help, as he is not sure himself) and gets banned, he will make yet another account, ask why he was banned / make another thread about the same topic, and get banned again. (Repeating what i said in a previous post) Then they go on either thinking its fake, only to find out its real and have something happen (or nothing at all). Or they could decide that the email is real, follow the link, and get keylogged.

So in short... Banning people from breaking rules = X day ban. Banning somebody for asking if an email is fake, getting banned and no answers only to end up following the link = banned from forums and keylogged. In the end, this rule helps keyloggers hack accounts.



If you disagree, well think of this. If you are preparing to drive for the first time in your life, are you not going to ask your dad / mother questions? Of course you are! You are a brand new driver, doing something that you have never done before. The same goes for blizzard emails. There are thousands of different emails, and some people have never even received one. When they finally get that first email, they should ask questions. They should not be banned outright.

And before you say "They can use the search function", like i said, there are over a thousand different scams out there. Some of which ( http://i604.photobucket.com/albums/t...s/scammers.jpg ) are damn convincing.

and like i asked before - Is "<SC2betaUS@blizzard.com>" a real email from blizzard?

[Panoramixe]

The problem with your analogy is that Blizzard is the mommy in this example. MMO champion is more like the big brother who beats you up/scolds you when annoying the heck out of them.

Now on the topic of moderation. I won't go in depth here, but I feel the mods are doing a good job. If you disagree you should report more posts, like me. The big problem for mods is the internet fuckwad theory. Between the trolling etc most people actually have a point in most posts, banning everyone who "trolls" would result in very empty forums.

[rbarrow]

Great post