Cataclysm Beta Opt-in Email Fraud?

#0 - Oct. 3, 2009, 12:11 a.m.
Blizzard Post
Today I checked my email to see if anything interesting was there. Turns out that in my Spam box (yahoo mail) there was a message from Blizzard. This struck me as strange as I had changed my Battle.net email months prior to the email. The message being labeled as Spam was not strange as it has happened before with Ticket Followup emails.

I know that Blizzard uses my new address because I had filed a ticket last week concerning not being able to slot gems on tradeable gear and received an email asking to fill out a "performance review" and it showed up in my new website-based email inbox.

So that leads me to believe that someone somehow got a hold of an old list of emails and is sending out phony messages with a mistyped address. Here's a copy of the message:

Q u o t e:
Greetings,

Following the great success of Blizzcon 2009 and the announcement of the next World of Warcraft expansion, World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, we have decided to open the opt-in for the Cataclysm beta test. In the beta test you will be given an opportunity to provide your feedback on the overall gameplay experience as well as experience new playable worgen and goblin races, new zones, professions and more. For a full list of features please go here.

We will be selecting account holders of Battle.net and World of Warcraft accounts who opted-in at random to participate in the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Beta Test. To opt-in for the beta test please visit the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm website which can be accessed here.

In order to be eligible for the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm - Beta Opt In you will need to have a valid World of Warcraft subscription or Battle.net account in good standing as of August 25, 2009.

Should you be selected to participate in the beta test you will be able to transfer your characters onto our test realm and embark on the epic journey against the dreaded Deathwing!
We look forward to working with you in the World of Warcraft: Cataclsym Beta test.

Thank you,
Dustin Browder,
Lead Designer
Blizzard Entertainment


I added Underlines to the text that was Hyperlinked. The link in question was the last one which indicated where to go to Opt-in for the Beta. http://www.worldotfwarcraft.com/Cataclysm/ Notice that the address is misspelt with a "t" in "of". That was my first suspicion that it was fake. Secondly, it took me to a page that was "suspended".

Also, it seems too soon for the Beta to be ready.
#5 - Oct. 3, 2009, 12:48 a.m.
Blizzard Post
Q u o t e:
Ah crap!!! I bet you anything this is how my account got hacked a couple of days ago....

I feel sooooo stupid right now, it's not even funny :(


Please don't, and I'm sorry to hear that your account was compromised =(.

These 'phishers' can be very sneaky, and we have a whole thread dedicated to their fraudulent attempts to steal account information here:

Fake E-mails from "Blizzard Entertainment"
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=965511383&sid=1