Account Security is a joke.

Q u o t e:
The reason my account got hacked, a long with the rest of my computer (I just had to reformat) is that I clicked on a phishing email. The thing looked pretty legit... stupid me.

I'm glad that you were able to identify the weakness in your security.

Q u o t e:
How the hell did these people get my email to begin with? How? Please tell me. Seems like some grade A <Tauren> Blizzard.

Unless your Battle.net email address is never used for any other purpose other than your Battle.net log in, then it is likely that someone, somewhere has acquired it. It's very common for phishers to pull email addresses from World of Warcraft related websites where email addresses might be posted for group or public consumption (such a guild website). Any public posting of an email address can be extremely risky in this regard.

A quick test to determine if your email address has been posted publicly is to use a reasonably powerful search engine to run a search on it. Of course, public posting isn't the only means by which an address could be acquired, merely one amongst many.

Q u o t e:
How is there so many farmers in the game? They're so easy to spot and yet they are in the same areas week after week. It's almost like you guys got some sort of an agreement between each other.

how much percentage of the money they make do you get to keep so they can continue operating?

Please consider the matter rationally. The precedent has been set by other agencies and if we wished to profit from virtual currency sales and the like, we could easily cut out the middle man and do so immediately. I find it rather ridiculous that this accusation keeps resurfacing when it is so patently illogical.
We feel that the various exploitative services these agencies offer (such as virtual currency sales or power leveling) are firmly against the spirit of World of Warcraft. We feel that they degrade the gameplay environment for all our players. It is for this reason that we continually strive to combat this kind activity; to suggest that we would promote it or are somehow in 'cahoots' represents misinformation of the highest order.

In fact, we exert considerable time, man power and resources in an effort to limit and eliminate the influence of those who would exploit World of Warcraft and degrade the play environment for our players.

Unfortunately, as long as their activities remain profitable, these exploitative elements will continue to pursue them. The issue is that despite our efforts, these individuals continue to receive funding - some players, whether selfishly or thoughtlessly, continue to purchase the gold and services they offer.

We've issued a warning and a plea about this in the past:

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/basics/antigold.html

The responsibility for account security rests squarely in the hands of our players, and for many good reasons. I've commented on a few of them here:

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=22048400200&postId=220463263841&sid=1#54

Finally, you can refer to the link in my signature for further tips and information on how to better secure your account, including acquiring an Authenticator (please note that Mobile Authenticators are available free of charge).

Do you have any further questions? It seems you've developed some very questionable impressions and I'd like to clarify matters when I can.

Q u o t e:
I wouldnt be so upset if it werent for the fact I lost all the contents of my hardrive because of this.
I also dont have the physical copy of WoW, only BC and Lich King....

if anyone feels like helping, is there a way I can just download vanilla and upgrade with my physical copies?

I had a feeling that you were probably rather frustrated with this situation, and I can understand how that might prompt one to 'lash out'.

You can download a client compatible with all the expansions here:

https://www.worldofwarcraft.com/account/download_wow.html

Q u o t e:
those Heads are making things difficult, huh? =D

Little beggars =(.

Both of them wanted to post.


When I find the dude that glued two tiny dogs to my face, there will be heck to pay.

Q u o t e:
the reason you'd use mafia tactics with gold farmers is so that you could have your cake and eat it too, I'd suppose.

if it wasnt about maximum profit why would you charge real cash for in-game pets?

What cake? There's literally no justification for it.

And of course profit is desirable - that is the raison d'être of a business after all. We're proud and happy to be able to offer bonuses and services cool enough that players want to take advantage of them. That said, I must point out that there's a vast yawning void between offering additional and entirely voluntary products and services to our players, and encouraging any kind of exploitative activity.

It is a grave mistake to assume that any pursuit of profit is automatically also the pursuit of profit at any cost.

Q u o t e:
I'm just being realistic. In the business world, if you can cut around an ethical issue without being caught (if it maximized profit) and you don't, once your superior finds out ,1 of 2 things happens.

1) he cuts the corner above your head
2) he makes you go back and do so yourself

Or

3) The employee is censured, and an appropriate method to accomplish a similar profit increase is pursued or the approach is abandoned. A company risks being burned badly, with costs outweighing benefits, otherwise.

Make no mistake - option three occurs every day.

Q u o t e:
Also, the authenticator via iPhone...
I bet that it part of a package deal the two companies ironed out during the deal making process of their WoW app for iPhone. or maybe not. I can't be sure. :)

You'd lose that bet. There are also many different devices on multiple carriers capable of running the Mobile Authenticator. I'm not quite certain what you're trying to intimate?

Q u o t e:

if humans were ethical by nature, they wouldnt need to put little injured children to guilt trip you in those haiti relief fund comercials. as a matter of fact, there would be no comercials. There wouldn't be a need to advertise "helping hand", but alas...

In discussing whether humans are ethical by nature, we're moving toward a much more complex and deeper discussion than is appropriate for this forum. That said, whether you choose to believe it or not, there are organizations (helmed by the aforementioned humans) who choose to pursue their efforts with an ethical approach - whatever the source of those ethics (altruism, pragmatism or otherwise) might be.

Admittedly, I find it frustrating that you continue to posit the possibility of your hypotheses while seeming to disregard my posts on the subject. Simply persisting to announce that something 'could be true' assuming grand generalizations about human nature and hypothetical business practices isn't an effective method to distill truth.

Whatever the source of the strange suspicions you harbor, I can unequivocally assure you that they are unfounded by anything resembling fact or action.

Q u o t e:

but this 'ruins the economy for others' so they'd have to have a mask to do it in. Like a farmer.

Did you miss my statement here?

Q u o t e:
Please consider the matter rationally. The precedent has been set by other agencies and if we wished to profit from virtual currency sales and the like, we could easily cut out the middle man and do so immediately. I find it rather ridiculous that this accusation keeps resurfacing when it is so patently illogical.

This is rather easy to understand. If we wished to profit from the practice, we could just change the rules to accommodate that desire. Our decision to refrain from doing so is in service to our vision of what World of Warcraft should be.

Please refrain from further blithe rumor mongering, particularly if you are going to continue ignoring my posts in your efforts to do so.

Q u o t e:



the only evidence you have stating that they don't do this is what a talking piece tells you in a forum.

pretty solid evidence; I guess I was wrong!

In an effort to combat these practices we've aggressively pursued the matter legally whenever possible. We've closed many thousands of accounts. We've assisted in the removal of hundreds of exploitative websites. These are all ongoing efforts, and there is abundant proof available that we actively combat RMT within World of Warcraft and beyond. Our efforts, while rarely directly perceived (though they have been highly visible at various points in the past) are witnessed mostly in the changing faces and tactics that those engaged in exploitation employ.

All in all, this is much more powerful than simply the word of a 'talking piece'. There is no evidence of the converse, because the converse has never occurred. That perspective seems largely to be a product of baseless assumptions and unfortunate cynicism.

Q u o t e:
On the back of the Authenticator is does say "made in China"
coincidence? I'll let you decide.

When this discussion remained rational, I was willing to countenance it. I'm afraid that I have no further time to invest in a conversation where one is so willing to cling to the broken shreds of an argument in the face of an overwhelming wall of contrary evidence.

To prevent this thread from devolving further, I will be locking it.

Good luck on your account recovery, Enough. I strongly encourage you to take the steps to properly secure your account in the wake of your encounter with a phishing email as well as in greater application of discretion in the future. You may find the link my signature useful.

Provided you are willing to trust it, of course.

Edit:

Q u o t e:
okay, Mal said in an earlier post that it is a known problem that phisher use a "resonably powerful search engine" to collect email address to use for maligned purposes.

Please don't misquote or misinterpret my statements.

I stated that an individual can tell if their email address is easily available for public consumption based on the simple use of a popular search engine. Not that exploiters use that method or anything resembling it. It is merely a tool to help determine if a given email address is potentially less secure.