Fake emails from Blizzard

#0 - Sept. 20, 2010, 11:36 a.m.
Blizzard Post
Hi all,

Just to start off, yes I have read the sticky.

Everytime I check my 'Junk Emails', they are full of fake emails from Blizzard.
How do the senders of the emails (hackers) know that I play WoW and why do I get 10+ fake emails a day from them?

Also, I used to be able to do the 'view source' and see that it was actually from a @hotmail or @gmail account but every since I reformatted and got the latest windows live messenger it comes up with jibberish that doesn't really prove anything, example:
‹�������ÅWÙ’ªHý#&bžF§X\oL„ ¶ÐíÆö2QØl¨_?Y`·ô½=KÌË<ˆVÌsòd~Ë ÿ7«¯ùe‰¿?÷ãèâõÏ? 'ÓžqBoëÓbìYš Í«òe?Û{t}FA;Uû º zðóO#fz¿0½ éqWáê\¶xiwÃN÷_¶³ö—w nzØËýI³›Ã«Ã†Ã”O„3Ξ$ŠÅ½Ã‚ä$‰oÞrzJ|!Ÿb¸vEÁÐ4Í ?ÈˆŸ’8ºÝpá Ãœ,ì§Dg‡Ã½Â²Â¿ÃµÃ‹s\µ¹èÏúâ+&jzÌÚÜȸåÏ¡}dÞ„4yn:9Mž@™Å~;я‹ÃšÃ™6Oµ]ñüIÝÜ)e„oæ~=ÃO~ôšy Á:¥ÙøC–›ÃŸyãrdu|Œâ€¦Ã±Ã­Â¶ÇÇãE9æåË#›Â­Ã¯ÃºP ¯ÍãXdI¯K¨óv ÃŒt8°ì€Ã¥Ã¡Ãƒá àAR÷Ä™úšÃ„ôeŽˆÂ¸FÆ’0«Ã… Ä5ªÂž¹EVfǪ·Óö/;Cj€G4àÆð£ñ°ƒ<„ŽšgÚÓ²ô—‹z;?‡/õӤ˲͏z}4FèoI5玌Îékš]Ó^ÃŒØ3š ˜ƒ¸³ÏY�Í#õ+JÉ {’w~þîñàÒpû‚Á¾IZ¨×” Mº$æ¸ò[ÿé¸\Pkþ¯­°¿»ã"KovÓa@wð¹[.�ë¿ïþkð÷ý»39ùnõOì V¨‰Â² k+×6· t¨ ùd³C`½1·6‡Â¹Ã‹mkÛÚæ„å¿cüûѶóÈhÊ°^qÃüKU4U[ô ¿(£,m˜A§nR–V~Zõ÷u~/å¿U¿æ1ŽÒ/Œ†Â¸(ýêž*Ç¿«�«/0 œ–G¿è/R7ó¢4h\ú#¾[ê\¤ý\…ÿ¶$Vÿ¹ˆ‚(Åñ¬(¢ Ž÷QrOÿSãN>7î� Óväa/µóDV׋=ht§ý)Ïå/Ȩ9„INéÞ§-~\m¹UìТ&Þm=COóM¦K¯òYUâ³—7°yz/zcß7-­JG/¬mkur¹Cš%´Yýâ™C¤*aèÖbB›NÐ湐Ä ËÉÃ…8Ûì!ð`œAX9ö£ár‰oT³ÉçOs@Œ3>;µx#ìÛ«ªµºÆ’šÃ›Ã˜‘ø`ciM®ªÂ„þn¦KÉðˆ‘³CŒÃ¾@…'ÀâJs ¨'¢Ä'o©#,‰܏üD®É»© ÃØ/p{u,5pYãÔf5ëXT•Å4IásÂ¥êÒË°©gª¢‡Â?Íã]‘̱Vñs9ÆÞŨgÕK$jŽé…DjÖò•$›Ã€Â°Ã´* ZLR=†V…(FLLÐ *hC^ª¬Ç6×Ví¹­R£­¡5eh%¨QUZ-Ð1ŒÃÃ¤0šor‹0n°ÞóÁ^1RÛ¼6ë.=ûëXzG îÕâ°ùVªÊ ¢è’B^©U#×ÕV °7©Å×Nµ¬-äGw5®DùÔÙIuE¶YÃ…p:¬ ‘t¤.ã‹•z8‹vfW»«;žo*hé$0As/ŠŒ€e .Ë ŠlÞDˆN+x€ Vળñ@uÙCùclñd›|y?ùPf©3.'Æ$¡þNDnŽ¹¹NžFǯ\Ù¸Ô_Ó‹ §ÜVÂ1+ÍC•œz ü ¼7]jn›Ã‘N¼aE`:¨ðÀ&S9æ6§èdù ¬›ÃŽÂÂ¢Ã™Ã–æÞOP©]ë&˜¹ÃB6à ÂygÚ ŸÂÃµ^¡û«äL55”I¹UC×R_xÕUÞb›:réä.ôß]ïÎt~/!ejD®"§Î> ðr‹ÃœyvYsçÕÃèá,棲븛íœ:oXÊøo_öŸ|,:uà$€\oØ¢.órO šJwP[´| Œ –j»ot–­#zG>ãZî€Ã›ÃªwE bEguÔ9{··„3èry¯31eD]²–Úà @4êïú ¾i÷Àmgk3Ã…;½õÝ<‡>™¤ƒ :=Uú»«.èiÇg’È%¶¶D?ºf!¿RwâOs�Ívv{]nrI·!ôTEÙ©oOÃÆ–1®_ýÇùjõíWúêOew‹LU ��.

I was wondering if this is because I don't have any MS Word etc program installed?

Thanks in advance
#3 - Sept. 20, 2010, 12:26 p.m.
Blizzard Post
They usually don't know, although they do gather up emails from WoW related sites, blogs, etc.

They also send out millions of these, it costs little or nothing when you have a squadron of compromised computers and email accounts to just use the hand grenade approach. Some are going to be good, and some of the good ones are going to be WoW players.