Off. Impersonation Scam - A Warning to Guilds

#0 - April 17, 2008, 3:03 p.m.

Most guild officers have alts that they put in the guild. If I was was an officer in your guild and I created a new alt I would whisper a fellow officer or the GL for an invite and I'd get promoted to some sort of officer alt status. I imagine this happens all the time in most guilds.

Well, a new scam that a few guilds on firetree has experienced involves someone researching via armory who the guild officers are, creating an alt with a name similar to the guild officer's name. Then they contact an officer saying the they are so-and-so's alt to get an invite and promoted to the appropriate level. Most officer ranks have access to the guild bank. Some guilds have been completely robbed. My guild almost was as well. However, the officer that was being impersonated logged on 30 seconds after the impersonator was invited to guild. 2-and-2 was quickly put together and the guy was gkicked.

We have new validation procedures to prevent this from happening again and are warning other guilds (some of which already had it happen). I thought it appropriate to warn the community at large.

Fortunately, at the moment, it appears that if you do get scammed and have things stolen in this manner, that the items will be restored upon GM investigation. But it is best to prevent this from happening in the first place.

Nethaera

#35 - April 17, 2008, 4:42 p.m.

Perhaps my own guild/s that I've been in are a more paranoid lot. It usually takes a bit before you can get a character tagged (be it alt or main) until you convince people of who you are. It's not even so much about the money or items someone could take, but the damage to a guild reputation that I think weighs in a bit more heavily. Items and gold can be replaced given time. A reputation takes time to build, secure, and maintain.

I agree that everyone should be careful, however. You wouldn't invite a burglar into your home, so be careful about who you trust to join with you into your guilds.

Nethaera

#49 - April 17, 2008, 4:59 p.m.

Q u o t e:

I've said it once and i'll say it again. One simple control can be put in place that can save everyone from bank ninja's.

Control: Any withdawal above xx amount or xx item/s (set by guild leader) requires two officers to approve. That's it. It's that simple. That's how wires and checks work for large corporations.

Blizz - This is coming from a treasury auditor.

You know, I hate to say this to you, but if you have suggestions, I'd suggest posting in the Suggestion forum. It's too easy for this to get buried here among all the other discussion.

Treasury Auditor sounds like a daunting job at times.

Nethaera

#52 - April 17, 2008, 5:03 p.m.

Q u o t e:
This is why we go by RL names in our guild and not toon names. The player note for each person is their RL name and whether the toon is an alt or main (ex "Bob - Alt"). This way everyone knows who has what toons, and it also means the guild is a little more personable.

But with this system, a scam like this would never work. If I got a whisper from a toon saying "This is _toonname_'s alt, ginvite me", I'd immediately be suspicious because we never address each other by toon name, just RL name.

I feel strange using my real name in game or the real names of others unless they are close friends.

Nethaera

#61 - April 17, 2008, 5:25 p.m.

Q u o t e:

While it might indeed be the mindset of scammers, there is some truth to it.
A society shouldn't have to hold the hand of and safe guard idiots.

We teach our children not to touch fire because it hurts.
Some get it, others don't, just from being told.
The ones that don't, get burned as many times as it takes for them to figure out not to do that.
Society should be there to teach what to do, but it's up to the individual when he's on his own eventually.

You can punish the con artist or thief responsible in cases. But new ones will continue to come up.
People have to safeguard themselves. Society is unable to prevent crimes, it only punishes them.

Let's please avoid taking this into the realm of the political. Keep it restricted to the topic of the game environment please.