[How to] Protect yourself from Phishers.

[Aldun]

Well, someone has to make a start with the new revamped scam section, so why not me ^^?

How to protect yourself from getting phished by phishing sites.

The "normal" phisher

This is the most used phisher, that every kiddo can set up. It simply means they copied the layout (or at least mimic'd it) of the official world of warcraft site.
They usually spread these via emails, mostly with:

* Cataclysm Alpha/Beta Signup
* A special action like winning mounts.
* Telling you youre suspected of buying/selling gold or hacking accounts.

If you wonder how they got your email, they usually use a program that scans world of warcraft websites on emails.

How to reconize these phisher mails:
They come from "[email protected]" or "[email protected]". Blizzard never uses this for these kind of emails, however people who try to phish use a fake mailer to be able to use that mail address.

Also, if they ask for your password, secret question/answer or stuff like your address, its a scam! Because Blizzard will never ask for your password/SQA.

When they link you to a site, no matter how it looks in your email, it can be a phisher. They do that easily by faking the link with html (<a href>). Hover over the link and check at the bottom of your browser what the real link is.

The advanced phisher

You will rarely see this one, but it still excist. The hacker injects you in any way and changes your hosts file with this. That way, if you go to the official world of warcraft site he can still phish you. I haven't got experience with this, but this can easily be checked at your hosts file. This can be found at system32\drivers\etc\ . Open it as Admin to edit this, and check if there is anything related to World of Warcraft in there that you didn't put in yourself. Delete this and youre safe. Ofcourse, if there was something there, also scan your computer.


More guides will follow against Keylogging, Social Engineering etc .

-Aldun

[KuRIoS]

good starter post. +15 rep

[chiem]

I support this +3 rep

[theone23]

This is a good one for newbies

[faithzz]

Nice guide. Although its common for the most. It could have been shortcuted to something like this
IF a links leads to a site which is not wow-europe.co / battle.net / world of warcraft.com then its a scam.
If the sender wants you to reply to a non blizz address then its a scam.
Thanks for the share anyway.

[aamlord]

Wouldn't injecting the HOST file on Vista or 7 require admin rights? If the request popped up, you would know someone or something is trying to mess with you.

[Gobstopper]

There's also a relatively convincing Starcraft 2 one that's been known to get wow accounts.

[knoct]

The best advice to not get your account stolen is don't be an idiot.

[Henessy]

Blizzard asks for your SQA.......... at times.
They never ask for your PASSWORD, please edit post.

[Rezman10]

good stuff! Nice to know!

[EpicMMOService]

ugh, internet really brings in two sides to us, esp when it comes to the advanced phisher..
just as what knoct stated , do not be an idiot.

[Wrany]

Good guide for new players, thanks.

[Duplicity]

Add this up if you like:

Most phisers say you are GOING to be banned.
Blizzard straight out tells you are banned. Done deal.

[zaccc]

thanx alot~~