Blizzard warns against new COD scam in World of Warcraft

[Ian David]

Posted Jan 29, 2007 at 07:57PM

Blizzard poster Kaone has recently given out a warning on a current new variety of in-game scam. Kaone posts:

This is a warning regarding a current new variety of a common scam. Recently players have been reporting to Game Masters in-game mails which are imitating the style of mail sent from an in-game NPC. These mails are pretending to have a "reward" attached to them. However, the mail is actually an attempt to scam gold from the recipient through the use of a wrapped COD item for a sum of gold. This new variety of this scam is using titles and text to imply that they originate from the Argent Dawn. To further add to this illusion the name of the sender is typically also related in some way to Light’s Hope Chapel or the Argent Dawn.

While Game Masters are working hard to track down and action these scammers, one would do well to stay clear of any such suspicious COD in-game mail. As always, one should never accept a COD mail where the item is wrapped so that you can not see the item itself.

WoW Forum member, Deadlykirs claims that this latest COD scam is evolved from the "Symbol of Divinity" Horde-only COD scam. That said, this latest scam is "improved" as it is applicable to both factions.

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It is also worth nothing that Harperri, another WoW Forum member claims that he/she (you can never tell from their names nowadays) has raised this issue before, but to no avail. Harperri posts:

It's funny. I raised this issue before, and was told rather clearly that there was NOTHING WRONG WITH IT. In this forum and by GMs.

Now a blue is initiating a post to warn us of it? Feh....

Regardless, you are now all warned. Do not pay to see what's inside that mysterious package that suddenly shows up.

More:
http://mmorpg.qj.net/index.php?&threshold=&upto=1170128818

[htuttle]

1. Ya wouldn't want to get stuck with an Orc in a poke, I guess!

I've been sort of fascinated by the growth and variety of online scams that have been springing up entirely within virtual worlds like WoW or Second Life. It seems to me that most pre-2000 cyberpunk authors totally missed predicting the growth of that sort of thing.

[Javaman]

2. There is a book or a script in here somewhere, I just don't have the will

to write it.

[htuttle]

3. You know, I don't remember any predictions of 'hordes of 13 year old virtual griefers', either

I don't remember anyone ever running up to Hiro Protagonist in cyberspace and just shooting them with a bazooka for no reason.

Both Gibson and Stephenson, for all their foresight, missed predicting a whole number of things. Amazingly enough, most virtual worlds seem to be far more lawless and chaotic than any of their books imagined they would be.