Blizzard say's I've what?

[LilBunnyFuFu]

World of Warcraft -- Account Closure Notification -- Exploitative Activity Found

***Notice of Account Closure***

Account Name: *******

Reason for Closure: Terms of Use Violation -- Exploitative Activity: Abuse of the Economy

This account was closed because one or more characters were identified exchanging, or contributing to the exchange of, in-game property (items or gold) for "real-world" currency. This exchange process negatively impacts the World of Warcraft game environment by detracting from the value of the in-game economy.

Even if this behavior is the result of a third party accessing the account instead of the registered user (for example, a friend, family member, or leveling service) then the account can still be held responsible for the penalty because of the impact it had on the game environment.

We've found the above behavior is many times directly related to groups responsible for compromising World of Warcraft accounts; we take these issues very seriously. To better understand our position against exploitative activity and the risks involved, please review this article: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/basics/antigold.html

The exploitative activity that took place on this account violates the World of Warcraft Terms of Use. We ask you take a moment to review these terms at http://us.blizzard.com/company/legal/index.html. Note that additional Terms of Use violations may result in more severe actions against this account, up to and including permanent closure.

For any disputes of this action or further information on Exploitive Activity, please visit the Exploitative Activity FAQ and contact page here: http://us.blizzard.com/support/article/exploitfaq

Regards,

Customer Services
Blizzard Entertainment
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/

So, I've haven't logged on in a year or more, and I refuse to buy gold for money... What the hell? How can I be involved if my account isn't even active? I'm not paying on it. Anyone have any information?

[VenomUSMC]

Well I hadn't logged into my account for months (this was not long after Wotlk) and I get an email saying my items we're replaced... seems someone somehow got your username/pw.

[hogi]

I got that message and my WoW account has been dead for about a month. Now if you mouse over you waill not that the URL address is somewhere else. I did not click because it is likely a scam site that you do not want to touch with a ten foot pole.

Venom: I think the site it trying to get your username and password. It is not Blizzard's website that is in the links.

[lockwoodx]

Hackers use stolen credit cards to activate accounts they've keylogged. If you haven't reloaded your computer since you last played wow then you're pretty fucked.

[Anenome]

So, I've haven't logged on in a year or more, and I refuse to buy gold for money... What the hell? How can I be involved if my account isn't even active? I'm not paying on it. Anyone have any information?
Either
1. It's a fake email trying to fishing-scam you, or...

2. You got keyloggered at some point.

Now, 1 is a LOT more likely.

So, let me reiterate the number one rule of all email communication with a company:

NEVER FOLLOW LINKS IN AN EMAIL

If you want to know if this is true or not, it's easy, use google or type into the address bar Blizzard's site, do not click any of the email links, and check on your account from what you can then know for sure is Blizzard's actual site.

Some fishing scams go so far as to completely recreate as closely as possible the original website. Until you log in, of course, and at that point they've got your info.

Someone should write a script to just provide that harvesting site with fake login attempts to poison the database of account details it builds :\

If 2 is the case, not much you can do. But it's distinctly unlikely IMO based on what you said about it being inactive.

[Sensei-X]

Go to Battle.net and log in, and check if the account is still inactive. If it is still inactive then this is just a scam, if it isn't or if you can no longer log in because the password was changed then you may want to give Blizzard a call just so they know you are not the one who accessed your account since frequently the guys who do this use compromised Paypal accounts or stolen credit cards and you don't want them thinking it was you who is running the scam.

[Abednigo]

I get emails like that all the time (at least 3 or 4 a day). The links in the email look right, but they go somewhere else. Although mine are typically "your account has been compromised. Click this link to validate your information and unlock your account".

What's funny is I changed my email address a few months ago and the emails are still going to the old address. :P But like Sensei-X said, just login to Battle.net and check. If you're fine then I strongly advise an authenticator, even if you don't plan on playing anytime soon. I got one after my account was hacked a few years ago. Haven't had a problem since.

[Anenome]

That's cause everyone gets these emails, they're general spam now.

Would you believe a valid WoW account is worth more on the hacker market than a stolen credit card?

[LilBunnyFuFu]

Well, believe it or now, i have an active ROTLK trial on the account right now that expires on the 2nd of april... looks like I have some emails to type.

I wonder how it happened? Shouldn't Blizzard send you an email when you credit card info changes, or your billing address... or a "Thanks for trying out ROTLK"! Anything? I mean, I really don't give a damn if the shit gets closed down, I doubt I'll ever play again, its the principal of the thing...

[Jotoco]

I got that message and my WoW account has been dead for about a month. Now if you mouse over you waill not that the URL address is somewhere else. I did not click because it is likely a scam site that you do not want to touch with a ten foot pole.

Venom: I think the site it trying to get your username and password. It is not Blizzard's website that is in the links.

Thank god for the eleven foot poles.

I usually visit these kind of sites from my cell phone. That is an n900, uses Linux (maemo) as an OS and have 100% certainty that is immune to 100% of virus out there.
Who would code a virus to run on linux. ARM linux as it may, and for a one cell phone SO that only sold like 5 million units world wide.

EDIT: for those of you too young, eleven foot poles were created by resourceful D&D 1st edition and AD&D characters that abused the fact that most traps and spells had 10 foot radius, so they could poke everything with impunity.

[randir14]

It happened to me awhile ago. I hadn't played in like two years, but my friend called me one day saying "why aren't you answering me on WoW?" He saw my character online because hackers somehow got my account. I never bought gold or gave my password out, I never clicked any phishing emails. I don't know how the hacker got it, but Blizzard gave it back to me.
I didn't even get an email notification though, since I used the same password as my email I think they got into it and deleted any confirmation messages from Blizzard before I could see them.

[hogi]

Thank god for the eleven foot poles.

I usually visit these kind of sites from my cell phone. That is an n900, uses Linux (maemo) as an OS and have 100% certainty that is immune to 100% of virus out there.
Who would code a virus to run on linux. ARM linux as it may, and for a one cell phone SO that only sold like 5 million units world wide.

EDIT: for those of you too young, eleven foot poles were created by resourceful D&D 1st edition and AD&D characters that abused the fact that most traps and spells had 10 foot radius, so they could poke everything with impunity.
I always careful when I get emails from companies just in case they are not who they say they are. In this case, I got the exact same email as the OP and when I check where the link was going to it was worldofwercraft.com domain. Yup one letter difference and the email looks kind of legit and no gramatical or spelling mistakes. So I did not click and deleted the email.

PS: You got my reference from old D&D "standard" starting equipment. I always find it strange for all starting characters to carry long poles for adventuring... I always make my players suffer by making 5 foot pathway and ask how they carry all that crap in the dungeons. :)

[Anenome]

Hey, hey, don't link to an attack site, not cool.

[Evil Avatar]

I had the same problem a few months ago. I had to play E-mail tag with Blizzard tech support a bunch of times to get it fixed but they fixed everything and deleted all the bogus characters that had been created on my account by the spammers.

[Anenome]

I don't even know how to log in anymore. I don't think I ever created a battle.net account when they switched those over... >_>

[hogi]

:( Sorry did not realise my text link it. I must be retarded. I will change it.