14 DAY TRIAL // World of Warcraft is by far one of the most popular games in the world, so it's really not that surprising that a new phishing campaign is trying to lure users by promising free in-game pets.
The discovery was made by researchers at Malwarebytes Labs who claim to have noticed two variations of this phishing campaign, although there are probably more out there that have gone undetected thus far.
This is just a simple reminder that while free stuff is always nice in games, chances are you may be risking more than you're ready to. This phishing campaign is trying to steal your gaming credentials, which could mean you will lose gold, items and gear by the time you realize you've been hacked.
"You are receiving this e-mail because Your friend has purchased World of Warcraft In-Game Pet: Brightpaw for you as a gift! Claim Your Gift To claim your gift, enter your Gift Key on the Battle.net? Account Management. You’ll be sent to the download page afterwards, if needed," reads one of the emails sent to WoW players.
No more Battle.net
The emails are branded with Battle.net, the name of Blizzard's online gaming service up until very recently. If you're an active player, you are probably already aware of the changes as Blizzard has now switched to, well, Blizzard as a name for the platform. The phishing page also features the same Battle.net logo and even the address features the name. All this may indicate that the phishing campaign has been going on for a while, before Blizzard made the change.
The page asks for your email and password, trying to pick up your credentials. There's obviously nothing to gain here and you should just delete the email if it's not in your spam box already.
Make sure to never follow email links when your credentials are required. Furthermore, when it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.