"World of Warcraft: Cataclysm" (Blizzard)
With thousands of World of Warcraft fans gearing up for BlizzCon in Anaheim this weekend, scammers have been licking their chops at the prospect of a surge in Warcraft mania to feed their online traps.
SiteJabber, a consumer-protection site funded by the National Science Foundation, on Monday posted an infographic capturing the scope of questionable activity involving the popular online game, which is played by about 11.5 million people worldwide.
Though Blizzard Entertainment, the Irvine company that develops World of Warcraft, bans the sale of virtual items for its games through third parties, players desperate to advance in the game pay hundreds of millions of dollars for such goods, according to SiteJabber. Among the virtual items that have been listed for sale on various online auction sites: “leggings of dubious charms” for $69.99. Check out an excerpt from SiteJabber’s chart to the right for a list of other items.
Many receive the items they paid for, but some don’t. Worse, their accounts can get hijacked and sold to another unsuspecting buyer.
The graphic lists some common scams. Our favorite: The fake beta invite. Warcraft players are fanatic about the game, and nothing gets them more revved up than being able to lay their hands on new content.
The crooks know this. They send out fake invitations for players to “test” a beta version of an upcoming game that hasn’t yet been released to the public, a so-called beta invite. Once players give up their account name and password, it’s game over. The account is immediately hijacked and drained of valuables or sold off wholesale.
Another scam involves selling software programs that purport to help players “level up” their game characters faster, making them more powerful, without having to play hundreds of hours to get there. The victim buys the program, for $30 or so, and installs it, and then the program starts to relay account and password information, not just for the game but for just about everything the user accesses on the infected computer.
How to play it safe? Don’t divulge your password, read the FAQ from Blizzard about compromised accounts and double-heck any questionable offers with the company’s Game Masters.
– Alex Pham
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Chart credit: SiteJabber
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Our legion of super contributors is led by Hero Complex editor Gina McIntyre and 
More to the point, don't cheat. Buying gold, items, and characters is forbidden by the terms of use, as are third-party "helper" programs. Most of the folks who get scammed did so in trying to get a leg up on other players.
The beta invites are about the only scam listed here that someone might fall for without doing anything wrong… so as with any other email, check that it actually came from the entity who says they sent it.
good thing i was to cheap to buy wow gold and stuff
People should get a real life rather then living a life in an online or game world. Is real life too challenging or really that hard? Get a life!!!
It's too bad you mention Sitejabber in this review, it's not a very good website. Sitejabber is not adhering to their own rules and deleting reviews and comments that blatantly violate the TOS.
People routinely sign up anonymously and leave multiple fake negative reviews about companies with which they had a problem or grievance. One negative review is fine, but multiple under multiple fake names? This is clearly meant to try and damage the companies online reputation and hurt their sales.