Internet Crimes: Identity Theft & Online Gaming

Blizzard, responsible for the success of one of the most popular MMORPGs, World of Warcraft, recently warned their subscribers about the risks of buying gold including having characters, gold and items stripped from their account by an unknown source. Like any online transaction, it pays to be careful. Reputable gaming companies employ anti-hack teams and build in security systems to keep you and your transactions safe on the Internet. But sometimes it takes an extra measure of diligence on your part to ensure protection whether you are gaming or shopping online.

New online businesses appear by the thousands each and every day; some legitimately fighting to earn your hard-earned dollar, while others are out to take advantage of the unsuspecting. Identity theft is the fastest growing Internet crime in the world. Why? The answer lies in the odds: less than 1% of all Internet criminals are ever brought to justice.

So how are you to protect yourself from such schemes? Here are some tips to keeping you safe on the Net:

When playing online video games, avoid the use of executable (.exe) addons. Executable addons may contain viruses or key-loggers that steal your login information. Instead, choose to manually install addons by copying and pasting files to a specific folder in your game directory.

Create and use unique passwords, avoiding words found in the dictionary. The best passwords use both upper and lower-case letters, numbers, and often symbols.

Change your password often; immediately after using a power-leveling service or the like.

Know that Game Masters (GMs) of a game will never ask you for your username and/or password.

Before entering a credit card number, ensure the site is protected by a secure, encrypted service. Indicators of a secure site include:

• “https” in the prefix of a web page address
• a “lock icon”, or padlock, in the status bar of your browser
• logos of security seals, licenses, and certificates displayed

Keep ALL logins, usernames and passwords confidential; including email services, instant messaging services, online video games, forums, etc.

Reduce junk emails by removing yourself from all promotional emailing lists. Most emails will provide an “opt-out” or “remove me” option at the foot of their emails.

Avoid opening or simply delete mail from unknown senders.

Play safe and have fun. Did you know TopTenREVIEWS ranks all MMORPGs by overall critic score? Check it out.