I actually considered asking my boss if this post could be the first in a new series called "Stupid WoW Criminals," but honestly, I'd prefer to think that this guy is one of kind.

So, here's the deal: A young Warlock named Kiranth of the Aman'thul server (Who has since deleted his post, but you find it quoted a couple posts down from the top in the thread) came to the customer service forums, and in this thread here, claimed that he somehow lost his epic flying skill after buying it on a Monday and playing until Tuesday morning maintenance. He claimed that he'd been trying to contact the GMs for months in order to get the skill back, and that he was incredibly frustrated and about to cancel his 3 accounts if he didn't get the skill.

Luckily, the ever vigilant GMs are always willing to please, and Auryk soon chimed in with an answer to his problem.

I'll summarize what he said after the break, but you really should read it for yourself. It's amazing.

The worst part of the keylogging episode was that my Shaman was transferred from a PvP to PvE server. After about a week in limbo my beloved Tauren was returned to her proper place. I was extremely relieved. Unfortunately that's the only thing on my account that Blizzard was kind enough to restore. They refused to return any of my gear or gold and did nothing about the items ninjaed from the guild bank. I appealed their decision with several emails. Those appeals were ubiquitously denied despite logical arguments and heart-filled plights. I thought it was all over, for better or for worse.

I got more bad news in my email box the other day:

It seems that keyloggers and phishers are not the only fraudsters infiltrating World of Warcraft. Halifax, a bank in the United Kingdom has ceased processing most transactions with Blizzard Entertainment. This measure was taken in response to increasing numbers of reports fraudulent transactions for WoW services. I had a similar issue with another bank based in the United States. That institution saw my recurring Blizzard charge as suspicious. Once I contacted them to verify my subscriptions my credit card was quickly returned to an active status.

In this case, the only fault on Blizzard's is making an astoundingly popular, subscription-based RPG. Do be on the lookout for unexpected transactions from Blizzard Entertainment and be sure to report them to your bank as soon as possible. Representatives from Blizzard Entertainment declined interviews with the Register, which investigated this phenomenon.

Do not be surprised if the transaction for your WoW subscription is refused in the near future. Halifax customers can use their credit cards to pay for their WoW subscriptions by making special arrangements with their account services department. If you would like to continue to use your Halifx Visa or Master card, be sure to contact customer support for authentication.

Well we've all seen the gold ads, and Blizzard has warned before about spammers trying to nab your account, but I'm pretty sure this is the first instance of in-game mail fraud we've ever seen. Forumgand from Emerald Dream is reporting on the forums about a piece of in-game mail that showed up in his mailbox from a player named "Blizzard." Inside was an urgent note from Scarlet Commander "Mormon" (?) and an item called Symbol of Kings, offered COD for 35g. The note says that if the Symbol of Kings is brought to LHC, a nice quest reward will be given.

What's the problem with that? As any high-level Pally will tell you, Symbol of Kings is a simple level 60 reagent, available from any reagent vendor for the kingly sum of 30s. But, as Forumgand points out, a lot of Horde may never have heard of this thing, and may think the in-game mail is legit.

Community MVP Palehoof has replied to the post as well, and reminds everyone that Blizzard mail never comes from in-game characters named "Blizzard." It's all special and stuff, and comes on its own custom stationery. Any in-game mail that looks normal but comes from someone named "Blizzard" or "Viviendi," or, as Palehoof points out, level one rogues named "Caydiem," probably isn't legit at all.