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[Cheeetar]

To help against this, you can ask a question (what is your favourite colour?). If they can't answer, they are a bot/compromised account. Or just not trust it when people say you'll grow taller if you visit so and so site.

[G-Flex]

Honestly, it doesn't take that much observational skill to notice that a URL is completely bogus. I mean, underscores around what would normally be the TLD? That's extremely obvious.

I mean, if you see something like "http://www_gmail_com_user_inbox.ti" or whatever, it should be immediately recognizable as illegitimate.

That, and "we won't contact you at random asking for your password and other details" is one of the most common reassurances that services tend to give you in the first place.


Really, just looking at the URLs of links you click (why wouldn't you already be doing this, especially when you're logging into a site for a service you use?) is enough to thwart the vast majority of phishing attempts.

[Choose username]

That's why it's good to have no friends...

[chaoticag]

A little harsh Goron? Some people trust others a little too much, and they are victimised. To me, this is sort of like pointing out how benificial it is to sleep with armor on. You can't keep your guard up all the time.

[Redd]

Something for nothing = alarm bells.

[Goron]

You'd be surprised at how common this is...  like when the person sending it is trusted...

OMG! You get $20 credit to your bank account when you log in!

Oh no, I am not surprised, trust me . I hold a certificate of National Training Standard for Information Systems Security (INFOSEC) Professionals (nothing special, just a neat tag along I got for taking some specific IA classes in college). I am all too aware at how gullible and careless many internet users are. I just had higher expectations for not-mainstream indie gamers.

A little harsh Goron? Some people trust others a little too much, and they are victimised. To me, this is sort of like pointing out how benificial it is to sleep with armor on. You can't keep your guard up all the time.

Trust in a person is irrelevant. I trust my mother with my life, but I do not trust that the letter I got in the mail asking me to send $1000 to a PO box in NY is actually from my mother. You must remember that the person they trusted did not victimize them- it was someone else that victimized them, someone they probably wouldn't trust. The problem is these people trusted the website they arrived at and the system that got them there. Before I click any links I receive via chats or forums I always check the url. This protects me from rickrolls, non-harmful but nsfw stuff, gay pr0n, and dangerous websites. I trust my mother to never intend harm on my computer, but I am all too aware she will blindly forward the funny emails that may or may not contain dangerous links. So while I trust her, I do not trust the website or the system.

[G-Flex]

Yeah, it's not an issue of trust, it's an issue of being aware of your surroundings on some basic level.

It's less "sleeping with armor on" and more "not opening the door when a guy covered in blood rings the doorbell while laughing maniacally".

[chaoticag]

Fair enough. The whole thing is a mess though. Janet lost easily over a hundred dollars worth of stuff there. I'm doing what I can to help her, but I have my doubts over whether the people at Valve will believe her. She has no idea what her e-mail was, and all I can offer is information on the gift I sent her.

[Soulwynd]

Yeah, I got the link from you Shadow. I looked at the site and was like 'shyeah right' and was too tired to come check the forums for it. But I hope you will get your account back. Same with Jan.

[AlStar]

Anywhere from 5 to 10. I had a habit of forgeting about them.

Not to sound harsh here, but... What? Really?

I can understand having throwaway email accounts that you don't care about for signing up for stupid things (although, for that sort of thing, 10minutemail.com is really much better suited) but using some random, forgotten email address for something you've put down (quite a lot of) cold, hard cash for?

It boggles my mind.


That said, I do wish the best of luck to anyone whose account was hacked. Hopefully you can get your stuff back.

[Itnetlolor]

Dang, now that you posted that screenshot, I can't recall which times I've seen that looked like it were legitimate, and what times it may have not.

Not once have I been IM'ed anything that links in those regards, but I have come across that page a few times before.

Seeing as my mind is spinning right now, gotta hand it to them, that's very well made. Fooled me if I did fall for it. Might as well give the Steam Support guys a heads up that my account may have been screwed around by this, possibly. I'll ask them if anything different has happened with wither of my accounts (my still disabled Steam account and what their registers say about my investments).

If there's any change anywhere, something's wrong, because I haven't done anything yet (still working on a buffer zone, just in case).

[SHAD0Wdump]

Yeah, it's not an issue of trust, it's an issue of being aware of your surroundings on some basic level.

And coming home at night from a day of tests, your mind is done thinking for the day and just wants to chill, it doesn't help when bullshit like this comes at you when your in such a state.

[Megaman]

Honestly there are alot of mental states where you could get easily phished. I.E you got wasted this paticular night and went for the hook

[Goron]

Fair enough. The whole thing is a mess though. Janet lost easily over a hundred dollars worth of stuff there. I'm doing what I can to help her, but I have my doubts over whether the people at Valve will believe her. She has no idea what her e-mail was, and all I can offer is information on the gift I sent her.

Oh, for Janet's sake I hope the folks at Valve can help as well. While I am doing a bit of victim bashing, I am still aware these people are victims. But its hard for me to be completely sympathetic- AlStar said it best:

Anywhere from 5 to 10. I had a habit of forgeting about them.

Not to sound harsh here, but... What? Really?

I mean, it seems Janet took every step possible to make this more difficult. So while I feel bad for the person that grabs the empty parachute pack- at the same time I gotta wonder why the heck they didn't double check their parachute, much less why they keep an extra empty parachute on the plane. (hopefully that makes sense)

Again, losing a couple hundred worth of games is a heck of a lot better than falling for a more serious phishing scheme. Hopefully this experience will be enlightening to all those involved, victims or not, and save someone from being victimized later in life. Don't give your PI away. And keep track of your important information.

[Rilder]

Honestly there are alot of mental states where you could get easily phished. I.E you got wasted this paticular night and went for the hook

Yeah this, sometimes you just aren't thinking or paying full attention.