If an e-mail is found in the list of red flags, it means the scamming has been proved. If the e-mail is found in the list of yellow flags, it means the e-mail (and the person behind it) is in some way associated with scamming. You should refrain from trading with people found in BOTH the yellow flag list and the red flag list.

Head over to the list here: List of known World of Warcraft scammers.

The basic Auction House scam that many people utilize is completely within the game rules set by Blizzard. The scam is innocent enough in that it only involves manipulating the in-game economy a bit. This basic variant is pretty easily detectable. All you need to do is keep track of prices and values in the Auction Houses across different realms. By having a general overview and impression of what an item costs, you’ll easily be able to single out prices which seem incongruous or out of place.

The scam can be broken into a few steps. The first step is in the gray area of what can be defined as scamming, contrary to later steps.

Scammers often use rare items as an items bait efficiency rises exponentially with rarity. Let’s use Silk Cloth as an example. The scammer purchases all Silk Cloth on the Auction House (perhaps 4-5 stacks). This is to ensure he or she is the only one selling Silk Cloth. With this power the scammer is efficiently capable of setting the price of Silk Cloth to whatever he or she pleases. Keep in mind, this is not what I would describe as an actual malicious scam. I would rather define it as creative use of an in-game mechanism.

After the scammer has gained full control of the market, there is a series of scams available to make sure the items are sold quickly and at the asked price. One scam is to hotlink an item that they do not have in the trade channel. The item could be an epic or blue weapon or similar. The scammer then offers to trade the epic weapon for a random number of Silk Cloth.

Hopefully this will send atleast one player rushing to the Auction House to buy the requested amount of Silk Cloth. When the buyer then whispers the scammer, he or she simply states that the item has already been traded.

This post will be updated regularly as new variants emerge.

Phishers adapt to the environment and current trends. Even the slightest speculation about a new World of Warcraft beta always spawn hundreds of phishing sites. As always, the quality of these sites vary. Some are hardly believable while others appear very real. Another scam related to beta opt-ins is the premature sale of beta keys.

Let’s make something completely sure: The Cataclysm expansion is no-where near release. Educated guesses indicate we’ll see an Alpha version in the first quarter of 2010. The Alpha is not open to the public and it is impossible to opt-in, regardless of what anyone tries to persuade you. Naturally, the Cataclysm Beta will be publicly available at some point and when it does, the word will come centrally from Blizzard.

To increase safety, I can recommend the Blizzard Authenticator. It comes in both a Mobile version and a physical version. An authenticator is worth every penny.

As usual, MMOwned delivers. Please find below an example of a fake Cataclysm Beta e-mail and also be sure to read my post on avoiding fake e-mails from Blizzard.

Q: World of Warcraft: Cataclysm – Closed Beta

A: Blizzard Entertainment would like to present to you the World of
Warcraft: Cataclysm Closed Beta!

If you are looking at this page, you are one of the special few who will
recieve FREE invites to the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Closed Beta.
You will be able to transfer one (1) of your current characters onto
our Closed Beta realm and embark on the epic journey against the
dreaded Deathwing!

All participants of the Closed Beta must confirm their account by
typing their account information at the link on the bottom of this
page, so that we can verify if you are currently a subscriber to
the World of Warcraft. An e-mail will be dispatched to you, providing
further information about the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Closed Beta.