Written for Aion NA/EU
Written by: Bunny
Greetings all~
Over recent months we've all seen a noticable increase in the amount of "fake" NCsoft emails being received by people in the community, some of which has increased dramatically since the recent wave of Aion website attacks (read more here).
As many of you know, these "fake" NCsoft emails are part of a wider issue called "Phishing" where companies are working hard to trick players into giving up their account details accidentally. You can read more about phishing and how to protect your account in the post created by our Knite, as well as the NCsoft Play Smart page and the recent posting by the Game Surveillance Unit.
The purpose of this thread is to consolidate and document all the known phishing emails that we have seen or heard about on this forum. Each of the emails have been proven to be fake for one reason or another, most of which are obvious but some of which are not. With some luck, this post will help to spread awareness even further.
Remember, it is up to you to educate yourself about phishing emails. To get you started with the basics, here are some tips about the things phishing companies often do:
- Yes, they can spoof an email address to make it look like it has come from NCsoft's official email address. Never assume an email is legitimate just because it says it is from support@ncsoft.com! (thanks to Broom, aka Linna, for the link!)
- Yes, they can disguise a link in an email so that it appears to be legitimate. Just because a link says it is https://secure.ncsoft.com in the email doesn't mean that is where you will end up when you click it!
- Yes, they appear to declare war on the english language in every email they send. Anyone involved in phishing doesn't appear to be able to write grammatical english to save their lives, so if you notice the odd word or punctuation missing then you should immediately be suspicious!

List of Fake NCsoft Emails:
Below is a full list of all the fake, phishing related emails we have heard about from the Aion Source community over the past month. We have tried to make the list as complete as possible, however if you have seen something different in your inbox lately then please drop me, or one of the other mods, a PM to let us know about it.
Remember: These emails are ALL FAKE. None of them are genuine. None of them came from NCsoft.
Safety: As a precaution, we have removed all the unsafe material (phishing website links) from these emails.
1. Fake Account Identification Notice *MOST RECENT*
Quote
From: NCsoft Support <support@ncsoft.com>
Date: Wed, June 16, 2010 4:52:30 AM
When you receive this message at the same time means that you have a routine account of our recent examination, we found a security risk to your account may have been compromised.In order to guarantee the legitimacy of your account, we need you verify your account information at [insert bad link here] as soon as possible or we will suspend your account.We hope to see you!
The NCsoft Team
2. Fake Account Reset Token *MOST RECENT*
Quote
From: NCsoft Support <support@ncsoft.com>
Date: Thu, June 10, 2010 5:38:25 PM
Your NCsoft email verification code is: udpdt9yx
If you have already completed registration, please log in to "NCsoft Account Management" at https://secure.ncsof...plaync_login.pl and visit the "Account Profile" section where you can verify your e-mail address.
If you have any questions about the registration process, you can visit the Support Center at http://help.ncsoft.c...ser/std_alp.php.
3. Fake Account Reset Notice
Quote
From: noreply@ncsoft.com <noreply@ncsoft.com>
Date: 7 April 2010
This is an automated notification regarding your Aion Game Account. Someone at 220.21.232.44 has reset your account options.
If you made this change to your subscription type, please disregard this automatic notification.
***If you did NOT make any changes to your account or subscription, we recommend you login to Account Management at the following link to review your account settings:
http://help.ncsoft.com/aion
If you cannot sign into Account Management using the link above, or if unauthorized changes continue to happen, please contact NCsoft Support Services for advanced assistance.
Regards,
The NCsoft Team
4. Fake Account Change Notice
Quote
From: NCsoft Support <support@ncsoft.com>
Date: 4 April 2010
Greetings!
This is an automated notification regarding your Aion account. Some or all of your contact information was recently modified through the Account Management website.
*** If you made recent account changes, please disregard this automatic notification.
You can login to Account Management at the following link to review your account settings:
https://secure.ncsof...plaync_login.pl
*** If you did NOT make any changes to your account, please contact support immediately at support@ncsoft.com.
5. Fake 72 hour ban
Quote
From: NCsoft Support <support@ncsoft.com>
Date: 29 March 2010
Dear aion player, your account due to suspected fraud. Will be banned within 72 hours.
Fraud Evidence: many times in the game using the game chat function induced to provide the game to deceive the other players offer accounts and passwords.
If you do not fraud, as soon as possible to verify your account login https://secure.ncsof...plaync_login.pl.
Aion Services Department
6. Fake account locking threat
Quote
From: support (support@ncsoft.com)
Date: 25 March 2010
When you receive this message at the same time means that you have a routine account of our recent examination,was cecking your account we have the evidence to prove that involved in the controversial game currency transaction so we had to take the necessary measures Please visit our web site as soon as possible to activate your account or we will suspend your account
Please visit http://secure.ncsoft.com/ verify your account, or we will lock your account.
The NCsoft Team.
7. Fake Game Account Payment Failure
Quote
From: NCsoft Support (support@ncsoft.com)
Date: 21 March 2010
Your game account for Aion has payment failure.
If you would like to continue playing, you may reactivate using Account Management at
http://secure.ncsoft...laync_login.pl.
We hope to see you again soon!
- NCsoft Team
8. Fake account reset notification
9. Fake account change notification
10. Fake password recovery reset email
11. Fake account check offering prizes
12. Fake user warning
13. Fake support response
14. Fake bug report
15. Fake password reset 1
16. Fake account activation
17. Fake password reset 2
18. Fake account investigation
19. Fake account suspension
20. Fake account suspension 2
21. Fake hacker warning
22. Fake account check
23. Fake security warning
24. WoW account inspection from NCsoft...lol?
I think we all had a good laugh when we saw this last one lol.
Now, I thought about whether I should post a copy of a real email from NCsoft and I decided not to. Why? Well, I suppose I don't want to go ahead and make it easy for the phishing companies to start getting their emails correct. Sure, phishing folks will figure out the exact wording for themselves if they really want to, but I'll be damned if I'm going to make it simple for them!
When it comes to real emails from NCsoft support, here are some tips:
- NCsoft will NEVER ask you to follow a website link to login and verify your account details!
- When you reset your game account passwords via your NCsoft Master Account, you will receive an email that ONLY recommends to contact support@ncsoft.com via email if you didn't make the change (i.e. no web link will be given, they will only ask you to contact them via this email address).
- NCsoft may have a few flaws but, as a company, their support staff DO tend to be very literate so you won't see genuine emails from NCsoft riddled with ridiculous spelling and grammar errors.
The End~

Register Now!
Help





MultiQuote










