Top Stories
Regulars
This Football Video Game Is The World’s Saddest Scam
Four days ago, this Kickstarter campaign from “Dirty Bird Sports” popped up on the project-funding platform. The name is a reference to former Atlanta Falcons running back Jamal Anderson, the project’s apparent patron, whose “Dirty Bird” touchdown dance was a fixture of the Falcons’ 1998-99 Super Bowl run.
Besieged By Hackers Daily, EA Tries To Stymie FIFA Phishing Scams
Giant video game publisher EA and its most popular video games are rich targets for hackers and scammers, but the company is determined to fight back and protect its users, EA’s number two executive tells Kotaku.
Don’t Fall For The JB Hi-Fi $200 Voucher Facebook Hoax
It’s the golden rule of the internet – if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. There’s currently a JB Hi-Fi scam doing the rounds on Facebook promising a free $200 gift card to the first 25,000 attendants of a special JB Hi-Fi event. The only thing you’re going to win by joining the event is compromised privacy and online security.
Oh Look, Another Multizillion-Spacedollar Scam Hit EVE Online
Call Of Duty Devs Warn Of Gamertag Imposters
Josh Olin, community manager for Call of Duty: Black Ops developers Treyarch, has alerted fans of the game to the fact that someone is contacting Xbox 360 players claiming to be a Treyarch employee, assuming the identity of the gamertags that appear in the clip.
As Olin points out, because the game is still in development, it’s not being played on public Xbox Live servers, nor is it being played using those developer’s actual gamertags (they’re temporary ones used when messing with the game on partnernet, Microsoft’s Xbox Live testbed).
What these scammers are actually up to, Olin doesn’t say, but it’s not likely to be requests for an afternoon of pleasant discourse and a cup of tea. So if someone contacts you saying they work for Treyarch, stay away!
Wait, Square Enix Are Sending Cheques To People?
This is…different. Square Enix have issued a statement claiming that “certain unknown parties” based in Canada have been sending counterfeit cheques to random homes across the United States. Cheques that say “Square Enix” on them.
HM Customs Warns Of Dangerous DS Fakes
HM Customs (as in Her Majesty’s – the Queen hates smuggling) has issued a warning against fake Nintendo DS Lites that can (possibly) cause you physical harm as well as financial.
Alleged Blank-Game Scam Nets Almost $20K
This kind of story deserves its own new word: Chutzpidity. Because a guy in Minnesota had both in equal and voluminous supply for this particular scam. Over a full year, this guy bought nearly 200 games, worth more than $25,000, replaced them with blanks, got the refunds, then sold the real games on eBay. The re-sale netted him almost $US19,000.
Now, while the alleged scammer was clever enough to forge a label on the blanks, and then repackage the games to make them look brand new (and also avoid an inspection that would discover the blanks) did he honestly think no one would notice 192 REFUNDS on a credit card and start asking questions? It takes enormous gall or a lack of brains, or both — hence chuzpidity — to keep going with this after getting $10K in tax-free ill-gotten booty and leaving a paper trail that stretches to Sioux Falls.
