Legit or phishing? [cross-post]

Egade · July 2016

This is a cross-post, but I'm not getting any answers on the other subforum. Please bear with me.

Hi everybody,

my ESO Plus expired and I've just received an email offering me a free month if I subscribe again.
Is this legit or a phishing attempt?
The sender and link in the email are not necessarily from Bethesda and I can't find any info about such an offer online.

This is the text of the email:

We noticed that you just cancelled your ESO Plus membership, and we'd like to see if we can tempt you back with a special one-time, buy one month, get one month free offer.

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As you probably know, there's a lot of cool stuff that comes with ESO Plus membership:

Access to all DLC Game Packs including Orsinium, the Imperial City, the Thieves Guild and the brand new Dark Brotherhood.
1500 Crowns per 30-day membership to spend in the in-game Crown Store.
Access to the exclusive Craft Bag for additional inventory space shared across all characters
A 10% bonus to character progression.
If you would take us up on this unique, one-time offer and buy one month of ESO Plus to receive one month free, simply respond to this email. We'll get back to you as soon as possible with more information. Hurry, as we are only able to offer this deal for a week.

In addition, if there is anything at all we can do to help make your overall ESO experience better, please let us know. We're here to help!

Warm Regards,
Petyr
The Elder Scrolls Online Support Team

LarsS · July 2016

If you cant find the offer when you login to your account the normal way, I guess phishing.

emeraldbay · July 2016

what email address is it from? I've heard of people getting similar offers, so I assume it's legit, if it's coming from an official email address.

Egade · July 2016

LarsS wrote: »

If you cant find the offer when you login to your account the normal way, I guess phishing.

Do you have an idea how they got to my real name, email address and entered an incident in the support site?
How is this possible?

Is there nobody else getting an offer like this? How can it be I'm the only one!??!

Egade · July 2016

emeraldbay wrote: »

what email address is it from? I've heard of people getting similar offers, so I assume it's legit, if it's coming from an official email address.

The sender is a pretty generic mailer which may be legit (Sony uses sh** like this): teso_help@mailmw.custhelp.com

The link in which to enter the creds is an ow.ly address which will forward me, but I didn't click it, I'm pretty paranoid.

Obsiously, the email sender may be forged, there's no way you can actually tell if an email comes from a presumed address or not.

Loralai_907 · July 2016

I have heard that other people did receive the same email when they cancelled their ESO plus. My guess is that it is legit. I mean, who the heck is monitoring ESO's info to find out when people cancel their subs in order to send them and only them a scam email. That doesn't make any sense to me.

Acrolas · July 2016

Psssht, Littlefinger wouldn't email you. He expects you to be already swiping right and sending him snaps and liking his carved engravings on Instaweir.

Ryuuhime · July 2016

Egade wrote: »

LarsS wrote: »

If you cant find the offer when you login to your account the normal way, I guess phishing.

Do you have an idea how they got to my real name, email address and entered an incident in the support site?
How is this possible?

Is there nobody else getting an offer like this? How can it be I'm the only one!??!

I've gotten one as well, when my sub ended and didn't renew. However, I renewed Eso Plus before seeing the email so I missed the offer and can't tell if it's legit or not.

[Deleted User] · July 2016

Hello everyone,

Just wanted to stop in an let you know that promotion is legitimate and there is nothing to worry about! We understand how unsettling these situations can be without clarification, hope this helps put you at ease.

Enjoy the day!

nine9six · July 2016

If I cancel can I get a "Buy 6 Months, Get 6 Months" offer?

Egade · July 2016

ZOS_AntonioP wrote: »

Hello everyone,

Just wanted to stop in an let you know that promotion is legitimate and there is nothing to worry about! We understand how unsettling these situations can be without clarification, hope this helps put you at ease.

Enjoy the day!

Thanks for the headsup! Pardon my initial skepticism.

Totalitarian · July 2016

It's actually a really smart business move of ZOS to do this. The motif behind it is that when you resubscribe, you forget to cancel it again, so you pay for more ESO Plus.

ESO Plus perks are pretty nice though, so it's not like you get burnt on the deal.

Egade · July 2016

I removed this post because it is unsubstantial.
Whatever I wrote here was, was wrong!

ZOS_DaryaK · July 2016

@Egade, you can take advantage of the special offer by simply logging in at https:account.elderscrollsonline.com and add ESO Plus back to your account.

Egade · July 2016

Yes that's what I've just done. I have renewed the subscription by going directly to the website and logging in, but I wonder how I'll get those 30 days now

We'll see. I hope this is all just me having phishing-angst

ZOS_DaryaK · July 2016

Hey @Egade, that was an excellent question and the answer is that you need to reply to that email. Just reply to it and state that you've renewed your membership and that team will ensure you get your additional month.

Tandor · July 2016

Is this a standard promotion offered to everyone who cancels and then renews? If so we should all do it!

Egade · July 2016

I don't know. My first sub is from 2014, right when ESO went online + I was in the open beta. Don't know if that is relevant, though.

Elsonso · July 2016

Tandor wrote: »

Is this a standard promotion offered to everyone who cancels and then renews? If so we should all do it!

One time only, so use it wisely.

dennissomb16_ESO · July 2016

it is actually legit. I got the same email, checked the link, replied on why I would no longer subscribe to the game. They actually answered me (unlike support tickets) saying they understood my reasons and would leave the offer open if I changed my mind

Egade · July 2016

After some 3 hours everything is settled now.

The pie is not a lie

Darkstorne · July 2016

ZOS_AntonioP wrote: »

Hello everyone,

Just wanted to stop in an let you know that promotion is legitimate and there is nothing to worry about! We understand how unsettling these situations can be without clarification, hope this helps put you at ease.

Enjoy the day!

@ZOS_AntonioP Thanks for the clarification. How about this one? Sounds very similar to the OP's so I'm guessing this is legit after all? I was literally about to post this in the stickied phishing thread as a warning given the email it's sent from isn't listed in your support base as the "only" safe emails:

Please note: We will also only contact you from the following e-mail addresses:
ESO_Help@elderscrollsonline.com
ESO_Help@helpmail.elderscrollsonline.com
noreply@mail.elderscrollsonline.com

Here's the (very professional looking) email:

Egade · July 2016

Op here. Thats the same i got. Problem is, its easy to forge one now with a dangerous link.
So while this is legit in about 24 hours it may be abused for phishing...

Darkstorne · July 2016

Egade wrote: »

Op here. Thats the same i got. Problem is, its easy to forge one now with a dangerous link.
So while this is legit in about 24 hours it may be abused for phishing...

Just seems weird given that I have a recurring 30 day sub. It hasn't dropped. It sounds like an awesome offer and why WOULDN'T I want it? If I'm already subbed shouldn't this be automagic? What makes me qualify? Because I've played for longer than most? Is it random? And why is it setup in this shady "respond to this email quickly" way instead of "log into your account management to activate this offer"?

At face value it screams phishing.

Egade · July 2016

Exactly

I agree on every thing you point out!

I'd even go further and say that you shouldn't have gotten is, because you're still subscribed.
As far as I can tell, "they" send the mail only days after your sub expired definitively.
Do as I did: write a support ticket to billing and see what they say.

Darkstorne · July 2016

Egade wrote: »

Do as I did: write a support ticket to billing and see what they say.

Good advice, thanks

Egade · July 2016

All they need to do is send an email, exactly the same as above, which says this:

"Please log into your account and follow the new "Special offer" link at the top."

Without any links or HTTP:// addresses in the email at all.

Probably it's not possible to modify the backend this easily and they opted for a more convenient solution, exposing us players to malevolent Daedra Princes in the process...

I can understand their reasoning and I don't want to judge. I mean, I got the 30 days so I'm really happy it all worked out well

GJ zeni!!!

notimetocare · July 2016

Egade wrote: »

LarsS wrote: »

If you cant find the offer when you login to your account the normal way, I guess phishing.

Do you have an idea how they got to my real name, email address and entered an incident in the support site?
How is this possible?

Is there nobody else getting an offer like this? How can it be I'm the only one!??!

This is the internet. Not even joking, assume that everything you have ever entered on any website is publicly available to a certain point. Including bank accts, social sec number, etc.

Jailbirdy · July 2016

So, everyone should just drop there subscription, then click that link and join ESO+ again to get the free month? Sounds like a plan to me!

Lastly, what's the reward for those that stay or stayed subscribed to ESO+???

Too bad we don't get "proper communication" on these types of sales campaigns. One day hopefully, they will get a real customer relations and communications team.

Elsonso · July 2016

Jailbirdy wrote: »

Too bad we don't get "proper communication" on these types of sales campaigns. One day hopefully, they will get a real customer relations and communications team.

I have to ask. You want them to advertise and tell everyone that, if you have dropped your ESO Plus subscription, they will give you one month free if you resubscribe for a month? This is, presumably, so that everyone can quit ESO Plus so they can get a free month? What business would do that?

Jailbirdy wrote: »

Lastly, what's the reward for those that stay or stayed subscribed to ESO+???

Continued membership, uninterrupted, including the crafting bag, access to all DLC, 1500 Crowns per month subscribed, and a 10% bonus to character progression. It will also include unlimited costume recoloring starting in August.

Jailbirdy · July 2016

lordrichter wrote: »

Jailbirdy wrote: »

Too bad we don't get "proper communication" on these types of sales campaigns. One day hopefully, they will get a real customer relations and communications team.

I have to ask. You want them to advertise and tell everyone that, if you have dropped your ESO Plus subscription, they will give you one month free if you resubscribe for a month? This is, presumably, so that everyone can quit ESO Plus so they can get a free month? What business would do that?

Jailbirdy wrote: »

Lastly, what's the reward for those that stay or stayed subscribed to ESO+???

Continued membership, uninterrupted, including the crafting bag, access to all DLC, 1500 Crowns per month subscribed, and a 10% bonus to character progression. It will also include unlimited costume recoloring starting in August.

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