Did player e-mails get hacked?

rotaugen454 · August 2016

I got an e-mail from "ESO Mastery Guides" saying that I get a discount on their guides as an old member. The problem is, I never was a member. It makes me wonder how they got my e-mail. They said that they are featured on Deltia's Gaming and Tamriel Foundry. I checked out both of those sites, and they are an advertiser there. Has anyone else got an e-mail from them?

SanSan · August 2016

I keep getting Viagra junk mail.
Just some kind of bot or something.

rotaugen454 · August 2016

I doubt a bot is randomly picking addresses to send a targeted ESO e-mail. Somehow they know that I play ESO. I'm just trying to figure out how.

wayfarerx · August 2016

If they are advertising on sites that you visit then you can assume they have your email address.

<-- works in digital marketing

rotaugen454 · August 2016

So either Deltia's or Tamriel Foundy sold my e-mail address? Nice.

Well, I at least would be better with that than all kinds of info getting hacked, so not a big deal if this is the case.

Abeille · August 2016

I just gone one from Bethesda trying to sell me a strategy guide for Skyrim.

And now I'm just sitting here, wondering who needs a strategy guide for Skyrim of all TES games.

Although getting it for the bestiary could be neat.

wayfarerx · August 2016

rotaugen454 wrote: »

So either Deltia's or Tamriel Foundy sold my e-mail address? Nice.

Well, I at least would be better with that than all kinds of info getting hacked, so not a big deal if this is the case.

No.

Delita or TF hosted an ad, that ad read and / or set a cookie via an advertising network, that cookie was shared with a number of other sites thanks to said advertising network. If any site hosting ads via that network collected your email address they probably sold it to an identity aggregator that then sold them to the "ESO Mastery Guides" people.

It's a long chain of associations to follow but there are people paid to follow them

PS: get an ad blocker!

Nestor · August 2016

Cookies are not just for munching on.

They are used to report all kinds of information about you to various websites that you visit, or don't visit. If you set up an email account on your PC, and you surf on that PC, then a website can pluck your email address from your PC. Now, most cookies are benign and are part of a rich web surfing experience (like the website you get your news from can remember the types of articles you read so they can provide links to similar content for example). It's just some sites and a lot of Banner Ads go a bit beyond being helpful and venture into data mining you.

I would not say the Mastery Guides are worth the price asked (as they contain mostly boilerplate that can apply to any RPG or MMORPG, and what information they do have that is exclusive to ESO is old and mostly from Beta) You can get what you need from here, Tamriel Foundry, ESOHead, ESO Database, Deltia and other similar sites run by fans, for players of the game.

yodased · August 2016

Welcome to the world of retargeting.

rotaugen454 · August 2016

Ah, thanks for the explanation. That explains why most of my gaming spam hits my "gaming" e-mail, not my personal e-mail that is used only for friends/family. Any time I sign up at other commercial sites, I use my "spam" e-mail, as I know that will pull in a ton and I never actually use that account.

I have an ad blocker on my main PC, but I wonder if I signed up for things using my iPad or a minor computer sometime.

Rohamad_Ali · August 2016

Nigerian Prince still wants to share his wealth with me as well . I told him he could send it to me in GoFundMe account but keeps asking to make bank account for him . Also I won Bruma Lottery I was told . Maybe hacked too .

wayfarerx · August 2016

rotaugen454 wrote: »

Ah, thanks for the explanation. That explains why most of my gaming spam hits my "gaming" e-mail, not my personal e-mail that is used only for friends/family. Any time I sign up at other commercial sites, I use my "spam" e-mail, as I know that will pull in a ton and I never actually use that account.

I have an ad blocker on my main PC, but I wonder if I signed up for things using my iPad or a minor computer sometime.

Yeah, you really have to be diligent to keep me (or rather, my software) from tracking you down. Be advised that iOS supports ad blocking now, might be something to look into.

Also, if you ever let your gaming identity and your personal identity cross over the internet will never forget.

rotaugen454 · August 2016

I wonder if it was a site that said "Cookies must be enabled to use this site"? I see that occasionally, as I have them turned off a lot of the time. Ads are annoying but still far below telemarketers on the annoyance meter.

wayfarerx · August 2016

rotaugen454 wrote: »

Ads are annoying but still far below telemarketers on the annoyance meter.

Can confirm, I used to work on Interactive Voice Response systems (those robots you talk to on the phone). I have people try to punch me much less often now when I tell them what I do for a living!

rotaugen454 · August 2016

wayfarerx wrote: »

rotaugen454 wrote: »

Ah, thanks for the explanation. That explains why most of my gaming spam hits my "gaming" e-mail, not my personal e-mail that is used only for friends/family. Any time I sign up at other commercial sites, I use my "spam" e-mail, as I know that will pull in a ton and I never actually use that account.

I have an ad blocker on my main PC, but I wonder if I signed up for things using my iPad or a minor computer sometime.

Yeah, you really have to be diligent to keep me (or rather, my software) from tracking you down. Be advised that iOS supports ad blocking now, might be something to look into.

Also, if you ever let your gaming identity and your personal identity cross over the internet will never forget.

I did not know that iOS supported ad blocking now, thanks a lot for that info.

Runs · August 2016

Rohamad_Ali wrote: »

Nigerian Prince still wants to share his wealth with me as well . I told him he could send it to me in GoFundMe account but keeps asking to make bank account for him . Also I won Bruma Lottery I was told . Maybe hacked too .

A bit off topic I know, and apologize for... but that just reminded me of this...

rotaugen454 · August 2016

wayfarerx wrote: »

rotaugen454 wrote: »

Ads are annoying but still far below telemarketers on the annoyance meter.

Can confirm, I used to work on Interactive Voice Response systems (those robots you talk to on the phone). I have people try to punch me much less often now when I tell them what I do for a living!

It's like that old joke "I tell my mom I work in a brothel. I don't want her to find out that I am a telemarketer."

NewBlacksmurf · August 2016

Do you all use add-ons?

I only ask because having never used PC add-ons and playing on PTS, barely on live anymore and on Xbox one a lot I've not gotten any emails and I surf the web A lot on this game stuff

I'm pretty sure it's problably related to add-on like cursed gaming or commenting on non-ESO forum sites that require either a registered profile or email and name to post.

wayfarerx · August 2016

NewBlacksmurf wrote: »

Do you all use add-ons?

I only ask because having never used PC add-ons and playing on PTS, barely on live anymore and on Xbox one a lot I've not gotten any emails and I surf the web A lot on this game stuff

Addons cannot communicate with the internet, so unless you're using a third-party program to upload addon data or something you should be safe.

NewBlacksmurf · August 2016

wayfarerx wrote: »

NewBlacksmurf wrote: »

Do you all use add-ons?

I only ask because having never used PC add-ons and playing on PTS, barely on live anymore and on Xbox one a lot I've not gotten any emails and I surf the web A lot on this game stuff

Addons cannot communicate with the internet, so unless you're using a third-party program to upload addon data or something you should be safe.

@wayfarerx
I'm not suggesting something that I'm not sure of. I said this because if you or anyone uses cursed gaming add-on auto updater and they get hacked....guess what.

It's happened before. And it hacked my wow account and email addresses

Be safe out there

wayfarerx · August 2016

NewBlacksmurf wrote: »

wayfarerx wrote: »

NewBlacksmurf wrote: »

Do you all use add-ons?

I only ask because having never used PC add-ons and playing on PTS, barely on live anymore and on Xbox one a lot I've not gotten any emails and I surf the web A lot on this game stuff

Addons cannot communicate with the internet, so unless you're using a third-party program to upload addon data or something you should be safe.

@wayfarerx
I'm not suggesting something that I'm not sure of. I said this because if you or anyone uses cursed gaming add-on auto updater and they get hacked....guess what.

It's happened before. And it hacked my wow account and email addresses

Be safe out there

Ah, yes. Any executable you run on your machine can get all that stuff. That's not how my employer or I roll when it comes to gathering info for marketing purposes, but then again we are some of the better ones.

"There are worse masters than I. Far worse."

Serjustin19 · August 2016

So um. This is about ESO Mastery in a way. I got a confession and I want to warn you. I messed up big time. I came across this site last year. I way totally believed them even wrote the support. I trusted them. So I bougt guide. $50 at the time.

Was a huge mistake. Very little guide for higher price. Now. Move forward today. I got email same just like op. However I was a member. Sort of. I unsubscribe. Not sure why I got email from them again.

But now they want me to pay again. Even Though it was suppose to be life time acces. No I don't think so. Have I learned my lesson? Maybe. (Some reason I always trust others. In honestly I'm To trusting. Has hurt me before will in future also.)

@Nestor thanks for you posting those sites. I have not heard about those sites you have listed. I will check them now. I like ESO Forum also. Love it actually. Many thanks.

phairdon · August 2016

Runs wrote: »

Rohamad_Ali wrote: »

Nigerian Prince still wants to share his wealth with me as well . I told him he could send it to me in GoFundMe account but keeps asking to make bank account for him . Also I won Bruma Lottery I was told . Maybe hacked too .

A bit off topic I know, and apologize for... but that just reminded me of this...

Hahaha. Brilliant!

Daemons_Bane · August 2016

Some spammers are kinda fun

I still get "notices" from a bank that closed 20 years ago and was taken over by another