ASKING FOR YOUR INFORMATION

EA will never ask you for your login information
On the Forums
On Your PC

PHISHING EMAILS, LINKS and WEBSITES
Fake Emails and Copycat Websites
How Can I Tell the Difference Between a Phishing Site and the Authentic EA One?
Misleading Hyperlinks
Beware of Redirects
Scare Tactics

ADDITIONAL SECURITY

WHAT TO DO IF YOU’VE BEEN PHISHED
Overview
I Received a Phishing Email
Report Phishing Sites to EA

ASKING FOR YOUR INFORMATION

EA Will Never Ask for Your Login Information:
There are no exceptions to this rule. Even if you receive an email that looks like it’s coming from EA, if it asks for your account information it’s a scam.

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On the Forums:
If you ever receive a private message in the forums asking for your account information, it is fake. Scammers will even use names that sound legitimate, such as “EA Admin” or “Madden Developer”. Again, EA will never ask you for your account info.

If you do receive a message like this, report it to one of the forum moderators. Those responsible for sending messages of this kind will suffer swift justice – justice that could affect more than just their forum privileges, up to and including a full console ban.

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On Your PC:
If you ever receive a private message through Origin's online messaging system asking for your account information, it is fake. EA will never contact you through Origin’s messaging system for any reason. Do not give out your details and report the details of this message using the built-in report tool.

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PHISHING EMAILS, LINKS and WEBSITES

Fake Emails and Copycat Websites:
Sometimes emails and websites can appear to be official emails or websites from EA, but they are actually from a third party**.

For example: You receive an email that appears to be from EA concerning an Ultimate Team (or other game) promotion. You click on the link in the email, go to what appears to be the Ultimate Team login page, and enter your account name and password. Two days later you discover all the gold players you’ve worked so hard for have disappeared.

Sound familiar? Hopefully not, as the person above was just phished. Phishing is a way of tricking someone into giving up valuable information (like your account name and password) by landing on a fake website and entering in your account details. As the majority of phishing websites look identical to the real thing, most users don’t even realize they’ve been phished until it’s too late.

When browsing and regarding your account details, be sure to check the URL, as noted below, to ensure you preserve your account's security.

NOTE: Buying or selling coins in Madden Ultimate Team is prohibited. Coin selling sites may also be phishing sites attempting to obtain your login information, or other personal credit information.

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How Can I Tell the Difference Between a Phishing Site and the Authentic EA One?
The official EA website uses the following URL: http://www.ea.com/. Be aware of any links that don't use “ea.com” as the domain name, even if they include "ea" somewhere in the url. For example, "ea.account.com” would not be an official EA site. However, “help.ea.com” is an official EA website. Always double check the sign-in URL starts with: http://www.ea.com or http://www.easports.com/madden-nfl.

Head-to-Head Comparison: Note that the phishing site (top), while appearing to be identical to the official EASPORTS.com site, has a different URL than http://www.ea.com or http://www.easports.com/madden-nfl.

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Misleading Hyperlinks:
The text of a hyperlink may contain a url that is not the url it actually links to. Roll your mouse over this link: www.ea.com/safe. Notice either in the bottom of your browser window or in a small text box over the link, the actual url does not match. Make sure any link you click on leads somewhere official.

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Beware of Redirects:
Redirecting is a technique where a scammer embeds something in a link that takes you to the real site to begin with, but then moves you to a fake page that looks identical. There are many examples of this, but one simple thing to look out for in your address bar would be: http://www.ea.com/redirect?url=http://fakesite.com

Note the redirect? part of the URL. This means you go to a different site than official EA one.

EA will never redirect you from http://www.ea.com/ to another site.

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Scare Tactics:
Another common tactic involves scaring you into thinking your account has been compromised when it actually hasn’t. You may receive a message saying something like: “Your account has been temporarily suspended due to suspicious activity. Please login here to see more information.” This is another attempt to get you to give up your username and password. As always, the end result its directing you to a site other than http://www.ea.com or http://www.easports.com/madden-nfl.

EA will never send you emails claiming your account has been compromised. EA will never contact you via ANY means asking for this information.

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ADDITIONAL SECURITY

Here are some additional precautions you can take to ensure your information is protected.

• Preview Links- Remember those Misleading Links? Before you click on a link, preview where it is taking you by hovering over it with your mouse cursor. In some browsers the link location will be displayed at the bottom of your browser window.
• Home Computer- passwords and bookmarks- Set your browser to remember your password for EA sites. This way it will auto-fill the login form every time you visit the site. If you unknowingly go to a phishing site, the username and password will not be filled in, so you will know it’s a fake. Be sure to only do this on your home computer.
• Public Computers- If you login from a public computer, such as at a school or a coffee shop, double check that your login information isn’t being saved by the browser. Be sure to delete the browser cache after you logout as well.
• Password Integrity- This is important, so we will say it again! While not directly related to phishing, updating and maintaining your passwords is an important part of online security. A secure password that is updated often is much less likely to lead to a compromised account.
• Browser tools- These browser tools and plugins will not stop all phishing sites. Unsafe website lists are used to keep track of phishing sites. These tools can also help you avoid sites that attempt to install malicious software without you knowing.
  • Many major browsers have built-in phishing filters. Ensure that they are enabled. You can also check a website’s security by using this Google diagnostic: http://www.google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=easports.com
  • Web of Trust- This plugin is available for all operating systems. It can be installed on Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer, Safari and Opera. It uses a stoplight-style rating system to warn against unsafe sites. It will install an icon beside your browsers’ address bar, as well as links and search engine results. http://www.mywot.com/en/download
  • Locationbar2 (Firefox Only)- Similar to the address bar on Chrome, the Locationbar2 plugin puts emphasis on the domain name in order to help avoid phishing sites. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/locationbar%C2%B2/

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WHAT TO DO IF YOU’VE BEEN PHISHED

Overview:
If you believe you’ve entered your login info into a phishing site by accident, change your password right away. It’s likely that your account has been compromised, but you may still have time to save it.

Then contact EA’s customer service team immediately at http://help.ea.com, providing as much detail and evidence as you can. In particular, our team will need accurate details of what items (if any) you have lost, plus the date and time that you lost them.

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I Received a Phishing Email:
If you receive a phishing email message, don’t panic. Your account has not been compromised. All the scammer has is your email address, which can be relatively easy to find. Scammers duplicate the images and text from an official EA email in the same way they copy websites. If you receive a suspicious looking email, check who the sender is, as well as where the links in the email are taking you.

Some things to be aware of with phishing emails:

• Names are easy to obtain—phishers will almost always use these in emails;
• Other links or elements in the email will actually take you to the real site, but the “click here” or “login” link will always be to a fake site;
• When clicking on links in emails, be sure it is directing you to the same place that was advertised;
• The only time EA will contact you through email regarding your account is if you have forgotten your password and you make a request to have it changed.

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Report Phishing Sites to EA
We are continually taking action against phishing sites as we are made aware of them. We are also taking strong, prompt action against any users attempting to scam others using these sites or any other scams.

Please let us know about phishing sites by contacting us.

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