FIFA Ultimate Team : Account Safety
Updated April 24, 2014.
With several promotions occurring in FIFA 14 Ultimate Team at this time of year, it’s especially important to keep your login information safe.
This article will help you keep your FIFA Ultimate Team safer, and avoid falling for some of the scams cheaters use to steal information and compromise accounts.
HOW TO PROTECT YOUR FIFA ULTIMATE TEAM
EA will NEVER ask you 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 login information it’s a scam.
FOUR SIMPLE RULES
To help reduce the chance of your account of being compromised or “phished”, it’s always wise to follow these rules:
- NEVER share your login information publicly.
- NEVER click links asking for login information or claiming your account has been compromised
- ALWAYS double check the sign-in web address starts with: http://www.easports.com/
- ALWAYS make sure the web address does not redirect to a non-EA site
Creating an Origin security question
Setting up an Origin security question gives your FUT account an important extra layer of protection.
Make sure you keep your Origin account up to date. To maximize your account security make sure you use a unique password for all the services you use as well.
What is “phishing”?
'Phishing' is the term used when an online scammer attempts to trick someone into giving up valuable information (like your login information and password) by landing on a fake website and entering in your account details.
FAKE EMAILS AND COPYCAT WEBSITES
You receive an email that appears to be from EA concerning a FIFA Ultimate Team promotion. You click on the link in the email, go to what appears to be the FIFA Ultimate Team login page, and enter your login 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. 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.
While the site above may look identical to the official EASPORTS.com/fifa site, it isn’t. How to spot the difference? The website address (or URL)
HOW CAN I TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A PHISHING SITE AND THE AUTHENTIC EA ONE?
The official EA SPORTS website uses the following web address: http://www.easports.com/.
You may also be contacted directly by EA or EA SPORTS via email containing one of more of the following official EA and EA SPORTS web links relating to EA SPORTS FIFA, FIFA Ultimate Team, EA SPORTS Football Club, or EA :
www.ea.com
www.futpromos.com
www.easportsfootball.com
www.easportsfootballclub.com
Any other similar looking URL is not official and should not be clicked on.
Head-to-head comparison. Note that the phishing site (bottom), while appearing to be identical to the official EASPORTS.com/FIFA site, it has a different web address other than http://www.easports.com/fifa.
BEWARE OF REDIRECTS
Redirecting is a technique where a scammer embeds something in a web 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.easports.com/redirect?url=http://fakesite.com
Note the “redirect?” part of the web address. This means you go to a different site than official EA one.
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 is directing you to a fake site and not http://www.easports.com/fifa.
EA will NEVER send you emails claiming your account has been compromised. EA will NEVER contact you via ANY means asking for this information.
ON THE FORUMS
If you ever receive a private message in the forums asking for your login information, it is fake. Scammers will even use names that sound legitimate, such as “EA Admin” or “FIFA Developer”. Again, EA will never ask you for your login information.
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.
ON YOUR CONSOLE
If you ever receive a private message through your console’s online messaging system asking for your login information, it is fake. EA will never contact you through your console’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.
The Fifa ultimate team WEB APP
Scammers are using Shared Squad links to try to phish information. Remember: you don’t need to be logged into to your EA account to view a Shared Squad. Shared Squads can be viewed by anyone, and like every other official link, they always start with http://www.easports.com/.
If you’re trying to view a Shared Squad and are redirected to a sign in page, it’s a scam. Do not proceed any further.
ADDITIONAL SECURITY
Extra to the steps listed above, here are some additional precautions you can take to ensure your information is protected.
PREVIEW LINKS
Before you click on a web 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
While not directly related to phishing, updating and maintaining your passwords is an important part of online security.
Use the following suggestions to help develop a password that is harder to guess:
EA IDs only require 4 characters, but you should use at least 8. Use a combination of letters, numbers, and special characters
Use different passwords for your EA account, console login, and email
Change your passwords often
Do not use any information in your password that could easily be obtained (like your Gamertag/PSN name or FUT Squad)
Delete any emails that contain password information after writing it down in a safe place
FUT SECURITY QUESTION
In order to prevent unwanted Users from accessing your account you will be asked to create a Security Answer on the FUT Web App. You will be required to enter this answer the next time you log in via your console.
Make sure to remember the answer! It will occasionally be asked on the FUT Web App and EASFC Mobile app so that your coins and players stay safe. If you ever happen to change your console, it will be asked as well.
WHAT TO DO IF YOU’VE BEEN PHISHED
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://support.ea.com, providing as much detail and evidence as you can. In particular, our team will need accurate details of what items you have lost, plus a date and a time of when you lost them.
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 web 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 web 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.
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
HTTP://WWW.MYWOT.COM/EN/DOWNLOAD
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.
This plugin is very useful, and successfully blocked a known EA phishing site.
LOCATIONBAR2 (FIREFOX ONLY)
HTTPS://ADDONS.MOZILLA.ORG/EN-US/FIREFOX/ADDON/LOCATIONBAR%C2%B2/
Similar to the address bar on Chrome, the Locationbar2 plugin puts emphasis on the domain name in order to help avoid phishing sites.
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 visiting http://support.ea.com. Login on the right and click Contact Us.
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New way to get help and manage your account!
For more info on FIFA Ultimate Team account safety, or further help with any EA SPORTS game, please be sure to visit the new EA Help website.