Well, sure. But still. Account phishing - regardless what type of account - shoudl be illegal. Theft is theft. So today he steals someone's game account information. Tomorrow their bank information?

Plus, I have known people who had their accounts hacked and did get back anything. I would be curious on that 90% number of people scammed get their items back.

In fact, I just did a google search. There are TONS of pages regarding WoW account hacks and so far, with limited scanning, everyone who speaks from direct experience said that when they did get their account back, they typically lost all their gold and gear. There was a couple mentions where a character was deleted and the GMs un-deleted it, but still with empty pockets.

Besides, like I said, stealing is stealing - regardless of the medium.