Hacked with Help!

[Paulyj.5483]

Unfortunately I have been hacked and someone got into my account. After attempting to log in, I noticed all of my armor was missing across all of my characters. It was obvious that someone got in, sold the gear, and tried to send out the gold. After further review, I found that the hacker actually submitted a ticket (a very poorly written and misspelled one at that) to have the sms authentication removed. To my dismay the customer service team did not ask for any records or proof that he was the owner so they removed it for him. I created a ticket and played with my fiance and helped her complete living story. I figured my account might roll back so maybe I could send her some gold so I could have something for the trouble. Unfortunately she was banned for having "purchased" gold from a third party. I mean she has bought me dinner here and there but this gold was never discussed. Oddly enough, I was the "seller" but my account was not banned? So now me and the misses are out of commision until the #CustomerService2018 issue is fixed. All of this wouldnt be so bad, if the "last active" time on my tickets weren't longer than the ones belonging to the gent who hacked my account. I write this understanding that customer service might not get to this before they do the ticket, however my goal is to have the sms authentication removal require some more proof other than, "Please remove SMS certification" or "Forgot password, and cannot be rest". These are copy and pasted from the ticket of the swell guy that deleted all my loot. Please develop some more precautions so it isn't as easy to do things like this.

[Paulyj.5483]

My fiance actually tried to post about the issue, but funny enough, she is also banned from the forums and does not have a platform to express herself. It is Independence Day, and she could not feel less free if she tried.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

It's not surprising that receiving Gold from an account that was reported as compromised resulted in action.

What is surprising is that said compromised account wasn't immediately closed down.

 

Unfortunately, you (and your friend) will have to wait for assistance from the CS Team; you can discuss the issue of removing the SMS authentication in a ticket. You might consider changing the passwords for your email accounts, as well, as the usurper must have access to the email account to intercept the emails from the CS Team.

 

Good luck.

[Healix.5819]

How do you know they sent the ticket? I'm assuming your email was hacked? Are you sure it's a real ticket? Removing 2FA is supposed to require verification, especially when sending an anonymous ticket, but it is known that some support agents simply don't put in the effort. If your email was hacked however, it probably contains enough information to verify ownership. Ensure that no back doors have been set in your email, such as automatic forwarding or recovery options, and that your computer itself isn't compromised.

 

You'd probably have better luck posting this on reddit along with the hacked ticket number. They have a support agent that actually browses there, whereas they rarely show up here.

[Paulyj.5483]

@"Inculpatus cedo.9234" . I changed passwords for my emails, this game, reinstated my sms authentication, etc. And yea that was my biggest issue was the fact that my fiance was banned yet I am logged in at this very moment. I might be missing something, but I hope they fix it. The sms authentication issue is the main purpose of the ticket, everything before is just funny problems.

 

@"Healix.5819" I know they sent a ticket because it is actually still an "Active" ticket. I can see everything he sent in. He had the account password and logged into the support to write the ticket. He did not have access to the email however because the "password reset" email was not opened. Honestly this post is more so for the sms authentication is more solid than it was in this case. Maybe some proof of ownership in one way or another to remove the sms authentication. Maybe I just feel cheated personally and want some retribution, it honestly is just a bad situation that I want some sort of retribution for.

[Healix.5819]

> @"Paulyj.5483" said:

> I know they sent a ticket because it is actually still an "Active" ticket. I can see everything he sent in. He had the account password and logged into the support to write the ticket.

 

If that happened, SMS was already bypassed, since it's required to login to support. Submitting a ticket like that fast tracks the process, since being logged in is the verification.

[Paulyj.5483]

> @"Healix.5819" said:

> If that happened, SMS was already bypassed, since it's required to login to support. Submitting a ticket like that fast tracks the process, since being logged in is the verification.

 

If that happened than there was some sort of failure on the authentication side which is more upsetting. I never got the text in order to have prevented this.

[ShiningSquirrel.3751]

> @"Paulyj.5483" said:

> @"Inculpatus cedo.9234" . I changed passwords for my emails, this game, reinstated my sms authentication, etc. And yea that was my biggest issue was the fact that my fiance was banned yet I am logged in at this very moment. I might be missing something, but I hope they fix it. The sms authentication issue is the main purpose of the ticket, everything before is just funny problems.

>

 

You have to look at it from Anets point of view. You reported your account hacked, which means a rollback, then you transfer gold out of it, not good. I would have been surprised if your fiance was not banned and your account as well. At the very least, any gold or items you sent to your fiance would have been removed from her account once yours was rolled back. If you where looking to have your account restored, you should not use it at all and absolutely don't start sending things to other players or selling stuff on the TP. Suppose you had a legendary, your account is hacked so you send it to your friend, then your account is restored so so that legendary basically was duplicated. It's the same with the gold you sent to her account.

[Healix.5819]

> @"Paulyj.5483" said:

> If that happened than there was some sort of failure on the authentication side which is more upsetting. I never got the text in order to have prevented this.

 

SMS wouldn't have triggered if they were logging in through one of your trusted networks.

[Paulyj.5483]

> @"Healix.5819" said:

> > @"Paulyj.5483" said:

> > If that happened than there was some sort of failure on the authentication side which is more upsetting. I never got the text in order to have prevented this.

>

> SMS wouldn't have triggered if they were logging in through one of your trusted networks.

 

The call was coming from inside the house. OoooOOoOoOo

[Paulyj.5483]

> @"ShiningSquirrel.3751" said:

> > @"Paulyj.5483" said:

> > @"Inculpatus cedo.9234" . I changed passwords for my emails, this game, reinstated my sms authentication, etc. And yea that was my biggest issue was the fact that my fiance was banned yet I am logged in at this very moment. I might be missing something, but I hope they fix it. The sms authentication issue is the main purpose of the ticket, everything before is just funny problems.

> >

>

> You have to look at it from Anets point of view. You reported your account hacked, which means a rollback, then you transfer gold out of it, not good. I would have been surprised if your fiance was not banned and your account as well. At the very least, any gold or items you sent to your fiance would have been removed from her account once yours was rolled back. If you where looking to have your account restored, you should not use it at all and absolutely don't start sending things to other players or selling stuff on the TP. Suppose you had a legendary, your account is hacked so you send it to your friend, then your account is restored so so that legendary basically was duplicated. It's the same with the gold you sent to her account.

 

That makes sense. It was just weird that my account is still perfectly active but hers is not.

[Cregath.7628]

If this case is true, then it's more worrying that you fake out a hacked account and send some Gold to someone you hate.

[Paulyj.5483]

> @"Cregath.7628" said:

> If this case is true, then it's more worrying that you fake out a hacked account and send some Gold to someone you hate.

 

Lmao the ultimate weapon. Almost like those glitter bombs people would mail other people. https://www.ruindays.com/ #notsponsored

[Cregath.7628]

> @"Paulyj.5483" said:

> That makes sense. It was just weird that my account is still perfectly active but hers is not.

 

It actually does make sense. If an account is active after it's being "hacked", then any activity is supposedly done by the "hacker". So anything they do can be used to track them down. So yeah, what others said. IF your case is true, then by using the account for whatever reason, you are basically giving your attacker false trails for free and also causing potential harm to your actual friends and acquintaces (which is exactly what happened with you).

[Paulyj.5483]

> @"Cregath.7628" said:

> > @"Paulyj.5483" said:

> > That makes sense. It was just weird that my account is still perfectly active but hers is not.

>

> It actually does make sense. If an account is active after it's being "hacked", then any activity is supposedly done by the "hacker". So anything they do can be used to track them down. So yeah, what others said. IF your case is true, then by using the account for whatever reason, you are basically giving your attacker false trails for free and also causing potential harm to your actual friends and acquintaces (which is exactly what happened with you).

 

I only interacted with one person since the incident and she was banned. She sent her appeal, but any other interaction on the account since he submitted the ticket should be obviously flagged. Anything after I sent my ticket and reinstated my sms authentication shouldn't be suspicious, but if they think it is than that just feels like I have been let down on an astronomical level.

[Linken.6345]

> @"Paulyj.5483" said:

> > @"Cregath.7628" said:

> > > @"Paulyj.5483" said:

> > > That makes sense. It was just weird that my account is still perfectly active but hers is not.

> >

> > It actually does make sense. If an account is active after it's being "hacked", then any activity is supposedly done by the "hacker". So anything they do can be used to track them down. So yeah, what others said. IF your case is true, then by using the account for whatever reason, you are basically giving your attacker false trails for free and also causing potential harm to your actual friends and acquintaces (which is exactly what happened with you).

>

> I only interacted with one person since the incident and she was banned. She sent her appeal, but any other interaction on the account since he submitted the ticket should be obviously flagged. Anything after I sent my ticket and reinstated my sms authentication shouldn't be suspicious, but if they think it is than that just feels like I have been let down on an astronomical level.

 

You tried to duplicate gold becouse you think anet owes you something for being lax in your own security.

And you then think you have been let down on an astronomical level?

You should feel lucky if they fix this for you after your tried to scam the system.

[Paulyj.5483]

@"Linken.6345" Telling me I should feel lucky because I wanted some "chance" of retribution for the lack of customer support's presence or their leniency with opening the door to my account with no proof of real ownership is not only self righteous, it doesn't make any sense as well. Due to the fact that I was hacked and lost all of my armor, I used some of the gold that was made from destroying my gear in order to buy a full set of gear off of the trading post. According to your logic, the people who posted the items on the trading post are in just as much trouble as my fiance. If they can ban her quicker than they can take away the gold or rollback my account and undo those things, than there is a serious fault in the customer service and for that reason they have let me down.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

Perhaps, if security had been more stringent, others would not have been able to infiltrate and gather information.

Information on securing game accounts, and accounts associated with game accounts can be found in the Knowledge Base accessed via the 'Support' link above/below.

 

Good luck.

[Paulyj.5483]

> @"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:

> Perhaps, if security had been more stringent, others would not have been able to infiltrate and gather information.

> Information on securing game accounts, and accounts associated with game accounts can be found in the Knowledge Base accessed via the 'Support' link above/below.

>

> Good luck.

 

I appreciate it. I changed passwords for this game account, emails, added my sms authentication back, etc. I wish it was easier to change emails with proper credentials or maybe a second password for scenarios like this where you want to be off of the radar of the person who took the account. Even if you had the game and forum login password and a 5 digit pin you had to enter to make changes to the account once youre in.