17 replies to this topic

[F5in]

I'm not quite sure what to do right now. Guild Wars 2 has been the only truly fun and addicting game that LASTS and keep my attention in the past few years, and I've been perma banned simply because I got hacked. The only idea that I've thought of so far is trying to get as many friends as I can to send a message to Gaile Gray (https://forum-en.gui...Gaile-Gray-6028) and just hoping for something to work. My guild leader and close friend Rawnoodles made a topic and rallied a bunch of people from the server and various guilds to post (and lots more would have posted later when they woke up) but it was deleted like an hour after it was made. (not locked, deleted. the reason was something about no petitions even though there are tons of petitions in general discussion)

If you don't know who I am, some brief information that might make you go "oh that guy":
I was the pioneer of Jade Quarry Ori node maps. I was the guy updating http://tinyurl.com/JQOre and I have been one of the 3 main contributors to http://octo.sberry.me
I'm that guy with 9 level 80s and 1200-1300 hours (would be more but it took 10 days just for support to reply) (http://imgur.com/a/Sn9Uu)


Basically, my account got hijacked twice, then banned for "buying/selling gold"

Hijack 1: I changed my e-mail back and changed my password for everything. Got hacked again the next day (seems to me they simply spammed support because it was inadequate or have some other method like I've been reading (https://forum-en.gui...-hacked-Merged/) where lots of people have been getting targeted and hacked)
Hijack 2: I made a completely new e-mail with a unique password, changed my GW2 account to that e-mail and had a unique password for that. Got banned 1-2 days later for "buying/selling gold" EVEN THOUGH THE ONLY THING THAT HAPPENED TO MY ACCOUNT WAS MY HALLOWEEN ITEMS GOT SOLD AND TOOTH OF FROSTFANG WAS BOUGHT (by the hacker). I didn't gain or lose any gold so I'm not sure why it was banned in the first place. Quite a few soulbound items and all my siege were deleted but that is besides the point.

My account has been secure as far as I can tell ever since I made a new e-mail for GW2 and changed my account to it. If someone is still trying to take my account, HOW are they doing it? Do they have my serial key somehow? I sent a ticket to support trying to get a key reset but they gave me some generic response about how they can't do it because something about security. If people can't even secure their account after getting it back and making all details new and unique, doesn't that mean something is messing up on ANet's side?

tl;dr: account got hacked twice but since it's been secure. Trying to get my account unbanned.

The last official response from ANet has been this:

Quote

Hello,

Your Guild Wars 2 account has been blocked due to more than one individual being able to verify ownership of the account. Once an account has entered this stage we close the account because at no time in the future can we guarantee that this will not occur again. In short, the integrity of the account has been completely compromised and is unsupportable.

At this time the serial code <inset serial> has been disabled and the original purchase has been refunded.

Due to the depth of analysis prior to the account termination, no additional reviews or appeals will be considered.

This decision is final.

I am not going to continue playing if I can't play on my account which I put so much effort into.

Edited by F5in, 06 December 2012 - 01:58 PM.

[sty0pa]

FWIW, and I have no bias in this, your story sounds amazingly suspicious.
You got it as a 'gift from a friend' and then claim it's been hacked.  Twice.
ANet says "At this time the serial code  has been disabled and the original purchase has been refunded."
ANet has GIVEN BACK the money used to buy the game to whomever bought it.
Your friend should be able to just buy it again with that credit, then, right?  Or as I suspect, did he "get it in some way that would mean he didn't get the refund"?

Sorry, you might be totally genuine and just have an amazingly bad luck.


Maybe instead of spending 1200-1300 hours in game leveling 80s and doing all this work mapping nodes etc, you could apply that sort of industry and drive to, I dunno, getting a job?

I'm not just being a dick here.  The game is $50.  If you love it so much, that's really a trivial amount of money.


EDIT: here's my guess; of course the first thing to check is if your system is deeply penetrated with keylogger, etc.  If so, changing emails won't help you unless you do it from a different system.  That would be my first effort.
SECOND, and IMO my gut suspicion - your 'friend'  bought it and gave the login to a few people, or got it in some similar way and shared the login with you.  Someone with whom account info was shared decided they were going to change the email etc and ANet got multiple people flagging the account as theirs, so they just shut down the account and refunded $ to original purchaser (which itself is generous).

Edited by sty0pa, 06 December 2012 - 01:14 PM.

[F5in]

I have actually thought about that and I've heard about it before, but this friend of mine doesn't even play Guild Wars 2 so I don't see how or why he would transfer gold through my account. I also highly doubt he would sell the key to a company (not even sure if companies do that)
Also, nobody asked for a refund, support did that on their own, and if the key had been shared around with multiple people, why only now am I having problems, 3 months after release?

Also to clarify the being hacked twice thing, I got hacked twice 2 days in a row, even after changing my info. The point of this isn't even about the hackings though, as my account has been fine since I made new and unique emails/passwords for the account (well, fine except for being permabanned and refunded to someone else, ty anet)

edit: text was tiny for some reason

Edited by F5in, 06 December 2012 - 01:11 PM.

[sty0pa]

I understand your points.



However, the fact remains that a refund WAS sent by Anet.  Did your friend get it?  If they gave you the game as a gift, then they shouldn't mind handing you the $50-$60 or whatever it cost for the game, that Anet handed them back, right?

I suspect your 'friend' got the account from some dubious source.

[Majic]

You are never going to see that account again.

If you want to play Guild Wars 2, scown* together enough money for a new account, get a new copy as a gift for Christmas, or whatever.

Create the new account yourself, share nothing about it with anyone, and enjoy the game.



* Edit: "Scown" is what results when you try to use the word "s c r a p e" on Guru. How droll.

Edited by Majic, 06 December 2012 - 01:22 PM.

[F5in]

sty0pa, on 06 December 2012 - 01:17 PM, said:

I understand your points.



However, the fact remains that a refund WAS sent by Anet.  Did your friend get it?  If they gave you the game as a gift, then they shouldn't mind handing you the $50-$60 or whatever it cost for the game, that Anet handed them back, right?

I suspect your 'friend' got the account from some dubious source.

My friend was refunded the money, but the point is they are keeping my account banned. I am not going to play unless it is on MY account, not some random new account.

edit: god dammit copy+pasting from reddit messes up the text

Edited by F5in, 06 December 2012 - 02:12 PM.

[BrettM]

sty0pa, on 06 December 2012 - 01:17 PM, said:

I suspect your 'friend' got the account from some dubious source.

Not necessarily. Suppose Friend had bought several copies of the game for gifts to several people, but accidentally sent the code from one of the copies to more than one of the recipients? Or perhaps he is not familiar with how online games work and didn't even realize each recipient needed a different code. Oops. Now you have two or more people who can verify ownership of the same account, and perhaps they thought THEY had been hacked whenever OP changed the credentials.

Either way, if more than one person can truly verify that they own the account, I can't blame ANet for not being able to figure out who is a victim and who isn't. They aren't the police and can't demand access to everyone's records, emails, etc. to straighten it out. It stinks, but making everyone start over is the cleanest way out.

[F5in]

BrettM, on 06 December 2012 - 02:16 PM, said:

Not necessarily. Suppose Friend had bought several copies of the game for gifts to several people, but accidentally sent the code from one of the copies to more than one of the recipients? Or perhaps he is not familiar with how online games work and didn't even realize each recipient needed a different code. Oops. Now you have two or more people who can verify ownership of the same account, and perhaps they thought THEY had been hacked whenever OP changed the credentials.

Either way, if more than one person can truly verify that they own the account, I can't blame ANet for not being able to figure out who is a victim and who isn't. They aren't the police and can't demand access to everyone's records, emails, etc. to straighten it out. It stinks, but making everyone start over is the cleanest way out.

What about whoever has the purchase details? Or TALKING to the people who send them support tickets? It took me 10 days JUST to get a response, and the response was "permabanned". If you read the forum thread I linked there are people claiming to have been waiting 15+ days, and I even saw a couple of people posting saying they've been waiting 3 months (release)

[ssringo]

I can certainly understand your frustration (provided everything you say is true) but I'd have to say ANet is completely in the right here. They're saying multiple people can verify ownership which doesn't mean multiple people know the login and password. That means multiple people can provide information they ask for when verifying account ownership such as serial number for the account.

Even if they were to talk to the people involved and figure out who really owns the account, the fact remains that someone else has information that could let them get the account back at a later date. You'd be asking them to put in additional information requirements for account verification specifically for your account.

Best of luck though.

[sty0pa]

Hey, you're going to get no argument from me if your point is "Anet's support is slow".

But if I were the support person at the other end of the phone, I'd tell you what I'm saying now: Anet CREDITED the original buyer the cost of the game.  That's already 'above and beyond' if they actually felt there was some fraud, so they're clearly working with the assumption that it is in fact just a simple mistake.

I still haven't seen you mention why the person who gifted it to you can't just either buy it again or give you the money?
Yes, you lose out on the characters you've built, but clearly you have ample spare time.

[F5in]

sty0pa, on 06 December 2012 - 03:39 PM, said:

I still haven't seen you mention why the person who gifted it to you can't just either buy it again or give you the money?
Yes, you lose out on the characters you've built, but clearly you have ample spare time.

What

Do you even know what you're saying there? Just lose 3 months of playing every day because support didn't feel like doing their job? They didn't even TRY to figure out who owns the account (which they could have by oh, I don't know, asking for purchase details) as this was their first and only response.

[dd790]

F5in, on 06 December 2012 - 03:47 PM, said:

What

Do you even know what you're saying there? Just lose 3 months of playing every day because support didn't feel like doing their job? They didn't even TRY to figure out who owns the account (which they could have by oh, I don't know, asking for purchase details) as this was their first and only response.

They did their job, the account was compromised beyond repair due to more than one person having the serial code and so the account was closed and a full refund was given.

What would of happened if they had asked for purchase details?
Do you know this friends purchase details or would Anet then have to talk to a third party about this case?
What would happen then if the friend sent a ticket to say their account was hacked (someone else, ie you, playing on it) and they could prove ownership?
Then you send a ticket saying that it has been hacked because the owner is now using it and you can't get on...

Sounds like a massive headache for Anet and the only real solution was to close the account and refund the money before it got out of control.

What exactly can you do to prove ownership of the account? It wasn't purchased by you, you are one of many people who can quote the serial code and really this is all based on who Anet believe and Anet have decided to just end it by closing the account and giving a full refund.

[deitiesforce]

they simply can't do anything when more than one person knows the serial code. Simple analogy would be the serial key is your physical key to your house. When you hand your key to someone else then the land lord can assume that person has access to that house too. It doesn't matter if you can show that you own the house. I'm sure Anet believes that the account is yours, but they simple can't do anything when the "key to the house" is compromised. (not a perfect analogy but i just wanna show that when you lose your key or other people have your key, it doesn't matter if you can show that account is yours or not). Just like other people said...you have so much time...either earn your money to buy the game or just ask your friend to get you a box edition which you make your own account with the serial code that ONLY YOU KNOW.

[Linfang]

They gave you your money back, so unbanning is no longer an option on the table.

Take your loses and buy a new account, or invest in another game. The longer you linger on the subject, the harder it will be to move on.

[TGIFrisbie]

Sorry, I am not buying the "I am innocent" thing, period.  Been playing since headstart.  Never "hacked".  The fact you were "hacked" then "banned" for "Buying/Selling Gold" leads me to believe you did buy gold and that gold seller got your account.  It's just do damn conincendental.

Making it sound like you are this avid community supporter by posting node maps and such doesn't hold water, there are plenty, I am sure, of extremely avid players that participate in buying gold from gold sellers.  In fact I dare say the most hardcore players are guilty, the game for them is just that intense of an entertainment.

Maybe buy another copy and this time, don't buy gold.

If the game is that much fun for you and you had 9 80s, it should not be an issue.  Buy a new game, have these friends contribute a bit of gold each, craft your way to 80.

Again, don't buy gold...

[Quivvie]

TGIFrisbie, on 06 December 2012 - 05:30 PM, said:

Again, don't buy gold...

Instead buy gems...and then convert them to gold!

[F5in]

dd790, on 06 December 2012 - 04:14 PM, said:

They did their job, the account was compromised beyond repair due to more than one person having the serial code and so the account was closed and a full refund was given.

What would of happened if they had asked for purchase details?
Do you know this friends purchase details or would Anet then have to talk to a third party about this case?
What would happen then if the friend sent a ticket to say their account was hacked (someone else, ie you, playing on it) and they could prove ownership?
Then you send a ticket saying that it has been hacked because the owner is now using it and you can't get on...

Sounds like a massive headache for Anet and the only real solution was to close the account and refund the money before it got out of control.

What exactly can you do to prove ownership of the account? It wasn't purchased by you, you are one of many people who can quote the serial code and really this is all based on who Anet believe and Anet have decided to just end it by closing the account and giving a full refund.

It was not compromised beyond repair at all, if ANet's security wasn't flawed. I don't understand how just giving them the purchase details doesn't prove account ownership.

deitiesforce, on 06 December 2012 - 04:51 PM, said:

they simply can't do anything when more than one person knows the serial code. Simple analogy would be the serial key is your physical key to your house. When you hand your key to someone else then the land lord can assume that person has access to that house too. It doesn't matter if you can show that you own the house. I'm sure Anet believes that the account is yours, but they simple can't do anything when the "key to the house" is compromised. (not a perfect analogy but i just wanna show that when you lose your key or other people have your key, it doesn't matter if you can show that account is yours or not). Just like other people said...you have so much time...either earn your money to buy the game or just ask your friend to get you a box edition which you make your own account with the serial code that ONLY YOU KNOW.

Except with a real key you can change the lock, but in ArenaNet's case, you can not get a fresh serial key, which is a MAJOR flaw in their security.

TGIFrisbie, on 06 December 2012 - 05:30 PM, said:

Sorry, I am not buying the "I am innocent" thing, period.  Been playing since headstart.  Never "hacked".  The fact you were "hacked" then "banned" for "Buying/Selling Gold" leads me to believe you did buy gold and that gold seller got your account.  It's just do damn conincendental.

Making it sound like you are this avid community supporter by posting node maps and such doesn't hold water, there are plenty, I am sure, of extremely avid players that participate in buying gold from gold sellers.  In fact I dare say the most hardcore players are guilty, the game for them is just that intense of an entertainment.

Maybe buy another copy and this time, don't buy gold.

If the game is that much fun for you and you had 9 80s, it should not be an issue.  Buy a new game, have these friends contribute a bit of gold each, craft your way to 80.

Again, don't buy gold...

Seems a bit odd that someone would put 1200-1300 hours into the game then suddenly start to buy gold. I had 9 level 80s farming Ori every day; trust me, I didn't need to buy gold.
and how is LOSING 1300 hours worth of gameplay NOT an issue? My whole enjoyment of this game was all of the time I had ALREADY put into it, and now it's gone. I was done with all the character grinding I could ever want, done with the karma, done with everything, and could finally play the game at my completionist leisure.




and I can't believe people are taking this so lightheartedly. My account got permabanned because a flaw in ANets security. Do people not realize this can happen to them and IS happening to lots of people on the official forums? People are even being accused of fraud when they bought it directly from guildwars2.com

Edited by F5in, 06 December 2012 - 05:43 PM.

[Feathermoore]

Sadly, there is nothing you can do in this situation. A person, other than you, has the account information needed to verify that the account is actually theirs.

Basically, the account has two people who have all the necessary information to claim that they own it. There is no way for them to be sure that they will be able to prevent it from happening again. Support isn't being lazy, you just had pretty much all of your account information stolen. This is way above the typical "hack" where the person just gets through the login. The other party can actually prove that they own the account. To do this, they likely have even more info than just the serial number, possibly even your purchase information.

Nothing can be done, and we really can't help you. Sorry. There is nothing here to discuss.


Information loss of this level is on the user end. If someone hacked Anet and got information enough to claim ownership of an account, thousands of accounts would be having this occur. The security "flaw" is however they got all of the ownership information.

Edited by Feathermoore, 06 December 2012 - 05:53 PM.
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