Hacked account -- resolved

#1 - May 2, 2014, 1:44 p.m.

I’m posting this for user LordZya.4905 concerning his ticket 570131.

On 4/25, his account was hacked by an IP address from Korea and was wiped clean (all of his gold as well as 600 gold worth of armor, items, materials, etc.). He was able to pinpoint a several-hour window in which this was done, since he logged out after playing the previous night and was unable to gain access in the morning. When he checked his email, there were dozens of authentication requests in his inbox. He is confused as to why his account was not locked at this time. It was made certain that neither his email nor his computer were compromised, though he later changed all passwords just in case.

Recently, he posted on the forums inquiring about the status of his ticket after being granted access to his account again. It was stated as “In the queue for account restoration,” which was a relief to hear. However, today he received an email stating that his account would not be restored after all due to the fact that it had been hacked by a separate IP address from China in the past (his email had been compromised that time, but after much effort he was finally able to regain full control of it). This was an extreme letdown for him, as he was anticipating to be able to play the game again due to the previous response.

I understand the reasoning behind the policy that limits account restorations; however, he and I believe that this situation was poorly handled. If his account was not going to be restored, why was it stated otherwise? Additionally, why was his account not locked down after the dozens of attempts to gain access to it as evidenced by his slew of authentication emails? Lastly, with it being clear that both of these hacks were from different countries – and that the second one happened while his email and computer were uncompromised – why did the issue not warrant further investigation or communication? He did not receive additional correspondence on the topic despite inquiries that accompanied his updated ticket. I and several of my friends are so disheartened by this response that, despite how dearly we love the game and how much money we have invested in it via the gem store, we are considering quitting for good.

I hope to hear back from someone on this issue.

Thank you.

Gaile Gray

#7 - May 2, 2014, 3:07 p.m.

Your friends is the only one who truly knows all the details of this case. It’s is unfair and inappropriate — not to mention against the purpose and policy of the forums — to post a thread protesting a support decision.

For your information, the e-mail authentication system is not designed so that we “lock down” accounts if e-mails are sent. It puts control of access in the hands of the account owner.

Be aware that that statement that an account is in the queue for account restoration means simply that it is in the proper queue for review of the possibility of a restoration. I will amend future wording to make that clear and thank you for pointing out that such verbiage may be confusing.

Accounts generally have one restoration, total, in a lifetime. I hope that I do not need to repeat myself about why this is so. Perhaps you and your friend would be so kind as to use the Dev Tracker and find my previous posts explaining why we limit restorations, but the reasons are sound.

Ironically, and in no way related to this thread, the account in question will be restored. Please be clear that this will not happen because of a protest of a support decision, nor because of an error in our initial decision. Although your friend insists that his personal security issue was related to some failure on our part, that absolutely was not the case.

If in review we find we can do something for a player that we initially declined, we’ll do it. And happily, that is the case here.