My brothers account got hacked/banned.

#0 - July 10, 2009, 10:28 a.m.

Yesterday, my brothers account password was changed, which heavily concerned him, so he used blizzards fantastic "Forgot Password" Service, and changed it to a new password, completely unrelated to his old one. Him not being stupid, decided to send a petition to Blizzard about the issue, to ensure help was on the way and to prevent harm from coming to his beloved World of Warcraft account. He woke up the next morning, logged on his account to find all his characters totally intact and his password functioning normally, and left the house to go to his SAT-prep class. After his class, he went to his friends house, and out of paranoia he logged on his account, simply to check to make sure nothing was wrong and his password was functioning correctly and no funny-business was happening. Upon seeing his password work, his characters gazing back at him at the log in screen, he jumped on his main to run around and flaunt his gear to his friends.

After doing so, he logged off and continued his day hanging out with his friends, and later picked up his girlfriend and had her over for dinner. Later that night, out of extreme paranoia, he attempted to log on his account again, but to no success, he initially thought, "Okay, I'll just change my password again, this time on another computer!" However, when he tried to use Blizzards "Forgot Password" service again, it stated that his account had used the service too many times, and it was now unavailable. This set him into a crazed panic, now deeply aware that he was about to lose everything he's worked for over the past 4 years. In a state of panic, he attempted to call Blizzard, fully aware that it was near midnight and he wouldn't be able to get ahold of an employee, he sought to try anyway, for the sake of his loved account.

In a state of panic, and accepting the fact that he couldn't do anything until morning, he left for his girlfriends house, to watch movies with her and her parentals. Upon his return, he checked his e-mail and found out that his suspicions were correct and someone had hacked his account, and begun advertising gold selling sites. He is in a state of devastation and discord, completely unsure of what to do. I'm really not sure what else to add, I just wanted a Blizzard GM to read this. Keep in mind, he did infact send a petition to Blizzard, initially before being completely kicked out of his account. I do hope that Blizzard can help him out in his hour of need.

If you would like any further information about this topic feel free to ask. If you have any advice, please please tell me.

Also, He uses Macintosh OSX Leopard.

Orlyia

#1 - July 10, 2009, 10:48 a.m.

Well, things were good up to the point he just changed his password and didn't question how it happened in the first place.

If he had found the security leak at that point, they would likely have never gotten in again.

That's going to be critical at this time. As he's already found out - if they CAN still get in, they WILL be back.

I'm going to link a couple stickies, although if he is running on a MAC, the security sticky may not be as useful to him as those running a PC. Also, his email account itself may have become compromised. We see that at times as well.

Computer Security Recommendations
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=1778038509&sid=1

Account Compromise Info Center
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=14318909866&sid=1

If you could forward him that information, that should get him started on the road to recovery.

Orlyia

#3 - July 10, 2009, 11:14 a.m.

Q u o t e:
Alright, thank you very much, Orlyla. I'll send him to the Account Compromise Center a.s.a.p.

Although, he's curious, will he be able to get his account back? Also, would calling you [Blizzard] first thing in the morning really do anything to help?

I guess Mac's aren't as safe as he thought... Oh well, we'll get through this.

Thanks again for the quick response <3

While there tends to not be as much malware in circulation for a MAC, they aren't bulletproof.

That may also not be the source of this, there are other things and ways these cretins obtain information. Malware is entirely possible, but social engineering methods are also very prevalent. Phish emails are very popular right now. Since he changed his password and it happened again, however - my first suspicion is malware or a compromised email.

Promptly reported compromises almost always have good results. It may take a few days, but we do our very best to help players that find themselves in this position.