Account Hijack Help

[Diveos]

I'm posting this here because I've exhausted almost every other possible avenue on finding an acceptable solution.

Long story short is that a member of my LS's account was taken over by an unknown third-party. They have never given this person their account information and there is no indication on who the person could be. They have taken every precaution to protect their account information and have recently discovered that there was a trojan/keylogger on their computer.

The person who's account was stolen/hijacked was unable to scan their harddrive as they were in the process of moving back to university and the computer was in transit. They have not been able to log in due to university taking up most of their time.

They have been a player since beta and have never canceled or put a stop to their payment.

When contacting SE through GM-Call ingame, GM-Call through POL AND through the callcentre they have been told the same thing. "If you cannot verify the CURRENT account details (CC, billing information) then they cannot reset the password and give them back the account". They did however recognize that the CC and password were changed recently and would contact the original account holder if the account was deleted / payment stopped.

The original account holder is well aware that account information should be kept confidential and made every effort to keep that information safe.

I am asking that if anyone on this board has any information on how our LS member can go about getting their account back or if there is anyone else or someone who is higher up on the customer service food chain we can contact.

To have your account stolen, password reset and credit card changed after playing for over 3 years (beta player) is a very hard thing to take.

Our entire LS has been in almost constant contact with various representatives at SE to try and reconcile this problem but due to the fact that all of the verification procedures are based on the current CC holder we are at a loss.

For me this is a very serious issue due to the amount of spyware/trojans/keyloggers that can be embedded in the popup's and ads that you encounter everyday. To have 200+ days of gaming just taken away without a means to get them back is very disconcerting and it really doesn't make me as a player and a paying customer feel very secure.

If someone can just take all of my hard work and effort and simply take it away, why should I still play?

If you have ANY information please email me at mailto:[email protected].

[Wulf]

yeah, same thing happened to me. they change your address and you are screwed. even though you pay for the account and if you didn't, the account wouldn't exist, they wouldn't give it to you. how stupid is that

[Sefier]

hm.........always possbilility your friend may be lieing or whatever for some reason..just a thought though :/

[Almaa]

When my account was stolen, it took a few tries but I just kept calling and getting a different rep each time until one of them gave me pity and reset my password so I could log back on. Everytime customer service won't do what I want I keep calling until someone does it, they don't know you've already been told no. My account of course was stripped in the process and all I had left was rare/ex items but it's better than nothing.

[Diveos]

hm.........always possbilility your friend may be lieing or whatever for some reason..just a thought though :/

Normally I'd be the most sceptical person here but it's just not possible. The amount of effort that the person has put into getting their account back just doesn't jive with a lie.

[Erza]

I had a dream last night that my acount was hijacked :/

[Fira]

It's kind of sad that they seem to have there system set up more beneficial to account buyers/account thieves. I can understand why they want current information, but if you can provide the information used to create the account then that should be good enough.

[Kiro]

Thinking about my account getting hacked kinda pisses me off. But there's nothing on there worth much anyway. Just the fact that a year of work would be gone in a split second... bleh.

[Zigrah]

I think it's more to protect the people who lose their credit cards and then switch it over as a result. Unfortunately it doesn't help people who get jacked but at the same time it prevents other people from getting jacked.

Ideally, games should give some option for like a code word that you enter once and it can't be changed. If you call and supply this word than it's obvious you are the creator of the account.

The problem this could create is people selling their accounts and then stealing them back, people forgetting their code word and then losing their account when they lose their log in information unlike some who get it back using the current method.

It's a tough call, I don't really think there is a perfect system to it. I would just keep giving them a hard time like someone suggested.

[Genosync]

The Answer:

Some form of physical, heavily encrypted device that costs SE millions of dollars to mass produce, and give them to every person and make them have it inserted in their PS2/PC to play their character.

[Ravidrath]

I posted this on AllaK, but I'll post it here as well.

I've been trying to help someone on Kujata get their account back (was stolen by a hacker "friend"), and talked to a friend of mine at Square Enix.

You should call Customer Service and say that you would like to "escalate" the issue, and leave your name and phone number and ask to be called back by a supervisor.

When they call you, they will likely have a number of hard questions for you, like how you got your password stolen, how you know it was stolen, the approximate timeframe, do you use Windower, etc.

Also, be sure you have this basic info on hand.

Your Real Name
POL ID
POL Registration Code (In your original FFXI manual)

The POL Registration Code is the only way they can verify that you bought the game, so I hope you kept on to that like they tell you to.

Good luck, and I hope you get this sorted out.

[Posterboy]

This is most likely related to
http://www.theorderls.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=5317
... SE should be made aware of it if they arent already

[Erza]

do you use Windower

rofl, sting operation?

[masterorion]

i didnt read everyones post, but there is an online game virus going around gathering login info

http://securityresponse.symantec.com/av ... fanse.html

[Endo]

If they hack or steal your account I think its still considered an online crime? Like with Almaa's stuff he had to go through a ton of bullshit but eventually facing criminal charge's usually makes 13 year old wankers piss themselves into giving things back

[FFXIFlux]

do you use Windower

rofl, sting operation?

Until the windower program is put out in a code version, I'm not going to touch it. It's the perfect account gathering tool.