Attention players with Compromised Accounts

[Magos]

I called se last night just to see if they had gotten my notarized form yet but Christine couldn't answer that, which I expected about as much. So I asked about the condition we could get accounts back in, and she said there is no roll back at all, aside from the one item restore, which she said only goes back a week. LOL the account got haxd in december, HALLLLLOOOOOO. So yeah, don't expect much if you had gear 'n gil (both of which I had niether ><).

I also asked if quested r/e items that were tossed if we could redo said quest, but she didn't have an answer and I imagine SE has no plan for that...

Without going into too much detail because I really don't feel like reliving the whole incident again, my account was hacked into last week and I have a question regarding item restoration. I've read the GM policy online but, not surprisingly, it is a bit vague and open to a few interpretations. So, for those of you that have actually gone through the process:

Is it a one time, (any) one item restore (as is stated above)? Or is it a one time, multiple rare/ex item restore?

I ask simply because, of all of the stuff stolen both in terms of gear and gil, the ONLY item I will probably never get back without a miracle at the hands of a GM are my Herald's Gaiters. I would give up the oppurtunity to restore any and/or all other gear lost in the hack if it means getting my Gaiters back so I wanted to get some clarification on the matter. I don't want to be holding on to any false hopes...

[Jeny]

I called se last night just to see if they had gotten my notarized form yet but Christine couldn't answer that, which I expected about as much. So I asked about the condition we could get accounts back in, and she said there is no roll back at all, aside from the one item restore, which she said only goes back a week. LOL the account got haxd in december, HALLLLLOOOOOO. So yeah, don't expect much if you had gear 'n gil (both of which I had niether ><).

I also asked if quested r/e items that were tossed if we could redo said quest, but she didn't have an answer and I imagine SE has no plan for that...

Without going into too much detail because I really don't feel like reliving the whole incident again, my account was hacked into last week and I have a question regarding item restoration. I've read the GM policy online but, not surprisingly, it is a bit vague and open to a few interpretations. So, for those of you that have actually gone through the process:

Is it a one time, (any) one item restore (as is stated above)? Or is it a one time, multiple rare/ex item restore?

I ask simply because, of all of the stuff stolen both in terms of gear and gil, the ONLY item I will probably never get back without a miracle at the hands of a GM are my Herald's Gaiters. I would give up the oppurtunity to restore any and/or all other gear lost in the hack if it means getting my Gaiters back so I wanted to get some clarification on the matter. I don't want to be holding on to any false hopes...

I'm sorry, but as of right now GMs will not restore any sellable items that have been stolen.

It's a one time multiple item restore but only if they have been dropped, thrown, consumed, or sold to an NPC; and that doesn't even guarantee that they will find the items you try to restore. They were unable to retrieve my Byakko's Axe, Boreas Cesti and Anniversary Ring, which I believe the RMT tossed for space. (Even after mentioning my account had been compromised.)

[Canoe]

Hello, I've read through this thread and listened to people's stories and I wanted to share my own.
Last Monday morning around 12:30am cst I got booted off my main character and it said I was being logged from a different terminal. I am a Windows user. When I tried to log onto my main character it told me my password/ID were invalid along with my second account which I also use on this computer. My main had been transferred from Titan server to Ifrit server within the hour I was hacked I was told by friends. My second account which is still under 30day trial is still on Titan. I contacted SE through live chat as soon as they were open that day and they sent the notary form right away even though I didn't have all my information for my main (I was missing my POL code, the account is several years old). My second account they said didn't look like it had been touched and they just changed my password, fortunately they were right as this account has nothing on it anyway, I was also able to provide full information on it as it is brand new.

I sent out the notarized form the next day via regular usps envelope and have just been leveling my second account like I had planned to do anyway. I had also gone to the bank and canceled my old CC to make sure whoever has my account cant put any charges on there. I have also cleaned my computer of all viruses/spyware/etc because I realize I did have a few viruses that could have caused this to happen and I was stupid with internet security. I never ran virus check, spyware check, or had windows updates on just a basic firewall. I also visted alot of the final fantasy sites with the gil ads on Internet explorer and Firefox frequently. Now that i've done all of these scans with AVG, spybot, adaware, and a few others they all come up with no viruses and nothing malicious but my second account is STILL being hacked for some reason. I've done hijackthis and ran a log to my friend and gotten rid of everything that was suspicious, AVG and spybot and adaware don't pick up anything but around the same time every couple days I get booted from the game and I cant log back on because my password has been changed. Whoever has been on my account for like 5 seconds just sits there and then logs back off. It's very frustrating because I have to call up SE and all they do is issue me a new password. This has happened twice since the initial hacking. Another account I have though, they have not touched, I made it after those two accounts had been hacked and was worried I wouldn't be able to play again. Now that I can play my second account though I'm canceling this one before the free trial is up. It is strange though when they log back into my second account they never touch this new one. Very puzzling.

I've never ever given my ID/password out to anyone on my main and especially on this new character I made so I assume it has to be rmt because I had viruses. I would think now that I don't have any more infections though that they can't access my computer. Maybe I am wrong ._. I'm very frustrated and scared to get my main back because I don't want her to get hacked again. I already know she has had all of her items sold on Ifrit under the name "Idd" as this person on the ah history has sold nothing but exactly all of the same items I owned which is worth probably about 6Mil in sellable gear and gil. I hope whoever it is doesnt throw away my wedding set >< please that's all I ask that's the only thing irreplaceable to me. I don't care so much if they threw out my tav./tama's ring or anything else just I can not get my wedding set back I'm sure. I look at "Idd"'s history and they are still selling my items so SE lied to me about freezing the account like they said they would, I called twice about this, all they tell me is they are working as efficiently as they can -.- I regret not sending my notarized letter off overnight mail now because it is taking awhile to get to SE ><

Sorry if I rambled on, just wanted to share my story as well. Thank you for reading.

[Totentantz]

My account was compromised Feb. 25. I contacted the POL chat, gave him the information he needed, and he preceded to give me the "...I will have your account locked... you'll be receiving an e-mail with instructions... blah blah. Wait 24 hours for the e-mail, nothing. Contact them again, get the e-mail resent to the original e-mail address and another address, wait 24 hours, and nothing. (Dejavu, anyone? This is the point where I take the hint that either their mail servers are totally fucked, or they just want to minimize the amount of e-mails they send in a certain amount of time to minimize the amount of paperwork they are receiving because they are already so crowded with other unfortunate players' papers. So I take a day to look over the internet, and randomly searched Google with something like "POL Compromised account e-mail", and found this website, and the e-mail I needed (Really, thank you for taking the time to do that for others). Anyway, I get the form filled, notarized and sent (20$ for a notary, only for him to place the fucking stamp in the wrong place, and SE just HAD to be a bitch about it, and demand a new one). So I redo the form... obviously not going to the same notary, send the form in. Has been around 2 weeks since I've sent it, and have not been contacted by them, nor have I contacted them, because if I hear the same thing I've heard other people be told, I will go off on a rep, and I guarantee you, the assholes that they are, will just drop the paper in the can, or wipe their asses with it and send it back to me. Ever took the time to review their staff? In whole? Go for it, check it out. The Playonline Information Center has 3 Reps on the Online Chat in a given time. 3. Three. Tresa. III. Why? Money... maybe. Surely they would want to provide a faster, and more organized way of helping their player base with in-game issues, and such? Wouldn't they? I can't explain it. In a given time they have 11 Phone support reps. Not that bad considering they only have to support the whole fucking NA playerbase. (Exaggeration) From what I can tell, using BG as a percentage/whole ratio of players who are unfortunate enough to have their account compromised because they trust a site that's been around as long as they have, SE does not have a great staff. Seriously, 5,000+ people have had their account compromised, not counting people who were compromised before they made a policy to help restore characters to their original owners (lol). Sure, the first few weeks or so will be rough, and really it hasn't been very long since they have implemented a plan to help with this issue, but you have to do something about it. They are NOT trying as hard as they can/should. Hire more fucking staff. Do what you have to do to satisfy the people who spend 10$+ for your service per month, buy your optional services, YOUR game, YOUR expansions, YOUR product. They will never experience how it feels to lose a character you've spent so much time in. They've done studies. They know how many hours people play their game per day, and how many days they play in a month, and how many months in a year. They know how important our characters are to us, and are being willfully ignorant about the situation. As complicated a system the restoration seems... it's nothing. A notary public is a LEGAL document stating who the fuck you are, there's no reason in hell not to release your character back after that, at all. Hire more people... shove out a few grand of the dollars people pay you to play your game to pay a few salaries. Clear this mess up, get the game out of its dark days. Get your fans back, your playerbase happier... Sorry to make this seem like a rant or rave or fit or whatever you may call it... just makes me feel better to finally say something.

[Raji]

My account was compromised Feb. 25. I contacted the POL chat, gave him the information he needed, and he preceded to give me the "...I will have your account locked... you'll be receiving an e-mail with instructions... blah blah.

Wait 24 hours for the e-mail, nothing. Contact them again, get the e-mail resent to the original e-mail address and another address, wait 24 hours, and nothing. (Dejavu, anyone? This is the point where I take the hint that either their mail servers are totally fucked, or they just want to minimize the amount of e-mails they send in a certain amount of time to minimize the amount of paperwork they are receiving because they are already so crowded with other unfortunate players' papers.

So I take a day to look over the internet, and randomly searched Google with something like "POL Compromised account e-mail", and found this website, and the e-mail I needed (Really, thank you for taking the time to do that for others). Anyway, I get the form filled, notarized and sent (20$ for a notary, only for him to place the fucking stamp in the wrong place, and SE just HAD to be a bitch about it, and demand a new one). So I redo the form... obviously not going to the same notary, send the form in.

Has been around 2 weeks since I've sent it, and have not been contacted by them, nor have I contacted them, because if I hear the same thing I've heard other people be told, I will go off on a rep, and I guarantee you, the assholes that they are, will just drop the paper in the can, or wipe their asses with it and send it back to me. Ever took the time to review their staff? In whole? Go for it, check it out. The Playonline Information Center has 3 Reps on the Online Chat in a given time. 3. Three. Tresa. III. Why? Money... maybe. Surely they would want to provide a faster, and more organized way of helping their player base with in-game issues, and such? Wouldn't they? I can't explain it. In a given time they have 11 Phone support reps. Not that bad considering they only have to support the whole fucking NA playerbase. (Exaggeration) From what I can tell, using BG as a percentage/whole ratio of players who are unfortunate enough to have their account compromised because they trust a site that's been around as long as they have, SE does not have a great staff.

Seriously, 5,000+ people have had their account compromised, not counting people who were compromised before they made a policy to help restore characters to their original owners (lol). Sure, the first few weeks or so will be rough, and really it hasn't been very long since they have implemented a plan to help with this issue, but you have to do something about it.

They are NOT trying as hard as they can/should. Hire more fucking staff. Do what you have to do to satisfy the people who spend 10$+ for your service per month, buy your optional services, YOUR game, YOUR expansions, YOUR product. They will never experience how it feels to lose a character you've spent so much time in. They've done studies. They know how many hours people play their game per day, and how many days they play in a month, and how many months in a year. They know how important our characters are to us, and are being willfully ignorant about the situation. As complicated a system the restoration seems... it's nothing. A notary public is a LEGAL document stating who the fuck you are, there's no reason in hell not to release your character back after that, at all. Hire more people... shove out a few grand of the dollars people pay you to play your game to pay a few salaries. Clear this mess up, get the game out of its dark days. Get your fans back, your playerbase happier...

Sorry to make this seem like a rant or rave or fit or whatever you may call it... just makes me feel better to finally say something.

Spaced out to make it a little less aneurysm-inducing to read :ashira:. That seriously sucks though, and you'd think SE would've gotten their heads out of their asses by now ><

EDIT: I hate BBCode and it hates me, which is why I always have to fix it after I post

[Chatcher]

Hi, I was reading my local newspaper today and I noticed something ironic.

"In one case, digital frames sold at Sam's Club contained a previously unknown bug that not only steals online gaming passwords but disables antivirus software, according to security researchers at CA Inc."

If you wish to read more on the article here is the post:
http://thedailytimes.com/article/20080314/BIZ/917447978

I thought it was interesting, anyone recently plugged in iPods or digital photo frames?

[Totentantz]

Dear Customer,

We have verified the information you have provided on the notary form. Our records match the information you have given. Please contact the PlayOnline Information Center for further assistance with your account. We ask that you have the following information ready when you contact us. It is understandable that you may not have everything requested below, however please have the information that you have provided in past conversations with the PlayOnline Information Center.

Name:
DoB:
Address:
PlayOnline Registration code:
First 4 and last 4 digits of the credit card:
Email address that the Notary form was sent to:
Confirmation number of receipt of this email:

Thank you

Note: Please do not reply to this email. For all questions or concerns relating to this matter please contact the PlayOnline Information Center by chat or phone.

After 2 weeks and 2 days I just received this e-mail from [email protected]. Since it is now Sunday and I can't contact the Information center, I just figured I'd ask someone who knows: Does this mean I am getting my account back, or is this just their way of letting me know my account is still being investigated? Thank you. Also, if I don't have my POL codes, will they still give me my account (if they are going to give it back)?

[Tig]

Dear Customer,

We have verified the information you have provided on the notary form. Our records match the information you have given. Please contact the PlayOnline Information Center for further assistance with your account. We ask that you have the following information ready when you contact us. It is understandable that you may not have everything requested below, however please have the information that you have provided in past conversations with the PlayOnline Information Center.

Name:
DoB:
Address:
PlayOnline Registration code:
First 4 and last 4 digits of the credit card:
Email address that the Notary form was sent to:
Confirmation number of receipt of this email:

Thank you

Note: Please do not reply to this email. For all questions or concerns relating to this matter please contact the PlayOnline Information Center by chat or phone.

After 2 weeks and 2 days I just received this e-mail from [email protected]. Since it is now Sunday and I can't contact the Information center, I just figured I'd ask someone who knows: Does this mean I am getting my account back, or is this just their way of letting me know my account is still being investigated? Thank you. Also, if I don't have my POL codes, will they still give me my account (if they are going to give it back)?

Yep that means your account will be returned. Congratz!

[Tig]

After 2 weeks and 2 days I just received this e-mail from [email protected]. Since it is now Sunday and I can't contact the Information center, I just figured I'd ask someone who knows: Does this mean I am getting my account back, or is this just their way of letting me know my account is still being investigated? Thank you. Also, if I don't have my POL codes, will they still give me my account (if they are going to give it back)?

Did you call SE and get everything squared away yet? Just curious if it all worked out.

[Manalek]

/sigh
I'm just going to give up on SE. It's been 5 months since I was hacked, and still nothing. Guess I'll keep doing this thing called "Real Life" and find a new MMO to waste another 5 years on. >.>

[Ravenskye]

Dear Customer,

We have verified the information you have provided on the notary form. Our records match the information you have given. Please contact the PlayOnline Information Center for further assistance with your account. We ask that you have the following information ready when you contact us. It is understandable that you may not have everything requested below, however please have the information that you have provided in past conversations with the PlayOnline Information Center.

Name:
DoB:
Address:
PlayOnline Registration code:
First 4 and last 4 digits of the credit card:
Email address that the Notary form was sent to:
Confirmation number of receipt of this email:

Thank you

Note: Please do not reply to this email. For all questions or concerns relating to this matter please contact the PlayOnline Information Center by chat or phone.

After 2 weeks and 2 days I just received this e-mail from [email protected]. Since it is now Sunday and I can't contact the Information center, I just figured I'd ask someone who knows: Does this mean I am getting my account back, or is this just their way of letting me know my account is still being investigated? Thank you. Also, if I don't have my POL codes, will they still give me my account (if they are going to give it back)?

Yep that means your account will be returned. Congratz!

Not all the time. I have the Email sitting in a file because SE said " Sorry the email was sent prematurely, Even though you prove it to be yours the account it is still in investigation for RMT activity while compromised and we can't reset the password until the account has been cleared by account administration in Japan, However none of the accounts that were banned while compromised have been returned to date." March 14,2008 1:18 pm est. My email is dated Feb 5,2008 12:50 pm est and I'm still waiting for accounts admin in Japan to clear it. You won't know until you call them.

[Valoure]

So... according to what Raven said here... does this mean any of the accounts that was banned for RMT/3rd party programs while compromised.. has not been returned? None of them?

Well it's been 4 months since I lost my account. 2 months since I sent notarized form. If at this rate, all those who got the ball rolling before I did have still not received their accounts back.. I have lost all hope of getting mine now. Perhaps this is God's way of telling me to stop playing ffxi. My money is better spent on other things that I can enjoy without having a company full of JP jerks holding my account, for what ever reasons they have, and keeping me and the rest of us hanging on a string praying for our accounts back.

I had started to play again, but I just couldn't do it. I have lost 98% interest in the game at all. Now I use my husband's char. to do a few things that still hold my attention.

Anyway.. sorry for the rant or w/e. Best of luck to everyone who still holding onto that string that SE has us on. Makes me wish for another bomb....... /sigh....

[PersianTaru]

isnt it illegal to hack personal information from ppl's pc? whether its your bank account info, or online video game, its still illegal right? and this guys who are stealing all the accounts are putting their CC on the accounts which makes him trackable i wonder if a police report would do any good. :windy:

[Valoure]

Illegal or not.. If they would have froze our accounts right when we called them in as compromised.. our accounts would not have been used for RMT/3rd pty bullshit. I do not blame SE / POL for my account being hacked.. I DO however blame them very much for treating their paying customers like shit. It's not our fault, we did our part when the incident occured. They need to get w/e information they need from w/e information the hackers put on our accounts ie: address/phone/email/etc. and give us our shit back. All I see when I read these posts and call POL myself is a bunch of JP bastards expecting the general public to fondle their balls while they sit back and suck each other off. They don't give a damn rats ass about us, all they care about is how much $$$$$$$ they gonna make off the gamers. screw SE. screw FFXI. screw POL.

[PersianTaru]

all they care about is how much $$$$$$$ they gonna make off the gamers. screw SE. screw FFXI. screw POL.

my jp friends say the same thing lol, that the creator of Final Fantasy only had $ in mind when he created 11

[PersianTaru]

Just an FYI on the latest email problems at SE. I just got off the phone with them today and I asked them if they sent the confirmation email (after turning in the Notarized form) to me. They said they resent it to the three email addresses that I gave them last Friday. I gave them my Hotmail, Gmail, and a POL email account. Guess what happened......I didn't receive it at ANY of the three accounts. I didn't really expect to receive it in my Hotmail or Gmail account, since they have been having so much trouble with emails, but I would think the POL email account would receive it without issue. Come on, that's internal, there should be no blocking of emails from us.playonline .com to pol.com. I asked them if they could investigate why I didn't received it at my POL account and they said they don't deal with that. All they said they could do is flag the account again to get the email sent again Am I supposed to believe that a company of this size can't even send emails internally without having problems?? or are they just stalling and just telling me that they are sending it out??? I have no idea what to believe at this stage. All I can say is if you are one of the lucky ones and actually received an email from them you should be jumping for joy.

same thing happened to me, only I was more persistant. I waited 24hrs and no email, I called them and they said theyll send it again, I asked for the superviser, they put me on hold 3min came back and "the supervisor will take care of it, your issue has been escalated" 20min later the email was in my inbox.

[PersianTaru]

question: did anyone whose account was rolled back actually have all of their money items and gil? I got my account back from the RMT because i called SE quick enough before they changed my info. So im wondering if its worth me calling them to get my stuff (ie. gaiters) back, if anyone knows it would be awesome.

So its the rmt whos hacking all these accounts? Or wut?

[Gilhaven]

Well it would seem that my "faith" in SE has somewhat been restored. My wifes account got teh hack about 5 days ago. She immediately called SE when we realized what happened and the gave her a temp password to log in and informed her to contact a GM in-game to request her items be restored. She was then told that anything DB'd would not be restored. Imagine the delight and the amazement when a GM contacted us a few days later to set up a time to have her items replaced (minus the cash). Apparently we found the laziest/stupidest RMT out there cuz this guy went and NPC'd everything. Right down to the frayed arrow. S/He made about 65k off it all. As a side note for those who are expecting to have items restored, you will need to hand over "x" amount of gil to the GM (whatever the RMT made off the sale of your goods). I know it doesn't seem fair to pay for items you never sold/received profits from, but its not as bad as it sounds considering u don't get a lot from NPC's. Unfortunately howerver, because of the "one time" use of item restoration she can't do it again. Good luck to everyone who is awaiting word on their accounts. Godspeed!
~G

[PersianTaru]

Id like to let everyone know that I called the police department, and they did have a detective who delt with MMORP issues(Blizzard apparently is in my city). I filed a report with them, and they are going through the legal processes of filing a subpeona for playonline to release the credit card information of the hackers who are changing our information, but that will take a couple weeks. He also said that people who are victims of this should talk to SE and pressure them to take some legal action, this might even make them cooperate with the police without a subpeona. I think this is a good idea, since a large amount of people are losing their accounts and even if you get yours back there is a chance you will lose it again, or that your friends will lose their accounts. I lost my account, and my linkshell has lost 4 other players to these hackers. The important thing is that a majority of SE's customers request this, or else 1 person complaining wont carry much weight.

[setzor]

Id like to let everyone know that I called the police department, and they did have a detective who delt with MMORP issues(Blizzard apparently is in my city). I filed a report with them, and they are going through the legal processes of filing a subpeona for playonline to release the credit card information of the hackers who are changing our information, but that will take a couple weeks. He also said that people who are victims of this should talk to SE and pressure them to take some legal action, this might even make them cooperate with the police without a subpeona. I think this is a good idea, since a large amount of people are losing their accounts and even if you get yours back there is a chance you will lose it again, or that your friends will lose their accounts. I lost my account, and my linkshell has lost 4 other players to these hackers. The important thing is that a majority of SE's customers request this, or else 1 person complaining wont carry much weight.

lordy.... it's like Deja vu of like a million pages ago in the other post. Not enough people give a shit about the people hacked to even make a slight impression on SE about any of this. They got their "fix" in place, we just have to deal with it.

It's such an awesome fix too, I love how there's never ever any certainty other than certain dissapointment with SE. For Instance, with this new "restoration" policy you may/may not get your account back. It may or may not take a couple days, may or may not take a couple of weeks, may or may not take a couple of months, may or may not take a year or 2, but they are working as "hard as they can" to "investigate" the accounts... And you may/may not get any of your dropped/sold rare/ex back...

Me, i'm sitting at close to 2 months since they signed for my notarized form. And i've given up. At this point, they have literally weened me off the game through making me go cold turkey. I tried starting another character, but fuck it. I didn't remain a loyal fan for 3 solid years, paying my dues, and getting friends to play, and spending a rediculous amount of money on their fanfest to get this blatant slap in the face/kick in the balls. FUCK that. It makes me feel so good to see self-admitted cheaters/accountsellers/etc get their accounts back in a matter of a day or 2 from sending in their form, but MY shit sits in the "investigation" pile because of shit that was beyond my control. You can and will talk shit about "retards" who don't know how to "keep their computer secure". I'm tired of the people who got lucky sitting on their high-horse talking down on everybody because empathy and compassion and understanding just aren't good human qualities i guess.

So yeah, I'm done, if/when SE gives me my account back, I'm just gonna donate it to a friend who doesn't need it just to help with whatever misc shit. Pardon me while I go bleach my hand from shaking sage sundi's at fanfest...

Setzor