My WoW Acct is Suspended

[Nyghtfall]

Well this is completely fubar...

On 12/28, I got an email notification telling me my WoW account is suspended pending the resolution of billing dispute between them and my bank. Thing is, I haven't played WoW since last July, and I have the bank records to prove it. The email said that the charge in question tried going through last November, and was yanked back by the bank last month. Blizzard notified me of my account suspension a week later.

I checked my bank records the day I received the email and, finding nothing there from Blizzard, I concluded that the email was fake and haven't given it much thought since.

Today, I decided to investigate further by checking my WoW account. Imagine my surprise when I got an error message telling me that neither my user name nor password were valid. Using their Account Recovery tool, I had a temporary password sent to me and was able to log in using that. Unfortunately, the plot seems to have thickened as, the moment I logged in, I was greeted with a message confirming that my account has, in fact, been suspended. I've forwarded a copy of the email I received to their Account Admin address, explaining my side of the issue and asking them to elaborate on what's happened. I'm not expecting a reply for a few days.

Funny thing though... While looking for more immediate methods of contacting them and browsing their Support forums, I found myself looking at screenshots of the game, and now I want to play. I don't really want to play, but knowing I can't get in is making me want to play. Browsing the site, I was just thinking, "Man, the art direction in this game is really quite beautiful."

I'm naturally curious to see how this is going to unfold. If my account was hacked, then I'm especially curious to know if the perps have done anything with my character. Of course, I'd be more worried if I still played the game, and I'd be panicking if I knew the perps had access to my bank account, but since neither points are a factor, I feel more like, "Hmph. Okay, this is odd..."

[Lou Cypher]

I found myself looking at screenshots of the game, and now I want to play. I don't really want to play, but knowing I can't get in is making me want to play.The Honey is sweeter when it's forbiden :wink:

Lou :globe:

[draco7891]

If my account was hacked, then I'm especially curious to know if the perps have done anything with my character. Of course, I'd be more worried if I still played the game, and I'd be panicking if I knew the perps had access to my bank account, but since neither points are a factor, I feel more like, "Hmph. Okay, this is odd..."

I have a similar tale. I haven't played WoW since the first time I signed up, in late 2005. I got an email a few months ago that "I" had "signed up" for a 10-day BC trial. Lo and behold, 2 days later I got the account suspension notice and password reset.

The best part is the fake info I gave Blizzard just before I quit, so the hackers got nothing (although I apologize vehemently to a Lt. Col. Phuket Upthearse (Mrs.) of 321 Blastoff Ln., Middlesex, Azerbaijan for the use of her name).

I had to conclude that Blizzard has the approximate security of a wet paperbag in a maelstrom, with an investigative team to match. I'm sure it was perfectly logical that a two-year old account would suddenly be reactivated from an entirely different IP in a completely different part of the world out of the blue and without any forewarning, and then proceed (I assume, since this is what the suspension said) to spam the auction house. Nope, nothing suspicious about that, just those nutty users again...
:p:

Draco

[maverick777]

I don't really want to play, but knowing I can't get in is making me want to play

^^^ I suffer from that affliction lol , basically sometimes I go raiding(No pun intended :no: Ok that was an evil joke) my old game cds and I always end up really wanting to install a game I cant find or the CDs got a cyclic redundancy

In seriousness though I hope you get your account sorted , good luck!

[Bruenor]

You are the third person in less than a month that I've heard about getting their account suspended for "chargebacks".

Obviously something is really fubared, hope you get it sorted out.

[Nyghtfall]

About an hour ago (4:50pm CST), I received a reply from Blizzard's Account Admin. Below is the text of my original email to them, followed by the reply I received. Note that I copy/pasted the text of the original suspension notification in my email to them.

----
January 5, 2008

From Me:

I received the following email on December 28, 2007. It confused me because I haven't played WoW since last July, and I have bank records to prove it; nor have I recently signed back up. I need to know whether the email is legitimate. Thank you.

January 9, 2008

From Blizzard:

Greetings,


Thank you for contacting us about an account issue for the World of Warcraft account you are using. However, the Account Administration Department is unable to assist with this matter. Please visit the World of Warcraft Billing Support site at http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?articleId=20606 for suggestions on how to resolve this issue.


Your account issue has been forwarded to the Billing Department and you should hear from our Billing personnel regarding your request shortly. For future account information changes, please feel free to contact our Billing Department directly at billing@blizzard.com or by calling 1-800-592-5499 during the hours of 8 am to 8 pm Pacific Standard Time. Customers in Australia should call 1-800-041-378.


Thank you in advance for your time and understanding. We appreciate your interest in World of Warcraft and your continued support. Please let us know if you have any additional questions or concerns.


Sincerely,


Sarjikar
Account Administration
Blizzard Entertainment
http://www.blizzard.com/support/wowaa/

----

I phoned their billing department, using the phone number referenced above. I explained that I'd been referred to them by the Account Admin reply I received, and explained the issue. Unfortunately, Billing now has to refer the issue back to Account Admin for further review, as only Account Admin has access to the tools necessary to verify some technical information about access to my account. After having me verify my security questions and other info, he filed a report and forwarded it back to Account Admin. He then advised me that, if Account Admin is able to verify my claim, they may also be able to reverse the chargeback fee. If they're unable verify that my account was indeed hacked, I will be responsible for the fee and will have to pay it before my account can be considered for reinstatement.

Overall, the conversation lasted only a few minutes. I merely stated the facts, and what I believe to have happened. The rep was very nice and professional, though he did sound rather surprised that I knew the answers to my security questions, and was able to verify the email address my account is listed under. I guess they get a lot of calls from people who forget that kind of info.

[Johnny Mullet]

I never played it and glad I haven't.

[Nyghtfall]

I never played it and glad I haven't.

When WoW first launched, I had zero interest in playing. About a year after City of Heroes launched, my wife started getting tired of Cryptic's nerf bat and found herself aching to get back to fantasy-based MMOs. She decided to give WoW a try, so I bought her a copy. Watching her play got me interested in trying it out myself.

We both played off and on for a little over a year. Over time, my wife got bored with it and moved to Guild Wars. At one point, I was playing both it and CoH. Sometime around May last year, I finally reached lvl 40 and got my first mount for my only character. By the time I reached lvl 45, I was bored and ready to leave. I simply felt I had accomplished the one goal that was driving my desire to play in the first place - getting a mount. So, last July, I quit the game and haven't been back since.

The irony is that, once my account is re-enabled, I'm going to have to subscribe for one more month just so I can log in and check to make sure the perps haven't done anything with my character. I may try and see if Blizzard would be willing to give me just a day's worth of free access so I can check him.

My wife and I now both play CoH exclusively again.

[RHooks]

I may try and see if Blizzard would be willing to give me just a day's worth of free access so I can check him.


Good luck with that. Welcome to the wonderful world of Blizzard support. Liked WoW. Dislike Blizzard.

[Nyghtfall]

Got home from work an hour ago and found a few emails from Blizzard confirming that my account was "compromised". They've reinstated it and waived the chargeback fee. I've been issued a new password that I can change if I wish, along with a stern warning that, if my account is compromised again, further action may be taken against it including permanent termination.

I went ahead and signed up for a month of access so I could check my character. Amazingly enough, whomever hacked it didn't touch a thing. He's still 44, has all of his spells and gear, and everything I left in his packs when I left the game last July, including 106g.

[Rob]

cAn I hav yur stuffz!!??

[RHooks]

I like that. They're going to punish you because someone else is hacking your account.

[Nyghtfall]

I like that. They're going to punish you because someone else is hacking your account.

Well, according to the rep I spoke with, their experience has shown that, 9 times out of 10, account hacks are caused by user error, either through keyloggers or some other security leak. I have my computer set up to run a virus and spyware scan every morning, so I have no idea how the hack happened, especially considering how long it's been since I last played. The game hasn't even been on my computer until I reinstalled it a few days ago.

Now that the issue has been resolved, I'm going to explore other methods of maintaining the security of my account.

[Ojnod]

Interesting story Nyght. It's a good thing you got everything worked out.

It is sad that they have to seem unsympathetic about things like that but there are many people that try to trick the system too, in addition to getting their account hacked by viruses and Trojans. Say someone just paid $25 bucks to transfer a character to a new server to chase their dream of being in some illidan killing guild that raids 30 hours a week. They apply to the guild through the forums and begin their trial period. After a week or so, nobody in the guild likes this person, or they show poor raid performance and they are denied. They are stuck on that server for another 3 months while their transfer "cooldown" comes back, or they could simply call blizzard up and say their account had been compromised while on vacation and get it transfered back to the old server.

It could have been that your account was compromised many months ago and the information wasn't put to use until recently. Even if there wasn't a trojan or virus on your computer, it could have been on there undetected. It also could have been a browser exploit, maybe another hidden process in your browser watching you log in to the WoW website (since they share passwords with the game).

WoW accounts are in demand on the black market, in fact, even the low level characters are worth even more than compromised credit card data! (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6526851.stm)

It sounds like you are set with the virus and spyware scanning but another thing to add to your arsenal is the NoScript extension for firefox (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/722). It could be a pain to use but it really locks down your browser on any site that you don't trust.

[Nyghtfall]

It sounds like you are set with the virus and spyware scanning but another thing to add to your arsenal is the NoScript extension for firefox (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/722). It could be a pain to use...

You aren't kidding there. I used NoScript for a few months before being driven nuts with all the warnings. I was like, "Ok, this program was obviously written for idiots have no business owning a computer in the first place, never mind using one, and I am not an idiot." So, I removed it.