Thread: Account Hacked/Stolen - Info to Keep it From Happening, & What to do if it is Stolen.

If you believe that your account may be hacked or stolen, here are the steps you should follow to reclaim ownership:

1. Immediately run antivirus and anti-spyware programs on your machine to detect any possible viruses, key loggers, etc. If you have trouble doing this, please review any of the common antivirus websites or programs.
This step is VERY important, especially if a keylogger has ended up on the PC. A key logger will record not only your Turbine/game login, but any keystroke you enter. This can also include your forum login, your email login, any credit card and billing details you type in while it is installed, and more. I cannot stress how important it is to remove a key logger from your computer ASAP if one is installed, and not just for game security.

2. Attempt to login to your account at myaccount.turbine.com to determine if any of your login information has been changed. If it has, and you cannot log in, attempt to recover your password through the "Forgot Password?" link.

3. If you were unable to log in and recover your password, you will need to contact the Account Support department to update your account information. Please have the card holder call (or email) with the following information:
-the last 4 digits of the credit card on file
-the name of the card holder
-the billing address on file
-the email address you want to have on file.

4. After running antivirus/anti-spyware programs and logging into your account, change your password immediately to a new and secure password you do not use anywhere else.

5. Please note that your account may have been identified as potentially being accessed by a third-party by our In-Game department. Your account may be temporarily suspended to prevent any further access to your account. Please note that this does not indicate in any way that Turbine has been compromised; in most cases this indicates a security issue on the computer used to play the Lord of the Rings Online. If this has happened, please understand that this suspension is not a punishment, but a way to prevent further unauthorized access to the account.

If the account is banned, please contact In-Game Support by e-mailing via the form here. State your account name, that you have completed these instructions, and ask for the suspension to be lifted.

6. Once you have regained control of your account, log into each character. If you believe any items or money are missing, please submit a separate in-game report for each character. To ensure that your reimbursement ticket is dealt with as quickly as possible, please select Cheating as the primary category, then Account Compromise as the secondary category. These will be researched and a GM will contact you after they have investigated. Please note that this process may take up to a week or more. However you can play your character while you wait to hear back.

Also, please note that if any characters were deleted as a result of the account being compromised, you will want to log into that same server with a new or existing character and submit a ticket. Make sure in your ticket to include that the characters were deleted as a result of the account being compromised and a list of all characters that were deleted for further assistance.

If you do not have the ability to open help tickets from within the game, you can submit a single web inquiry to request assistance if your characters are missing items or were deleted due to a compromise. To submit a web inquiry please go here, then click the "Support Center" tab, then the "Submit a Ticket" link. Complete the form as fully as possible, and be sure to select "In-Game Support" and "Hacked/Stolen Account Report" for your type for the fastest response (as tickets to other departments may need to be re-routed).


A few important things to note:

Use a home network firewall at all times and check the exception list regularly for new entries.

Run anti-virus and malware scanning tools on a regular basis.

GMs will always have a + in their name. Only GMs can have a + in their name. For example, "+Bob" would be a GM.

No one who works for Turbine will ever ask you to give them money (in game or out of it) to avoid being banned.

No one who works for Turbine will ever need your password.

No one who works for Turbine will ever ask you to log into a website to keep from being banned.

You should only ever log in with your game/Account Management username and password combination on official Turbine websites (which include):
- the game
- the Account Management website: https://myaccount.turbine.com/
- the forums

We recommend that you do not use your specific game login (username and password combination) for other websites. Especially other gaming websites.

Change your password regularly to a new, unique password.


If you have questions about the security of your account (username, password, email) please have the credit card holder contact the Account Management department. They can also remove the credit card from the system at the request of the card holder. Please note that in order to remove the card, the next billing plan may need to be changed, since you can't have a re-occurring billing plan without a credit card on file.

If you have questions about your account in-game, please contact a GM. If you can't because you are banned, or want to provide additional feedback for GMs, you can email the supervisors of the GMs via the form here.


As SDM has noted elsewhere:
Please be aware that most cases of compromised accounts are due to malware (keyloggers) on a player's system, the use of gold buying websites, or phishing scams. We will help provide access to the owner of the account; however the responsibility of account security is the end user's.

Keeping your system clean and secure, not accessing suspect websites and especially not creating accounts with suspect websites, and never providing your password to anyone should prevent the vast majority hacked account issues.

Originally Posted by Victorie

6. If you believe any items or money are missing, please submit a separate in-game report for each character.

What does this mean exactly? From my understanding in-game we can either 'Report a Bug' or 'Write a Ticket'.

Thanks in advance.

Originally Posted by Ruthelia

What does this mean exactly? From my understanding in-game we can either 'Report a Bug' or 'Write a Ticket'.

Thanks in advance.

well is having your account hacked...a bug or user naivety?

You need to "Write a Ticket".

Bug reports are used to report things in-game that are not working as intended. These are tracked and reviewed, but no response or update is sent to the player who submitted the bug report.

Tickets are for in-game issues specifically concerning your character or a game play issue (or to report a violation, spammer, etc). These are read by a GM and an answer is sent or provided by chat.

Originally Posted by Darej

well is having your account hacked...a bug or user naivety?

It doesn't hurt to ask just to be sure, and really the two options you gave are not completely apt so your point is lost. People come to this part of the forum for help, often when they are stressed and unsure of what to do, or what they have done. If you don't have anything constructive to add, perhaps you should just keep your opinions to yourself.


Re: Victorie.

Thanks. Of course 1 hr after i wrote this, i received a message from the in-game support via email telling me to do the same .

Originally Posted by Ruthelia

It doesn't hurt to ask just to be sure, and really the two options you gave are not completely apt so your point is lost. People come to this part of the forum for help, often when they are stressed and unsure of what to do, or what they have done. If you don't have anything constructive to add, perhaps you should just keep your opinions to yourself.

what opinion?

i was trying to help you think it through logically.

i asked a question.

someone hacking your account is 99.999% of the time due to the account holders error.

now is this something you would report as a bug?

or something you would submit a support ticket for?

just because you may have felt silly for asking such a question is no reason to lash out at someone.

I have had the account I am currently posting on hacked. Only the login password was changed but the forums account still goes unharmed. When i call customer support, they tell me I MUST have the credit card number but i am unable to get that number. I can tell customer support everything about the account. Contact info, address, previous passwords etc. However just because i cant get those 4 numbers, I cant get my account back. Please help me. It has been a couple months and I would really like to play again. I am a founder and have played since beta.

-Swoogie McDoogie

Originally Posted by puffyfrog11

I have had the account I am currently posting on hacked. Only the login password was changed but the forums account still goes unharmed. When i call customer support, they tell me I MUST have the credit card number but i am unable to get that number. I can tell customer support everything about the account. Contact info, address, previous passwords etc. However just because i cant get those 4 numbers, I cant get my account back. Please help me. It has been a couple months and I would really like to play again. I am a founder and have played since beta.

-Swoogie McDoogie

um....how many credits cards do you have that you cant go thru them with CS?

Originally Posted by Darej

um....how many credits cards do you have that you cant go thru them with CS?

What do you mean by CS? Customer Service?

Am I in the right place for this? Please let me know Turbine. I would really enjoy getting back ingame.

Please see number 3 in the original post. I am sorry, but we cannot assist with specific account issues on the forums.

We have some fairly strict verification policies in place for the protection of all of our players. If you had a credit card on file, and don't have the card anymore, you should be able to find an old statement or contact that card company for assistance. In any case, you will need to contact the Account Management department for assistance with this issue.

Recently, Turbine has noticed some accounts that were compromised by gold farming and selling organizations. Given the presence of malware, viruses, keyloggers, and worms, we highly encourage all of our players to regularly run anti-virus searches. Several worms and keyloggers directly target online games, and this is a main way for gold farming organizations to acquire gold. If you believe your computer is infected:

• Install anti-virus software.

• Update your internet browser to the latest updates.

• Install all critical Microsoft security patches.

You may also install and run Microsoft’s malware removal tool at http://www.microsoft.com/security/ma...e/default.aspx.

Our anti-fraud team will continue to look into these issues and suspend accounts that have been compromised. If your account has been suspended and you received an e-mail detailing steps to recover your account, please follow those steps and contact our Account Support team to recover your account.

Thank you,
Turbine Anti-Fraud, In-Game, and Account Support

I'm actually more concerned that account rollbacks aren't done when an account is hacked. I know that rollbacks are possible, and that plenty of data is archived.

Blizzard seems to have little trouble rolling back data in WoW accounts after a hack, so why can't Turbine do the same here?

One presumes that it isn't a matter of duplicate items, as I would hope that every account which received item or monetary transfers from the hacked account while it was compromised would be subject to an immediate ban/suspension, and that the transferred items would be removed from the world.

*edit*

Oh, and yes, I am keenly aware that compensation is handed out, but that's hardly an issue. No amount of money can buy back the first piece of raid loot that I won or trophies that I spent *literally* days getting. Nor can it bring back the odd quest item. I was never going to USE 'Gandalf's Thanks,' but I wasn't going to get rid of it either.

Some people are in an MMO to grind and grind and grind for loot. Some of us are only here for the experience. All of the equipment and all of the items I had on all of my characters, combined, weren't "worth" close to the compensation for a hacked account, but no amount of gold will ever be worth more, to me.

Hello,

Currently, the In-Game Support Staff handling these hacked/stolen account claims will attempt to provide reimbursement for what was lost. If there are specific items that you really want back you can ask the GM about those particular items. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to provide replacements; however we will be able to look into the matter and see what can be done.

~SDM

Some had gotten into my account within the past 2 months. I logged in noticing nearly everything but my Copper was missing on each character. I followed the directions and submitted a ticket on each of my players. Its been about 3 weeks now, how long does this normally take?

I have just confirmed with the Team that reviews these compensation requests that all inquiries are receiving a response within 1 to 1.5 weeks at this time. We are working to improve this turn around.

If it has been more than 3 weeks since you submitted your inquiries, please submit new inquiries via the in-game system. Please note that if it has not been more than 3 weeks, that submitting second inquiries will slow your response.

I just had been hacked.

I was playing with my friends and got kicked by the hacker and could not log anymore. My friends on vent told me that all my chars were going online and offline several times.

They openned a ticket to report, but GMs ignored it.

Now I will have to wait several days for an answer. Isn't it logical to suspend an account immediately in that case, so the hacker can't do any damage?

It's pretty clear now that I will lose all my gear, money, and objetcs just because GMs wouldnt act right on the time when the hacker was online.

I guess you can understand that I'm upset, and worried. I just hope to get back to the game very soon.

Thanks.

Originally Posted by Marmorax

I just had been hacked.

I was playing with my friends and got kicked by the hacker and could not log anymore. My friends on vent told me that all my chars were going online and offline several times.

They openned a ticket to report, but GMs ignored it.

Now I will have to wait several days for an answer. Isn't it logical to suspend an account immediately in that case, so the hacker can't do any damage?

It's pretty clear now that I will lose all my gear, money, and objetcs just because GMs wouldnt act right on the time when the hacker was online.

I guess you can understand that I'm upset, and worried. I just hope to get back to the game very soon.

Thanks.

so....you expect GMs...to ban an account because players who dont own the account say its hacked?

i could see alot of griefing happening if this was ever the case.

also in first post at the top of this thread it tells you to contact Account Support...NOT in game GMs.

YOU have to report the account stolen...not your friends.

I did.

But GMs could give special attention to it, verufy the truth in it and act much more fast than 3 busines days.

Originally Posted by Marmorax

I did.

But GMs could give special attention to it, verufy the truth in it and act much more fast than 3 busines days.

chain of command dude.

cant have different systems jumping all over each other.

it is NOT the GMs job to take care of account issues....they are IN GAME Moderators.

not account management

Clearly, there is a problem going on right now. I don't know what it's related to, but there seems to be an upswing in account hacking/hijacking/robbing in the last two months.

I just got hit, as did a guildie. Pretty scary.

And, no...I had no keyloggers, trojan horses, etc. I use 2 anti-virus programs, SpyBot, and SpyWare Blaster. I don't use Explorer to surf, and I don't answer stupid emails.

I hope Turbine clears this up...and I hope I get back at least SOME of my stuff.

Hello,

If you are missing any in-game currency or items, please submit an in-game help request and a GM should be able to assist.

As stated previously in this post and several other posts, malware is just one of many ways for your account information to become compromised (and is typically one of the least likely causes).

~SDM

Finaly I got my account back. I took a few more days than said on the website for turbine aswer me the firts ticket. But after that they were very nice and helpful, and every e-mail after that was answered in less than one day.

Thank you guys.

Now I am going to check my in-game loss.

Originally Posted by feydaway1

Clearly, there is a problem going on right now. I don't know what it's related to, but there seems to be an upswing in account hacking/hijacking/robbing in the last two months.

I just got hit, as did a guildie. Pretty scary.

And, no...I had no keyloggers, trojan horses, etc. I use 2 anti-virus programs, SpyBot, and SpyWare Blaster. I don't use Explorer to surf, and I don't answer stupid emails.

I hope Turbine clears this up...and I hope I get back at least SOME of my stuff.

Yes I got hacked too. Can't log on to the game, or even my account.

I have antivirus and mailware that run regularly, I don't buy gold, go phishing, answer funny emails or do anything like that. Just tried to log in yesterday and couldn't. My brother who plays on the same server went online and saw that someone had accessed my character while me and the wife were at the movies.

I could care less right now if my character is stripped of all his stuff, even though I have been playing since 2007. I just want my account back.

I'm sorry to hear you were hacked. There are many ways that an account can be compromised, including using similar login information on another site that becomes compromised.

Unfortunately, we won't be able to help with this on the forums. You'll need to contact the Account Management department to regain control of your account.

So basically if you're hacked and the person who takes your account changes the CC info on the account, you're out of luck.

Thanks a lot Turbine.

The credit/debit card on file for accounts that are "hacked" is never updated. It is only in cases of friendly account compromises, sold accounts, etc. where the card on file is changed. We are still happy to research any reports of compromised accounts, regardless of what occurred with the card on file. We recommend getting in touch with Turbine Account Management if you are in this type of situation. This is not the type of issue that this thread was started for.

~SDM

That's a pretty unfair assumption to make. When there were *mass* hackings in Final Fantasy XI, the hackers were using stolen credit cards to change the CC info on file so that people couldn't get their accounts back.

Now I'm not saying it's the same situation here, in terms of it happening in a huge mass, but Turbine has the same policy now that Square Enix used to have. Eventually, they released they had to change it.

To help clarify, there are two types of Account Hacks, and different assistance that we can provide, depending on the cause.

1 - The current widespread hack issue (and the one this thread is about) is generally caused by gold farmers somehow gaining access to an account. They will often change the password and/or email address to limit access to the account. They will then log into the characters, sell any items they can, and mail all the gold to a farmer. In these cases, the credit card information does not change, therefore the Account Ownership does not change. If the card holder currently on file contacts us, we can assist with updating the email so that the password can be reset. We can also assist in-game, as noted in step 6 in the my original post.

2 - In some cases accounts are stolen, sold or shared. Generally in this case the credit card information will be changed to reflect the new owner. Ownership is denoted by the card on file, and changes in ownership are a violation of the Terms of Service. This is an offense that may lead to the account being permanently banned, and is not an issue that we can generally assist with, other than to ban the account. Please do remember that the security of your account is your responsibility.

If you have questions about your personal account, please have the credit card holder contact the Account Management department for assistance.

Would Turbine consider giving us the option of separate passwords for web account login and game login?

That way a standard keylogger that is interested in web browser activity would not get the password required to plunder the game characters.

I understand that Turbine probably doesn't want dummy customers to have to remember three passwords (account, game, forum) but I would like to have this as an option for those who want it.

Originally Posted by puffyfrog11

I have had the account I am currently posting on hacked. Only the login password was changed but the forums account still goes unharmed. When i call customer support, they tell me I MUST have the credit card number but i am unable to get that number. I can tell customer support everything about the account. Contact info, address, previous passwords etc. However just because i cant get those 4 numbers, I cant get my account back. Please help me. It has been a couple months and I would really like to play again. I am a founder and have played since beta.

-Swoogie McDoogie

Even if you used a debit card, you can find your last 4 digits on a bank statement with an old payment. It'll look like "Paid to Turbine, Inc. XXXXXXXXXXXX1234. You can find it this way on an old paper statement, or often with your online banking statement.

I had the same dilemma yesterday, had the 3 month sub, and was issued a new card number and I destroyed the old one. Turbine still had my old number on file and I couldn't remember it!

Thanks for the informative thread, TCS!

I thought I'd never get hacked. I don't buy gold(yeah, everybody says that), I've never received any phishing emails and I'd know them if I saw them, and all my pc's are clean. Only thing I can think of is some gaming related site I go to got hacked. I've since changed to unique pwd's on all of them.

One question though. When I go to write the ticket ingame, the ticket requires the name of a particular item. No matter what I enter into the field, it comes back with the message, "item required" or something like that. How do I tell it... EVERYTHING I WASN'T WEARING is gone?

Can I just say thank you To the in game GM's..My friends acct was being hacked while i was online, and he was on vent, it was intense to watch his toons flash on and off, .....the gm's got right on it, and stopped them from the final delivery of his gold...so again thank you for the speedy and helpful work you guys do there.....

Originally Posted by robsolflotr

One question though. When I go to write the ticket ingame, the ticket requires the name of a particular item. No matter what I enter into the field, it comes back with the message, "item required" or something like that. How do I tell it... EVERYTHING I WASN'T WEARING is gone?

Actually, for hacked accounts, to ensure that your reimbursement ticket is dealt with as quickly as possible, please select Cheating as the primary category, then Account Compromise as the secondary category. You should only use the lost item category if you personally have an issue with a single particular item.

Originally Posted by llprnzs

Can I just say thank you To the in game GM's..My friends acct was being hacked while i was online, and he was on vent, it was intense to watch his toons flash on and off, .....the gm's got right on it, and stopped them from the final delivery of his gold...so again thank you for the speedy and helpful work you guys do there.....

Thanks for the feedback - it has been forwarded to the team!

for folks who dont believe hacking is happening to other games....

http://www.symantec.com/connect/blog...ials-uncovered

came across this at symantec's website....

they found a cache of 44 million gaming accounts.

210k from WoW alone.

its a good read...

Unfortunately for me, I was hijacked last Wednesday. I got my account back in a day, Turbine noticed strange activity and banned the account for me. Too late though. They stole everything they could sell except what was on my toon. I understand that. What I don't understand is why they destroyed all my item xp runes as well as other bound items and why did they rearrange my UI? Insult to injury? Well, I put my tickets in so now we'll see what happens.

Originally Posted by Whoopingstick

Unfortunately for me, I was hijacked last Wednesday.

I'm sorry to hear that. Regarding the UI reset, I think it would be a good idea for everyone to save their custom layout, so it is easy to get your old ui back.

Originally Posted by RvLesh

I'm actually more concerned that account rollbacks aren't done when an account is hacked. I know that rollbacks are possible, and that plenty of data is archived.

Blizzard seems to have little trouble rolling back data in WoW accounts after a hack, so why can't Turbine do the same here?

One presumes that it isn't a matter of duplicate items, as I would hope that every account which received item or monetary transfers from the hacked account while it was compromised would be subject to an immediate ban/suspension, and that the transferred items would be removed from the world.

*edit*

Oh, and yes, I am keenly aware that compensation is handed out, but that's hardly an issue. No amount of money can buy back the first piece of raid loot that I won or trophies that I spent *literally* days getting. Nor can it bring back the odd quest item. I was never going to USE 'Gandalf's Thanks,' but I wasn't going to get rid of it either.

Some people are in an MMO to grind and grind and grind for loot. Some of us are only here for the experience. All of the equipment and all of the items I had on all of my characters, combined, weren't "worth" close to the compensation for a hacked account, but no amount of gold will ever be worth more, to me.

Quoted for Truth. I too lost some unique items. My guild took great pride in being able to make items for each other. With the changes in crafting, some of those items no longer exist...

Originally Posted by feydaway1

Clearly, there is a problem going on right now. I don't know what it's related to, but there seems to be an upswing in account hacking/hijacking/robbing in the last two months.

I just got hit, as did a guildie. Pretty scary.

And, no...I had no keyloggers, trojan horses, etc. I use 2 anti-virus programs, SpyBot, and SpyWare Blaster. I don't use Explorer to surf, and I don't answer stupid emails.

I hope Turbine clears this up...and I hope I get back at least SOME of my stuff.

I reinstalled my antivirus and repeatedly scanned everything. Nothing found. My biggest complaint is that i hadn't played in months. My account gets compromised and banned and I received no notice. When I go to log in and find out that I've been banned I receive NO response to ANY of my emails. My account is compromised and no one made any effort to contact me. Being banned, I could not even access these forums for this information. Finally I found a phone number so I could spend hours waiting for someone to pick up a phone. I received less than satisfying service.

I am truly dissappointed in the customer service I have received.

Originally Posted by Whoopingstick

Unfortunately for me, I was hijacked last Wednesday. I got my account back in a day, Turbine noticed strange activity and banned the account for me. Too late though. They stole everything they could sell except what was on my toon. I understand that. What I don't understand is why they destroyed all my item xp runes as well as other bound items and why did they rearrange my UI? Insult to injury? Well, I put my tickets in so now we'll see what happens.

All my UIs were changed as well. And my main was wearing some interesting appearence items. She had obviously been used for some farming or something, because she still had some of her weapons. All my alts had just been stripped...

I feel like I have been emasculated in a digital world.

Darej, I would appreciate if you would keep your helpful response to yourself.

I wish I could say that I am done venting, but there is just too much wrong with this situation. The Customer Service really impressed me, used to. Now I am not so sure. It will certainly take some time before I spend any more money on a Turbine Product.

Originally Posted by Victorie

To ensure that your reimbursement ticket is dealt with as quickly as possible, please select Cheating as the primary category, then Account Compromise as the secondary category.

If you select these categories, you will not be required to list specific items. If there are specific items you would like back, please do feel free to list them.

I am sorry that you have not received responses to your inquiries sooner. Current turn around for the Account Management department is a little less than two weeks, but we are working to improve this turn around. Phone support is available, and hold times have mostly been under 5 or 10 minutes recently, 20 minutes at the most. I'm not sure when or where you called if you were on hold for hours.


We are aware that many of the players affected by this issue have not played recently. Those responsible for hacking do not always use information they find in a timely manner. Therefore one of the things you can do to protect yourself is to change your passwords regularly.

I believe that Darej's post was meant to be informative, and meant as a response to the posts that claim this is only happening to Turbine. Unfortunately it is not. This is an issue affecting the gaming industry as a whole.