Suspension Message

[nogbog]

EDIT: THIS POST IS NOT RELATED TO MULTI-BOXING AT ALL.

EDIT: I got a response from blizzard, i jumped the gun a bit and assumed the suspension was regarding multiboxing.
Thanks Vyndree, your post really helped.

Recently your account was actioned and placed under review for intended exploitation of the World of Warcraft economy. Upon further investigation, we have determined that the account was accessed by a third party when the incident occurred. As a result, we have removed the account actions. We apologize for any inconvenience caused. I got hacked and that person/computer used a teleporting app to, i dunno, spam gold messages? It only took a week, but i'm back in the game Forum CM's are awesome Blizz stock standard email messages are the worst customer service i've ever encountered, a whole lot of confusion and anger could have been avoided with better customer service.
Changed subject to not mislead anyone about what this post is about


I got this message in my email today, i only use keyclone and maximer to 4-box, so i know keyclone has been stated as not against TOS, but what about maximiser?

"Account Action: 72 Hour suspension

Offense: Violation of Exploitation and Client/Server Manipulation Policy - Unapproved Third Party Software

Details: Found to be using unapproved third party software that gave the player an unfair advantage over other World of Warcraft players.

The actions detailed above have been deemed inappropriate for World of Warcraft by the In-Game Support staff of Blizzard Entertainment. Based on a review of the information presented, this World of Warcraft account has been given a final warning and a 72 hour account suspension, in addition to any previous warnings issued. Until the suspension has been lifted, the account will not be accessible. Please note that Blizzard Entertainment will be unable to provide further information regarding the specific time an account will become accessible again. Be aware that any additional inappropriate actions may result in the permanent closure of the account.

Thank you for respecting our position on this matter.

Any disputes or questions concerning this account action can only be addressed by Account Administration. To learn more about how Account Administration is able to assist you, please visit us at http://www.blizzard.com/support/wowaa/.

Please visit the World of Warcraft Policies and Terms of Use Agreement: (http://www.blizzard.com/support/wowgm/?id=agm01712p) and (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/termsofuse.shtml) for further information."

[Sarduci]

Account Administration is your friend. Send them an e-mail.

Good luck.

[nogbog]

Account Administration is your friend. Send them an e-mail.

Good luck.Yeh i did, along with a list of forums posts by CMs supporting multi-boxing.
I dunno about friend, you expect them to be at least a little before handing out a suspension.

I'm pretty angry really, put a lot of effort into making sure it was ok, even asked GMs, bought 3 other accounts, and then bam, a week later suspended.

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=2856144935&postId=29491813990&sid=1#16
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=77594054&postId=776776019#1
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=3168405460&pageNo=1&sid=1#9
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=3159886078&postId=31680816892&sid=1#8
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=4822936028&pageNo=1&sid=1#3
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=4973137485&sid=1
http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html;jsessionid=2537DAB869934A1E146BCF0133F C2302.app03_02?topicId=268157261&pageNo=4&sid=1#77
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=5103947753&sid=1
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=5103799146&pageNo=1&sid=1#8
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=4976283236&pageNo=1&sid=1#2
http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=2836533750&sid=1&pageNo=3#50

[Ifalna]

Maximiser should in its default way, not affect wow in any TOS breaching way.

It honestly sounds like you made a whoopsie with either another program, or were somehow using the programs you have at the moment in a way that was actually breaching the tos.
Considering how many people actually use maximiser for window location, and the fact that this is the first I heard of this, it really does sound like the normal maximiser and keyclone use were not the cause.

[Los]

In all honesty its far from likely that you would be the only boxer using the proper keyclone/maximizer that would be zeroed out and temp banned . Imo you or someone else on your pc's/accounts did something that wasnt the way it should have.

[nogbog]

Maximiser should in its default way, not affect wow in any TOS breaching way.

It honestly sounds like you made a whoopsie with either another program, or were somehow using the programs you have at the moment in a way that was actually breaching the tos.
Considering how many people actually use maximiser for window location, and the fact that this is the first I heard of this, it really does sound like the normal maximiser and keyclone use were not the cause.Honestly i think its just that the "in-staff support" assumed i was botting.
My setup is so simple, run maximer, run keyclone. There is no possibility of running another program by accident because this computer ONLY does 4 things.
Run Maximiser, Run Keyclone, Run WoW, browse the net with firefox.

Edit: If you check out my 4 warlock box post, i've detailed everything i do including all my macros.

[nogbog]

The last thing i did in wow was celebrate all my locks turning 40.

Ran around Orgrimmar mounted.. did that for a good hour.. mass suicide via hellfire..
thats about it, 1 guy asked how i controlled 4 characters, i explained keyclone.

[Drizzit]

are all your accounts in your name... The same exact name? Before i started boxing i knew i was going to 5 box. I had 2 accounts (one was mine and the other was the wife). Went out to buy 3 more games and i thought i was ok. After reading a post on this site i found out using my wife account could get all the accounts closed. It wouldn't matter if i soloed that account, but boxers get so much attention that i would probably get band so i went out that day and got another. Shitty part is i am not paying for 6 accounts and the wife is being lazy and hasn't canceled her account and i cannot do it because it is under her name.

[Drizzit]

1 guy asked how i controlled 4 characters, i explained keyclone.That guy might have reported you saying to the gm that you are using a botting program. Even though you probably explained it to him and everything all the person heard "he is using a program to control the other toons..... so he must be a botter"... All i say is 5 accounts and 1 wireless keyboard and 1 huge headache... and that is usually it.

[nogbog]

are all your accounts in your name... The same exact name? Before i started boxing i knew i was going to 5 box. I had 2 accounts (one was mine and the other was the wife). Went out to buy 3 more games and i thought i was ok. After reading a post on this site i found out using my wife account could get all the accounts closed. It wouldn't matter if i soloed that account, but boxers get so much attention that i would probably get band so i went out that day and got another. Shitty part is i am not paying for 6 accounts and the wife is being lazy and hasn't canceled her account and i cannot do it because it is under her name.Ya, i created all my accounts under my name.

It's a shame you can't use ur wifes account, considering when that when u get married everything becomes shared.

I've only got 1 account suspended, i dunno whats up with that, its my main as well.

[nogbog]

That guy might have reported you saying to the gm that you are using a botting program.

Yeh.. but we'd hope that the GM's would at the very least check, i know i wouldn't trust the word of another player complaining about another player. Read the wow forums, u'll know what i mean..

[Drizzit]

considering when that when u get married everything becomes shared
If only that was true. When we got married everything became hers.

Best thing about wow is that everything is on their sever so if she gets pissed at me and breaks my computer. I can buy a new one and still be at the same place... lol. At least she doesn't know my passwords.

[Tehtsuo]

1 guy asked how i controlled 4 characters, i explained keyclone.That guy might have reported you saying to the gm that you are using a botting program. Even though you probably explained it to him and everything all the person heard "he is using a program to control the other toons..... so he must be a botter"... All i say is 5 accounts and 1 wireless keyboard and 1 huge headache... and that is usually it.I just say "Keyboard Multiplexer". It's technically true, I just don't mention that it's a software keyboard multiplexer. The average plebian keyboard-turning mouth-breathing soloboxer has no way to differentiate Keyclone from a bot app, it's all third party zomghax to them. If someone asks me point blank in-game "Do you use Keyclone" I don't try and hide it, cause if they've delved far enough to get the name of the program, they're usually well enough versed with the legal issues to know that I'm 100% legit.

[Kaynin]

There appears to be a similar case I sighted on the WoW EU forums, about a fresh multiboxer reveiving a 3 day temp ban.

I'm betting my money on uninformed false GM sanctions.

[Kicksome]

do you use any delays in macros at all? like with a g15 keyboard or n52?

[zanthor]

Account shared at all? I know a guy who shared his account with a guy and was later slammed with the suspendhammer. Exploiting economy in this case, but if someone (friend, hacker, etc) fired up wowbotprogramiwontname even for a moment it woudl likely flag the account for banhammer...

Or... ignorant GM...

Of course, it blows my mind how blizz can ban ONE of 5 accounts for something like that.

[Drizzit]

do you use any delays in macros at all? like with a g15 keyboard or n52?
could be a spread out command. I was using delays in my spread command and stopped because i could be band.

[Heenan]

Could this be your problem?
I'm pretty angry really, put a lot of effort into making sure it was ok, even asked GMs, bought 3 other accounts, and then bam, a week later suspended.

[zanthor]

Could this be your problem?

I'm pretty angry really, put a lot of effort into making sure it was ok, even asked GMs, bought 3 other accounts, and then bam, a week later suspended.
Is he supposed to steal 3 other accounts or should he purchase them like we all did? I don't believe the context is that he purchased someone elses accounts, but he purchased 3 legit copies of wow.

I could be wrong, but I read it as purchasing legit accounts, not violating TOS.

[Drizzit]

are all your accounts in your name... The same exact name? Before i started boxing i knew i was going to 5 box. I had 2 accounts (one was mine and the other was the wife). Went out to buy 3 more games and i thought i was ok. After reading a post on this site i found out using my wife account could get all the accounts closed. It wouldn't matter if i soloed that account, but boxers get so much attention that i would probably get band so i went out that day and got another. Shitty part is i am not paying for 6 accounts and the wife is being lazy and hasn't canceled her account and i cannot do it because it is under her name.Ya, i created all my accounts under my name.

It's a shame you can't use ur wifes account, considering when that when u get married everything becomes shared.

I've only got 1 account suspended, i dunno whats up with that, its my main as well.

[Heenan]

Yeah, I read into it. Sorry. I thought he purchased 3 existing accounts... which would most likely lead to problems down the road.
Could this be your problem?
I'm pretty angry really, put a lot of effort into making sure it was ok, even asked GMs, bought 3 other accounts, and then bam, a week later suspended.

Is he supposed to steal 3 other accounts or should he purchase them like we all did? I don't believe the context is that he purchased someone elses accounts, but he purchased 3 legit copies of wow.

I could be wrong, but I read it as purchasing legit accounts, not violating TOS.

[Heenan]

Well, he's most likely doing something wrong... just not posting it.

[Vyndree]

Well, there has ben one or two reports of accidental bans by blizzard employees against multiboxers.

Quoting for emphasis.

There HAVE been false positives! One of them ('http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html;jsessionid=2537DAB869934A1E146BCF0133F C2302.app03_02?topicId=268157261&pageNo=4&sid=1#77') is even linked in our GM conversations wiki ('http://dual-boxing.com/wiki/index.php/GM_Conversations').


Hi Franchesca,

From what I can see the initial suspension was due to suspicion that you may have been using a third party program to control your characters, not for the multi-boxing itself. Since then, the matter was investigated by our Account Administration team and you should have access to your accounts again.

There is no problem with you playing multiple characters, as long as you are the owner of the accounts and are in control of them (i.e. no third party programs, and no macro-usage that is not normally possible in-game).

Have fun playing ;)
Emphasis mine, from WoW Europe forums ('http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html;jsessionid=2537DAB869934A1E146BCF0133F C2302.app03_02?topicId=268157261&pageNo=4&sid=1#77')


I'm going to ask as a personal request that, until there is proof of wrongdoing, let's assume that people are innocent until proven guilty. I mean, honestly -- would you want to be branded as a cheater by your peers if there was honestly a mistake and you were mistakenly banned? It's not like multiboxers haven't been banned by accident before.


In any case, to the OP, your best bet is to contact account administration. Additionally, while the WoW Customer Service forums ('http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/board.html?forumId=11112&sid=1') can't actually overturn a decision made by account administration, they might be able to look into the situation further and let you know if multiboxing was indeed the false positive or if there was something more malicious on your computer (perhaps you were keylogged?). The GMs there are very knowledgable about multiboxing and can help you get the right start when talking to account administration.

Last but not least, with the recent botter banwave plus the arena wintrader bans, I'd imagine that Account Administration is probably backlogged with requests to overturn those decisions. Patience, persistence, and politeness are key.

[Drizzit]

From what I can see the initial suspension was due to suspicion that you may have been using a third party program to control your characters, not for the multi-boxing itself.It probably was that kid that he talked to. He said he was using a program so hence the suspension of third party program. When the kid reported him he just said that guy is using a botting program. Suspension without question probably (trigger happy gm), when you send an email to Blizzard about the suspension they look it over more carefully. And after reviewing what happen the suspension will be taken off. If times comes by (the 3 days) still fight the suspension because that stay on your record, it is better to have none then one.


(perhaps you were keylogged?)What is that?

[Dorffo]

Quoted from "Vyndree"
(perhaps you were keylogged?)

What is that?

As in having an account compromised via malicious software (keylogger) and then used for something nefarious without the original poster being aware.

[Gurblash]

Somebody ninja'd your password and did bad things with your account while you were snoozing

Atleast it wasn't his wife they ninjad... I'd hope for more than a 3 day temp ban for that.

[zanthor]

Quoted from "Vyndree"
(perhaps you were keylogged?)

What is that?This shows something very interesting... something that plagues WoW worse than any game, and it's a victim of it's own success.

WoW made MMOing fun for the non traditional gamer. The traditional gamer understands the risk of internet pr0n links, knows the meaning of "rickrolled" and knows the basics of how to keep their system clean of nasty nasty spyware and the like.

As we get multi-boxing more end user friendly, that same crowd will want in on the action, and not know about things like Keyloggers...

My favorite scam in MMO history was "EQMAIL.COM" (I think that was the domain, over a decade ago) which was a hotmail like mail service for EQ players. The scam was that the guy would try your password and username for his mail server against your EQ account... your paypal account, etc etc. The guy cleaned out thousands of users bank accounts, sold their EQ accounts and all sorts of malicious stuff.

[Basilikos]

Quoted from "Vyndree"
(perhaps you were keylogged?)

What is that?This shows something very interesting... something that plagues WoW worse than any game, and it's a victim of it's own success.

WoW made MMOing fun for the non traditional gamer. The traditional gamer understands the risk of internet pr0n links, knows the meaning of "rickrolled" and knows the basics of how to keep their system clean of nasty nasty spyware and the like.

As we get multi-boxing more end user friendly, that same crowd will want in on the action, and not know about things like Keyloggers...

My favorite scam in MMO history was "EQMAIL.COM" (I think that was the domain, over a decade ago) which was a hotmail like mail service for EQ players. The scam was that the guy would try your password and username for his mail server against your EQ account... your paypal account, etc etc. The guy cleaned out thousands of users bank accounts, sold their EQ accounts and all sorts of malicious stuff.

Geez... I said I was sorry...
















J/K

[nogbog]

Well, he's most likely doing something wrong... just not posting it.I'm 100% sure i didn't do anything wrong.

Please do not imply that i did.
I will keep you guys informed on what happens, right now it's been 8 hours since i sent an email to wowaccountadmin.
The only thing i haven't told you guys is that on the account in question, some reset my password, i'm assuming they didn't get the password, i can't really check though.

and just got 2 additional emails, 1 for each account (see below, identical emails), about good timing. Each from different people.
I haven't logged into any of my accounts for 32 hours, so i'm not sure whats going on, just going to copy and paste my first email that i sent to blizz.
These ones are titled " Account Action: 72 Hour Suspension with review for Account Closure"

1 account to go...

" Offense: World of Warcraft Terms of Use Violation

Details: Character(s) on this account were found to be used for intended exploitation of the World of Warcraft economy.

The actions detailed above have been deemed inappropriate for World of Warcraft by the Blizzard Entertainment In-game Support Staff. As a result, the World of Warcraft account has been given a 72 hour account suspension and will not be accessible for the duration thereof. This World of Warcraft account has also been forwarded to our Account Administration team for review of current and previous policy infractions to determine if further account actions, up to and including account closure, are necessary. Our Account Administration team will contact you with a decision once all information has been reviewed.

Thank you for respecting our position on this matter."

[zanthor]

Well, he's most likely doing something wrong... just not posting it.I'm 100% sure i didn't do anything wrong.

Please do not imply that i did.
I will keep you guys informed on what happens, right now it's been 8 hours since i sent an email to wowaccountadmin.
The only thing i haven't told you guys is that on the account in question, some reset my password, i'm assuming they didn't get the password, i can't really check though.

and just got 2 additional emails, 1 for each account (see below, identical emails), about good timing. Each from different people.
I haven't logged into any of my accounts for 32 hours, so i'm not sure whats going on, just going to copy and paste my first email that i sent to blizz.
These ones are titled " Account Action: 72 Hour Suspension with review for Account Closure"

1 account to go...

" Offense: World of Warcraft Terms of Use Violation

Details: Character(s) on this account were found to be used for intended exploitation of the World of Warcraft economy.

The actions detailed above have been deemed inappropriate for World of Warcraft by the Blizzard Entertainment In-game Support Staff. As a result, the World of Warcraft account has been given a 72 hour account suspension and will not be accessible for the duration thereof. This World of Warcraft account has also been forwarded to our Account Administration team for review of current and previous policy infractions to determine if further account actions, up to and including account closure, are necessary. Our Account Administration team will contact you with a decision once all information has been reviewed.

Thank you for respecting our position on this matter."This is cookie cutter exploitation ban verbage. Appeal, ask for details, be polite, and be persistent.

[Vyndree]

The only thing i haven't told you guys is that on the account in question, some reset my password, i'm assuming they didn't get the password, i can't really check though.

Sound familiar ('http://dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=Thread&threadID=7795')?

[Vyndree]

If the accounts are getting hit, one by one, you've got a keylogger. Or you gave out your password.

If you are legit about not exploiting yourself... I would suggest a complete format of your system. Nuke it. Start over from scratch. You'll get your accounts back, but it'll take some time, probably 2 - 3 weeks. Plenty of time to refresh your harddrives.

Could have been from that recent flash player exploit.... the minute I heard about that, I updated flash on all PCs, and changed my WoW passwords.

Correct. They could also have access to your e-mail password, internet banking, paypal, anything and everything including potentially your forum password.

Use the downtime to make sure your system is secure and make sure to check out the information in this customer service post ('http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=6864426402&sid=1') to update your Adobe Flash player since there was a known vulnerability that could target World of Warcraft accounts.

Blizzard CAN tell if there was a IP address change when your account was doing all these nefarious activities. If you're innocent, you'll get your accounts back. Remember what I said earlier: Be persistent, patient, and polite.

Best of luck! I hope things get sorted out and your computer is clean sooner rather than later. :)

[nogbog]

If the accounts are getting hit, one by one, you've got a keylogger. Or you gave out your password.

If you are legit about not exploiting yourself... I would suggest a complete format of your system. Nuke it. Start over from scratch. You'll get your accounts back, but it'll take some time, probably 2 - 3 weeks. Plenty of time to refresh your harddrives.

Could have been from that recent flash player exploit.... the minute I heard about that, I updated flash on all PCs, and changed my WoW passwords.

Correct. They could also have access to your e-mail password, internet banking, paypal, anything and everything including potentially your forum password.

Use the downtime to make sure your system is secure and make sure to check out the information in this customer service post ('http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=6864426402&sid=1') to update your Adobe Flash player since there was a known vulnerability that could target World of Warcraft accounts.

Blizzard CAN tell if there was a IP address change when your account was doing all these nefarious activities. If you're innocent, you'll get your accounts back. Remember what I said earlier: Be persistent, patient, and polite.

Best of luck! I hope things get sorted out and your computer is clean sooner rather than later. :)Argh! grr! patience...

My flash player was updated.

I'll give it the once over tonight. maybe twice over.

edit: No password requests were sent via my other 3 accounts, the usernames are very unique, the first account though which leads me to believe something.. that i can't think of right now

[Heenan]

I apologize for the accusation, it's just that I believe (or would like to hope) that "accidental bans" are in the very low minority. So that leaves people that are doing stuff that they're not supposed to be doing.

I forgot about the recent Flash hackery. It does sound like someone is keylogging you. With WoW being so popular this unfortunately may become a popular occurrence.

Do what Fursphere suggested and good luck.

[Basilikos]

.... the minute I heard about that, I updated flash on all PCs, and changed my WoW passwords.

Glad to know I'm not the only paranoid one around here. Honestly, I think I made the best possible decision when I did just the same as you.

[nogbog]

I've gotten no response by email,

Does blizz support have a phone number? i can't seem to find it on their website

Edit: Nvm, found it, google > wow website

[keyclone]

seriously... no one will EVER get banned for resizing or re-positioning a window.

as for the phone number for blizzard support, it's on their webpage...

blizzard.com/ support/ contact support/ technical support/ by phone --> 949/955-1382 M-F 8a - 8p pacific time

[Gadzooks]

Nog, is this you, in this thread?

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=6962998280&sid=1


I'm guessing it is, as you name all your toons with "Nog".

If so, can you please lighten up on the GMs? Being impatient will solve nothing, and all of the Blues there, especially Belfaire, have supported and defended us multi-boxers WAY beyond what their job requires, and put bluntly, they deserve better, much, much better. They are definitely friends of this community, please be more polite? They get tons of shit as it is from people whining about MBing (and everything else).

You will have your issue looked at, please don't bring more crap onto our heads than we already get?


Be thankful you only got a 72 hour ban, too, and not lumped in with the permanent bans.

PS - could the ban be in any way PvP related? Were you on a point selling team briefly, or afking at all? They were pretty brutal with bots and stuff, your ban is more in line with the Arena/BG punishments they were handing out. Plus, MBers, as we all know too well, get too much attention in PvP as it is.

[nogbog]

Nog, is this you, in this thread?

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=6962998280&sid=1


I'm guessing it is, as you name all your toons with "Nog".

If so, can you please lighten up on the GMs? Being impatient will solve nothing, and all of the Blues there, especially Belfaire, have supported and defended us multi-boxers WAY beyond what their job requires, and put bluntly, they deserve better, much, much better. They are definitely friends of this community, please be more polite? They get tons of shit as it is from people whining about MBing (and everything else).

You will have your issue looked at, please don't bring more crap onto our heads than we already get?


Be thankful you only got a 72 hour ban, too, and not lumped in with the permanent bans.

PS - could the ban be in any way PvP related? Were you on a point selling team briefly, or afking at all? They were pretty brutal with bots and stuff, your ban is more in line with the Arena/BG punishments they were handing out. Plus, MBers, as we all know too well, get too much attention in PvP as it is.Yes, that is me.

I haven't done pvp in literally months, i play the game for fun, afking/pt selling/botting has no appeal, so the answer is no to all of the above.

I'm thinking of just cancelling all these accounts and stop multi-boxing, because honestly, it looks to me like some dumb kid has reported me for botting, the GM has had a look at my characters moving and thinks "no human can do that, i'll suspend for botting". I can email back, get my suspension lifted and them some other kid or even the same kid will report me again and then the cycle continues.
Point is, i don't want to multi-box if i'm gonna get suspended every other week.

A lot of you guys won't have these issues because there are several multi-boxers on your realms, on my realm, greymane, i haven't seen any and i don't know of any.

[Vyndree]

I'm thinking of just cancelling all these accounts and stop multi-boxing, because honestly, it looks to me like some dumb kid has reported me for botting, the GM has had a look at my characters moving and thinks "no human can do that, i'll suspend for botting". I can email back, get my suspension lifted and them some other kid or even the same kid will report me again and then the cycle continues.
Point is, i don't want to multi-box if i'm gonna get suspended every other week.

A lot of you guys won't have these issues because there are several multi-boxers on your realms, on my realm, greymane, i haven't seen any and i don't know of any.

Nog, honestly... with the information you've given us regarding your accounts, there is nothing here to really imply that you were banned for multiboxing. In fact, it looks like via the flash vulnerability or some other means, you were likely hacked and/or keylogged.

For what reason do you believe the issue to be multiboxing related? Just because the word "software" was involved? The GMs on the forums and the ones I've spoken to in-game (and I have no reason to believe that GM's are assigned per-realm and thus not knowledgable about the policies regarding multiboxing) have been quite clear that multiboxing by its common definition -- with or without software -- is not against the rules. For what reason do you think that the recent password change that was unauthorized by you is not involved in the matter, but a clearly defined not-against-the-rules multiboxing solution is against the rules? The password change is the only fishy thing happening on your account -- PARTICULARLY because it happened by someone OTHER THAN YOU.

You need to take a few deep breaths, hun, look at the situation from the perspectives of the GMs, and realize that maybe multiboxing has nothing to do with your account bans at all, and that you were simply hit by a hacker -- same as the sadly common hacking reports that I see from normal solo-boxers on the customer service forums.

You need to take action and secure your computer and any remaining wow accounts IMMEDIATELY before the hacker/keylogger gets access to any more of your accounts and/or even MORE important real life information (credit card numbers, paypal, bank accounts).

I know you're stressed out right now and you don't feel like being nice to anyone particularly when you've been targeted and banned without knowingly having done anything wrong -- but don't jump to conclusions that the ban had anything to do with multiboxing when it's more likely that you've got an even dangerous predator hacking away at your personal information -- account administration can remove the action from your account if you tell them to investigate for any hackers/keyloggers that may have taken over your account without your knowledge. HOWEVER, it's up to YOU to remove the malicious program from your computer or the hacker will just keep going back at your account information or other personal information in your computer.

[nogbog]

Nog, honestly... with the information you've given us regarding your accounts, there is nothing here to really imply that you were banned for multiboxing. In fact, it looks like via the flash vulnerability or some other means, you were likely hacked and/or keylogged.

For what reason do you believe the issue to be multiboxing related? Just because the word "software" was involved? The GMs on the forums and the ones I've spoken to in-game (and I have no reason to believe that GM's are assigned per-realm and thus not knowledgable about the policies regarding multiboxing) have been quite clear that multiboxing by its common definition -- with or without software -- is not against the rules. For what reason do you think that the recent password change that was unauthorized by you is not involved in the matter, but a clearly defined not-against-the-rules multiboxing solution is against the rules? The password change is the only fishy thing happening on your account -- PARTICULARLY because it happened by someone OTHER THAN YOU.

You need to take a few deep breaths, hun, look at the situation from the perspectives of the GMs, and realize that maybe multiboxing has nothing to do with your account bans at all, and that you were simply hit by a hacker -- same as the sadly common hacking reports that I see from normal solo-boxers on the customer service forums.

You need to take action and secure your computer and any remaining wow accounts IMMEDIATELY before the hacker/keylogger gets access to any more of your accounts and/or even MORE important real life information (credit card numbers, paypal, bank accounts).

I know you're stressed out right now and you don't feel like being nice to anyone particularly when you've been targeted and banned without knowingly having done anything wrong -- but don't jump to conclusions that the ban had anything to do with multiboxing when it's more likely that you've got an even dangerous predator hacking away at your personal information -- account administration can remove the action from your account if you tell them to investigate for any hackers/keyloggers that may have taken over your account without your knowledge. HOWEVER, it's up to YOU to remove the malicious program from your computer or the hacker will just keep going back at your account information or other personal information in your computer.You make a very good point, i assumed multiboxing without any reason.

I just finished a quick scan of my computer, there is something there, just gotta find the right anti-virus

[nogbog]

Recently your account was actioned and placed under review for intended exploitation of the World of Warcraft economy. Upon further investigation, we have determined that the account was accessed by a third party when the incident occurred. As a result, we have removed the account actions. We apologize for any inconvenience caused.

I got a response from blizzard, i jumped the gun a bit and assumed the suspension was regarding multiboxing.
Thanks Vyndree, your post really helped.

They un-suspended 2 of my accounts, not sure what's going on with my main account My account was hacked Scanned my computer, it had 5 instances of the same trojan, use 2 different virus scans just to make sure it was clean
My characters are all in tact
There was a level 1 orc created on both accounts though, on seemingly random realms, probably to spam their gold selling wares. Had no idea till today that the gold spammers used real peoples accounts.
Watch him fall to his death, http://www.vimeo.com/1122508
This one was above valley of trials, my first account i logged into though was high above orgrimmar.

Edit: Conclusion is, the 3rd party software that they state in the original email was obviously the teleport hack into the sky and completely unrelated to multiboxing.

[Chaea]

I'm happy to hear you've gotten your accounts back, I can imagine it would be quite frustrating :)

[zanthor]

and I have no reason to believe that GM's are assigned per-realm and thus not knowledgable about the policies regarding multiboxingI have it on good authority that Gm's are not assigned per realm, but more likely per battle group. Originally the idea was a pool of customer service for all users without in game interfaces being necessary, which in fact is true for 99% of the interactions you'll see with a GM. Due to the technical limitations of the battlegroups I'd wager they split the Gm's up that way as well.

I doubt you'll find a server has dumb gm's, but I know you'll find dumb gm's eventually.

[Ken]

Good to hear you're getting it sorted out :) Good luck!

[Vyndree]

Recently your account was actioned and placed under review for intended exploitation of the World of Warcraft economy. Upon further investigation, we have determined that the account was accessed by a third party when the incident occurred. As a result, we have removed the account actions. We apologize for any inconvenience caused.

GREAT news! I'm glad things got sorted out!!!


[I got a response from blizzard, i jumped the gun a bit and assumed the suspension was regarding multiboxing.
Thanks Vyndree, your post really helped.

They un-suspended 2 of my accounts, not sure what's going on with my main account My account was hacked Scanned my computer, it had 5 instances of the same trojan, use 2 different virus scans just to make sure it was clean
My characters are all in tact
There was a level 1 orc created on both accounts though, on seemingly random realms, probably to spam their gold selling wares. Had no idea till today that the gold spammers used real peoples accounts.
Watch him fall to his death, http://www.vimeo.com/1122508
This one was above valley of trials, my first account i logged into though was high above orgrimmar.

Edit: Conclusion is, the 3rd party software that they state in the original email was obviously the teleport hack into the sky and completely unrelated to multiboxing.

As long as you're sure you've gotten rid of the malicious programs on your computers (sounds like you mentioned trojans) then you should be safe to play. :) Personally I'd consider wiping the machine completely and reinstalling my OS from scratch if I were in your situation, but it depends on how comfortable you are that the problem actually got removed. :)

In any case, I'm glad things worked out for you and that you were able to get your accounts back! If you find anything missing with your characters you can petition a GM from your account and they may be able to do a restoration (be sure to ask to use one of your limited account restorations). Hopefully everything is as it should be, though. :)

[Sarduci]

I'd still nuke all your computers, just to be sure.Same, unless you're 100% certain that you'll never access bank accounts, credit cards, never do your taxes, etc. on that computer. Having you WoW account hacked is nothing compared to a fight with you bank over a few thousand dollars....../forum/images/smilies/sad.png

[nogbog]

Recently your account was actioned and placed under review for intended exploitation of the World of Warcraft economy. Upon further investigation, we have determined that the account was accessed by a third party when the incident occurred. As a result, we have removed the account actions. We apologize for any inconvenience caused.


This is a notification regarding the World of Warcraft account <Nogs username goes here>. Access to this account has been temporarily disabled for exploitation of the World of Warcraft economy or for being associated to accounts which have been closed for intended exploitation. Based on a review of the information presented, this World of Warcraft account has been given a final warning and a 72 hour account suspension, in addition to any previous warnings issued. Until the suspension has been lifted, the account will not be accessible. Please note that Blizzard Entertainment will be unable to provide further information regarding the specific time an account will become accessible again.

This action has been taken in accordance with the Terms of Use (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/legal/termsofuse.html) and our game policies (http://www.blizzard.com/support/wowgm/?id=agm01712p). According to the World of Warcraft Terms of Use, to which all players agree when installing World of Warcraft, Section 5, Paragraph C [Rules Related to Game Play] states that you may not do anything that Blizzard Entertainment considers contrary to the "essence" of World of Warcraft. Be aware that any additional inappropriate actions may result in the permanent closure of the account.

With that being said, we have reset the password to the World of Warcraft account <Nogs username goes here>. Please use the new password that has been sent to your registered e-mail address to log into the game client first. After you have successfully logged into the World of Warcraft, you may proceed to the Account Management page to set the password as you choose.

*sigh* this is working out to be incredibly painful.

First email basically says someone hacked my computer and they realise this and they unsuspend it.
Which they did.
A few hours later they suspended it again, with the 2nd message(see above)

I'm trying to ring them.. but time zones are painful too.

EDITS: included entire message
EDIT: i'm soo confused.. i've got a wall of blizzard messages, all of them seem to be automated messages

[hardc0re]

do you use any delays in macros at all? like with a g15 keyboard or n52?
could be a spread out command. I was using delays in my spread command and stopped because i could be band.question about the spreadout command.. im using g15 keyboard i use 1 g15 key to make a "triangle" Like on my main it hits "S" and on another it his "NUMPAD 7"(left) and the last one "NUMPAD 9" (RIGHT) so i get somthing like this
X
X X

is this not leagle?

[nogbog]

question about the spreadout command.. im using g15 keyboard i use 1 g15 key to make a "triangle" Like on my main it hits "S" and on another it his "NUMPAD 7"(left) and the last one "NUMPAD 9" (RIGHT) so i get somthing like this
X
X X

is this not leagle? If it just straight key presses it's fine.

You just can't have delays.

[Vyndree]

First email basically says someone hacked my computer and they realise this and they unsuspend it.
Which they did.
A few hours later they suspended it again, with the 2nd message(see above)

Did you log into your accounts at any time between them becoming un-banned and this new ban?

Did you remember to change your password after you became un-banned?

If you've done either of these, the hacker PROBABLY still has access to your account. That is the only logical reason why your account would be banned so quickly for the same reason. The antivirus most likely could not find/remove the entirety of the keylogger/hack. I'd highly suggest reformatting your computer and starting from scratch, and going through the whole process of contacting account administration again once you've updated all of your e-mail address and account passwords and TOTALLY cleaned your computer.

It sounds very much like the moment you were un-banned the hacker returned to wreak more havok.

[nogbog]

Can i show you guys why i'm so confused?
Right now i have no idea what's going on..
These are all the emails i've received, all of them a automated messages, i've not received a reply from any of the blizz support.
I've shut my computer down, i'm gonna completely wipe it, i'm at work now and security here is tight, changing all my password.
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i145/colincapurso/blizzsupport.gif

EdiT: Blah! i'm still receiving more emails.. its like their email system is on loop
Edit: thanks for relaying that post info on the wow forum Velath, i'm currently locked out and can't post.

[Vyndree]

Can i show you guys why i'm so confused?
Right now i have no idea what's going on..
These are all the emails i've received, all of them a automated messages, i've not received a reply from any of the blizz support.
I've shut my computer down, i'm gonna completely wipe it, i'm at work now and security here is tight, changing all my password.
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i145/colincapurso/blizzsupport.gif

EdiT: Blah! i'm still receiving more emails.. its like their email system is on loop
Edit: thanks for relaying that post info on the wow forum Velath, i'm currently locked out and can't post.

Yea, all of those password resets are definitely concerning. If you can, log in from a different computer and reset your e-mail password. It's possible the hacker is still getting your account password via password resets (by having accessed your e-mail password) even if the trojan was removed from your computer. It's also possible the trojan (or some other malicious program) is still present and undetected by your antivirus software on your computer.

The reason why you got re-banned so quickly is likely because that hack that ports them into the air -- like you demonstrated in one of the videos -- is so EASY to detect server-side in an automated fashion -- no way people should be up in the air that far for ANY reason.

I'd suggest cleaning the computer entirely, resetting every password you can possibly think of, then contacting Account Admin once more once you're 100% sure that the machine is clean. That should prevent the unban->ban scenario as long as the hacker can't keep getting into your acct

[nogbog]

Things are slowly starting to work out with my accounts.

WoW Account 1. Still suspended - who knows whats going with this account..
WoW Account 2. Active, password changed from a secure computer
WoW Account 3. Active, password changed from a secure computer
WoW Account 4. Active, password changed from a secure computer

Computer 1. Formatting primary drive, got brand new hard disks for super fast Raid 0 setup or is it raid 1.. i always forgot.

Curious, do u think that logging into the lvl 1 characters that were high in the sky triggered my 2nd suspension?

[Vyndree]

Curious, do u think that logging into the lvl 1 characters that were high in the sky triggered my 2nd suspension?

Anything is POSSIBLE, but it would be something that could easily be rectified upon investigation by account admin -- they can see that you just logged in the already-in-the-sky character rather than putting yourself there.

I'd likely be more paranoid and assume that the account is still not secure and being accessed by the hacker. Better safe than sorry :)

[nogbog]

Yeh, like i said, i've changed all my passwords from my work computer.

Not even gonna boot up my home one, just gonna put a blank hard disk in and re-install windows and stuff.

Will i have to re-buy keyclone again or does it "know" what computer i'm on?

Not looking forward to re-installing wow.. there's been a lot of patches...

[Vyndree]

Will i have to re-buy keyclone again or does it "know" what computer i'm on?

Your new OS install will have a new system ID, but no worries. I believe Keyclone can also look up your system id based on your paypal information. :)

Once you have your new system ID just PM/email keyclone with your paypal info and your new System ID and he'll fix you up.

[nogbog]

Cheers,
what a week...

[Tdog]

Something that I just wanted to add in that doesn't particularly have to do with your experiences but something that I know does happen is that I've seen a few people have Gold sellers hack their accounts and the Gold sellers will do nothing more than log into your account use a duping program to create items/gold or w/e the hell they do and use that account to sell gold from while you are snoozing. Some Gold sellers will instead of wiping out your account ninja a few hundred gold here and there and a few rare items gradually leeching off your account for months (I'm assuming they must be doing it to several accounts for it to be profitable to them). Not all gold sellers are stupid and/or greedy. Some will be paitient and log on every once in awhile to check up on your accounts and once it looks like you got enough to ninja will jack you for all your worth all at once.

Moral of the story, BE PARANOID!!!, The internet is never 100% safe and even if it looks like you're doing alright and everything is hunky dory, you may be getting stalked and not even know. Be smart and change passwords regularly even if nothing is wrong. Don't click on suspect links. STOP WATCHING PORN!!! :p If you ever want to intentionally get a computer virus watch a couple of porno's on the internet. I swear that 1 in 3 porno's have a tracker/virus of some sort. Also make your user names and passwords something interesting and different. Don't use your wow account names/ passwords for your bank accounts, email accounts, online bill paying accounts. Don't be stupid and use something like your street address, your's or relatives birthday, friends or family's names for any of that crap. TBH I don't even use actual words of any sort for any of that shit.

[Tdog]

Come to think of it, after having read through this thread it may even be wise to change your email address on all of your accounts. Sounds like the hacker may of had your email info from some of the posts.

[nogbog]

Come to think of it, after having read through this thread it may even be wise to change your email address on all of your accounts. Sounds like the hacker may of had your email info from some of the posts.Yeh, i was wondering how the "hacker" sent a password reset when you have to answer a secret question

[nogbog]

I'm back in after a week of stress, 4x level 40's and ready to go

[Vyndree]

I'm back in after a week of stress, 4x level 40's and ready to go

Woot! :thumbsup:

[Kissell13]

STOP WATCHING PORN!!!

This is not an option :)

[nogbog]

so..

bad news..

One of my accounts which had a 70 warrior on it was wiped clean..
bank = empty
gold = 12g left.. of.. i dunno, how ever much i saved up for my flyer
bags = empty
gear = empty, they left my greens on me...
honor pts = empty (i got 17 left).. wth is up with that, how'd they clear my honor points, i was saving them up for the next arena season.

Yeh.. kinda disappointed, obviously, least it wasn't my loaded 70s.. but still.
Anyone have any experience with this? Can they restore like all my stuff even though i can't name what i had?

[Icetech]

They should restore everything exactly how it was...

you are lucky ou checked... when it happened to me they drained my 70 hunter on another server i didnt play anymore, i didnt notice for 2 months.. i ended up with green caster gear...

[nogbog]

They mailed me all my gear, great response time.
I'm back to multi-boxing, it's so much fun, i just got to level 41 and "Demonic Knowledge", huge difference

[Vyndree]

Anyone have any experience with this? Can they restore like all my stuff even though i can't name what i had?

Yes, since you have clear evidence of when the account was and wasn't within your posession (with all those e-mails back and forth to account admin and their investigations), they should probably be able to get everything back.

People have gotten full restorations on characters that they've had deleted for over a YEAR.

Granted, blizzard won't guarantee anything, but it's highly likely that you'll be able to get everything back. :) It may take a significant amount of time (I've heard some people talking weeks) but from what I understand they are quite thorough down to the last netherweave cloth.


They mailed me all my gear, great response time.
I'm back to multi-boxing, it's so much fun, i just got to level 41 and "Demonic Knowledge", huge difference

Erk, I really should read the whole thread before pressing "reply". ;)

[Coltimar]

Yeah, if he had bought accounts from other people the account info and subscription info (most likely) would have been different and they wouldn't have been chain banned. I got hacked as well long ago and worked with blizz via e-mail to get everything restored only to get hacked again a week later, lol. It turns out it was a keylogger I got from curse and the a-hole was reading my g-mail messages that I sent to blizz and they just reset my password. Funny thing was that the first time I was hacked they took my warlock to Terrokar and farmed 5 stacks of primal water right outside the city. When I got the account back they were still on the toon :/ And they leveled her from 61-64 in the process.

[Kayley]

Yeah, if he had bought accounts from other people the account info and subscription info (most likely) would have been different and they wouldn't have been chain banned. I got hacked as well long ago and worked with blizz via e-mail to get everything restored only to get hacked again a week later, lol. It turns out it was a keylogger I got from curse and the a-hole was reading my g-mail messages that I sent to blizz and they just reset my password. Funny thing was that the first time I was hacked they took my warlock to Terrokar and farmed 5 stacks of primal water right outside the city. When I got the account back they were still on the toon :/ And they leveled her from 61-64 in the process.
haha, my character was sold - I was hacked - had a week off WoW at the time (didn't realise). Interesting times.
Grats on having it all sorted now Nog ;D