Anyone have experience with an acct being stolen?

[Metalstorm]

I just got an email saying my acct password has been successfully changed.

I certainly didn't do that so I tried logging on and sure enough, no dice.
Password is changed. E-mail is changed.


I sent a note to EA but don't expect any reply right away what with this being the weekend.

Has this happened to anyone else?

 

[Tamsin]

This happened to me also at 5:30 AM Friday. I got the same message. I went to the EA site and sent a message using the Hacked UO Account link on customer support. I did get a reply that then directed me to an additional link "If I believe my account has been hacked". I have tried the link a few times without success to get to the page they want me to use to pursue this further.

Seems if this is happening they would want to look into this more as it appears this has happened to a few people all within the same 24 - 48 hours. The IT gurus I work with said it appears someone is watching the gaming server... How true this is I don't know. Truthfully I don't understand all they were trying to tell me. My bigger concern is my billing information, address, phone etc. are all part of my account information where they had to change the email address.

I would expect they would take this more seriously due to it being a crime to hack someone's account. Though they do protect themselves by making it seem they hold no responsibility.

If anyone else has anything that would help get this resolved I'm open for suggestions too.

 

[Metalstorm]

Well.. either EA or the scumbag reset my password back to original so i was able to log on.
In a haste to change the password and put all my info back I totally spaced on writing down the dirtbag's info and email (DOH!) I hope they (EA) have a record of it.

I logged on and all but two of my chars are completely void of all the skills they once had.

All my regs and ingots are gone.,About 15 million gold, rares, weapons and armor is gone.

My soulstones which totaled at least ten not including the fragments I had are all gone.

I guess the dirtbag didn't know soulstones are acct specific. I reckon he thought he could drain all my skills and hand over the stones to his chars of a different acct.

My number 1 char that I play 90% of the time was not only void of skills but transfered to a different shard. I play him on Napa and when I was able to log on he was gone. At first I thought he was deleted then I got to thinking and started checking all the shards. I found him on Atlantic which I assume is the scumbucket's primary shard.

I received a email from EA this morning asking for more info.
I have since sent 6 replies to them with updates to the situation (being able to log on, skills gone, etc...) and still have not heard back some 5 hours later

I'm hoping EA can revert my acct and dirtbag's accts back to where they were two days ago before I was hacked. I'm sure some stuff will still be lost but I really want my skills and soulstones back.

I have almost 11 years into UO. I don't expect EA to value 11 years of loyalty but I expect some kind of remedy.

 

[Metalstorm]

Tamsin, at the EA site, in the help search I typed 'hacked account' and it showed me a 'hacked uo account link'

I clicked that and at the bottom was a window for entering info.

I gave them my name,
My account name,
My date of birth,
My zip code,
My email,
My phone #

I mentioned how I got twop emails. One stating my password has been changed and one saying my acct was reactivated through a buddy referral code.

My acct has been unactive for a few months because of financial hardship. Everyone is having hard time right now so I had to sacrifice uo for a little while. I planned on reactivating it in March. Because of this guy I had to spend $40 that I can't really afford to lose right now just so I could activate my acct and see what damage occured.

Interestingly, when I was able to log back, the acct was non active again. I don't know if he did that or if it was EA's doing since they seem not to want to send me any more info since this morning's request for more info from me.

 

[Tamsin]

Metalstorm,

I too used the Hacked Account search and sent them the same information. That was when I got the reply to go to another page if I believed my account had been hacked. I did try to log in again to see if my password had also been "reactivated".

I've had no luck with any responses from them.

Their "knowledgebase" says they will return the account to the person who they see as the last true payer on the account.

I feel they are just passing the buck here and have me in a lopp of giving them the same information over and over. I've tried the link sent in the email a few more times since I posted here and still can not get it to load.

This acct also held a castle which has since been dropped. I can only assume they removed all that it held, sold what they could and deleted everything else.

My only concern now is someone continuing with my personal information...

If they're capable of this what else can they do with my information.

I am sorry to see that you had not been active only to find coming back for you was to find you had lost so much. If you're ever on Origin and need help, just give me a shout.

I can only wonder how many others have had this experience this weekend.

Thanks for the advice. I will keep pursuing this.

 

[Metalstorm]

Only the last four digits of your credit card will show up on your acct info screen so at least there's that.

Definitely keep close tabs on your card activity as a precaution.

I had the benefit of not having any billing info stored on my acct at the time. It was the first thing I removed before deactivating it.

I feel bad for you. I was gone for a while and I suppose my acct seemed like easy game to this hacker.

For you to go through this while being an active player just kills me. The hacker is pretty ballsy. I hope he gets strung up by his ball sack.

In my almost 11 years I've never owned a castle or even a lg tower (my fav) but have coveted them. I can imagine the burn you must be feeling right now..

 

[Metalstorm]

Holy Moly!!

I actually got a response from EA.
It was just note letting me know that they got all the updates I sent them and that they're looking into it.

It was enough to give me a slight sliver of hope.

I guess the best thing I can do is keep logging in when ever I can and continue looking for clues and making notes of all that was vandalized and keep sending it to EA.

It will either help with their investigation or I will anoy them to the point that they restore my acct to how it was just to make the emals stop.

I can be very persistent.
A close friend once told me I was bull legged. From the neck up

 

[Tamsin]

I too sent another message to let them know their first response was totally inadequate. No reply yet from them.

I am still curious as to how many others may have experienced this. It seems way too coincidental.

It is very upsetting to lose so much, but I won't let it upset my game play.

It sucks that you lost the things on your account and had to pay to find out what was happening.

I will keep checking back and if I learn anything else will pass it along.

 

[Metalstorm]

Well....It looks like the virtual world mirrors the real world.

The law breakers get away with fortunes with absolutely no risk while we who follow the rules get reamed with a chain saw.

EA sent me a nice note telling me to change my password.
That and that they will be unable to restore anything.

Basicly they ain't doing sh**t.

I bet if they got hacked rather than a customer, Johnny Law would be knocking on the guy's door within 24 hours.


Way to go EA! It's all about the company and to hell with the players who actually pay $$ to them.


Grrrrrrrrrr

 

[Viper09]

That sucks...
But EA has always said that they cannot restore peoples lost items. Due to the obvious fact that people can always lie about the items they have lost.

 

[Metalstorm]

Yes but it would have been really easy to send a GM into the game to check out the person's real acct before he got tipped off.

They would have found a few things specific to my acct such as soulstones & personal bless deeds.

It could have been so easy to obtain incriminating evidence


The worse part isn't so much that everything of value is gone.
The worse part isn't even that my two best chars' skills have been drained away.

The worse part is that EA doesn't even try to pursue these unfortunate events when they occur.

It's like they're putting their hands over their ears and yelling "I can't hear you".


That's just bad form.

 

[Bluebottle]

I just got an email saying my acct password has been successfully changed.

I certainly didn't do that so I tried logging on and sure enough, no dice.
Password is changed. E-mail is changed.


I sent a note to EA but don't expect any reply right away what with this being the weekend.

Has this happened to anyone else?

I appear to have had my account password and associated email changed BUT I did not receive any warning. I appear to not have had any unsanctioned activity yet so I'm hoping its simply an EA account glitch!

 

[Metalstorm]

I got a warning because (I'm assuming) he changed the password first then changed the email address and info after.

When I tried using the 'forgot password' option it said "password successfuly sent to email address on record" but I never received it. That's when I knew the email had been changed.


I'm kicking myself hard in the arse right now.
When either the dirtbag or EA (I don't know which) put my password back to the original one I was able to log into the acct.

His info was still there but in my haste to get everything changed (fear of losing acct control again blocked brain from working) I didn't write any of it down.

I thought I could remember it all. I thought wrong.
All I can remember is the physical address was in Virginia.
I can't remember the email or the street address or even the phone number that was there.

I'm sure EA has a record of this but they don't seem to want to give it out.
I reckon I'll have to request it in writing via snail mail.

I really want to talk to this guy. I don't expect anything back that's of use to him but maybe he'd be willing to give back the soulstones since they are of no use to him or any one except as house decorations.

I still can't imagine what he was thinking. Did he really think he could drain all those skills and then transfer them to his other acct chars??

If that's the case he's not very bright in the long game. His short game though is really good. He got in and out of my acct within 24 hrs and wreaked great havoc.

On a strange up beat note:
It's sorta interesting building my #1 char back up.

He was transfered from Napa to Atlantic. I assume he was the courier used to take all my stuff to the dirtbag's main shard.

So my #1 char has been stranded on a strange (to me) shard with zero gold and zero skill.
Zero weapons and pretty much zero anything ecxcept for two rune books containg Tramm and Fel towns.

So with no friends or support or resources, I've been building him back up.
It has kind of freshened up the game a bit for me.
It's definitely a challenge.

I think I'll continue building him here on Atlantic and then when he is finally whole again I will aquire a token to tranfer him back home.


On a side note: There's is something very amusing about watching a Great Lord 'enter name here' struggling and barely staying alive in a fight with a single orc

 

[Diomedes Artega]

That sucks...
But EA has always said that they cannot restore peoples lost items. Due to the obvious fact that people can always lie about the items they have lost.

Yes good point indeed. I was reading on some forums, and it seems if you sign up for certain forums...guild ones, atlantic boards and such...I'm not sure, anywho, it seems that if you use your username and/or password that you use for UO...then your account can get compromised.

Did you sign up for any guild websites or user boards?

 

[Mirage]

I just got an email saying my acct password has been successfully changed.

I certainly didn't do that so I tried logging on and sure enough, no dice.
Password is changed. E-mail is changed.


I sent a note to EA but don't expect any reply right away what with this being the weekend.

Has this happened to anyone else?

How did they get the password to your Email account that the password change was sent to?

 

[Metalstorm]

How did they get the password to your Email account that the password change was sent to?

He didn't need my email password or even my email address.

Once he figured out my uo password he was able to change my email address to his from within acct management.

That's why when I tried the 'forgot password' feature I didn't receive anything.
The password email was sent to whatever email address he entered into the acct info section.




I'm not on any boards or forums that use either my uo acct name or password.
My new uo password is now much, much more complex than the last one.

 

[Mirage]

He didn't need my email password or even my email address.

Once he figured out my uo password he was able to change my email address to his from within acct management.

That's why when I tried the 'forgot password' feature I didn't receive anything.
The password email was sent to whatever email address he entered into the acct info section.




I'm not on any boards or forums that use either my uo acct name or password.
My new uo password is now much, much more complex than the last one.

Oh. Gotcha... but then how did they get your UO password?

 

[Metalstorm]

Oh. Gotcha... but then how did they get your UO password?

My previous password was pretty simple. Too simple so I gotta take blame for that.
In hindsight it wasn't too hard to figure out if you understood what the acct name meant.

I take fault in having a password that was related to the user name.

That has been corrected. I changed my password to something much, much more complex.

It was a hard lesson learned.

What I'd like to know is how he even stumbled upon my acct name.
The password was admittedly too easy but the acct name itself wasn't exactly common.

EA sent me a phone number so I'm hoping it rains Monday so I get the day off and I can call them and see if I can get them to snail mail the hacker's contact info to me.
I'm 90% certain that that kind of info can not be given out over the phone but it can be put in writing and mailed.

At this point I expect nothing from EA. Odds are that the hacker is free & clear of any consequences of his actions.

 

[Diomedes Artega]

I'm not on any boards or forums that use either my uo acct name or password.
My new uo password is now much, much more complex than the last one.

Yeah, good call then. I use pretty ridiculous password and user name combinations as well. Usually helps too if you change your ridiculous password every 6 months or so...even if nobody could hack into it anyways. I know some people write their stuff down, but I made it a habit to memorize all my account information.

Hey I mean who knows...maybe the garbage man plays UO.

 

[Metalstorm]

I keep everything in my head as well.


I used to have a photographic memory but I never developed the film.

Now my mind is like a steel sieve.


But I can still memorize passwords and pin numbers

 

[Metalstorm]

Holy cow! After 5 years, I'm up to 15.....nay.....make that 16 posts.


I'm on a roll!