Help for a friend with a stolen NC Soft account


Aggelakis

 

Posted

A friend of mine had his NCSoft master account stolen after 2 weeks playing Aion. He's played CoH for over 6 years without this ever happening.

NCSoft support is asking for information that he doesn't currently have - apparently he's lost his game serial codes over the years, relying on his master account (to which he no longer has access). He was able to supply them with one old serial number and all the personal and billing information that they requested.

So far, it's been weeks, and they are apparently saying they don't have enough to prove that his account really is his - which, based on my own experience in a different game - really seems like ... well, BS.

I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with NCSoft's tech support for restoring actual owner access to a stolen account and if they could offer any ideas for me to pass on to my friend. He's got many, many characters into which he's put a lot of time, and it is very sad for me to think that a kinah farmer in Asia can screw a long time CoH player out of his hard work.

He spent several days scanning his computer with multiple tools, so the security aspect of the situation has been dealt with... I'm just looking for some ideas on how to help him get HIS account back... I wish I could "vouch" for him to NCSoft... <sigh>

Feel free to PM me if you have something that you don't want to say in the open forums.

Thanks in advance.

Storm


Serenity is not freedom from the storm, but peace amid the storm ...

 

Posted

Why doesn't he use his personal details from the Aion account? It's not six years' worth of stuff to sift through. It's only a few months. So proving his Aion account is really his should prove the Master Account is his... shouldn't it?


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Posted

This definitely sucks but now you know why you keep the following. Serial codes, the number of the original credit card you subscribed with even if you don't use it any more, The original email address even if you think that yahoo (or whatever) is stupid and you only use gmail now.

NCsoft does seem to make the whole verification process much harder than other game companies though. And truthfully I personally am glad it does. I like the option of being able to present overwhelming evidence that the account belongs to me which the thief couldn't.

All I can suggest is digging through old notes and email. Also if he kept the Pocket D VIP card or any costume cards applied to his account as souvenirs then those would be some verifying codes that might possibly help.

Also if he kept the original email from setting up his account he should have his unique user id number which will likely help tremendously.


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Posted

I had something similar happen to me. I'd been getting mails supposedly claiming my Aion account is under investigation for illegal activities. I'd been reporting each one to the powers-that-be (/wave GM Lloyd), but I guess I had overdone it, since they suspended my account. Problem was, the mail address attached to it was one that no longer worked. Took me almost 2 weeks to get the mess sorted out. Only advice I can give is for him to keep at it, and don't give up.

For the record, though, I've never played Aion, so the final laugh was on the blatant hack attempt. I won't mention what I did to the person sending it.


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Posted

I think it should be pretty clear if they look up the log of people changing information in the master account, and old backup of their customer database. I don't really understand why this can be a problem.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Twilight_Snow View Post
I think it should be pretty clear if they look up the log of people changing information in the master account, and old backup of their customer database. I don't really understand why this can be a problem.
The funny thing is you can change everything all the information in the NCSoft account management EXCEPT the owner's name. It's always going to belong to the same person. I don't understand why the OP's friend is having difficulty proving who he/she is. Usually, providing a credit card issued in the same name is usually enough to get the password reset, at which time you can go in and change your security questions and other info.

If that doesn't work, then try support by phone instead of e-mail.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Master-Blade View Post
The funny thing is you can change everything all the information in the NCSoft account management EXCEPT the owner's name. It's always going to belong to the same person. I don't understand why the OP's friend is having difficulty proving who he/she is. Usually, providing a credit card issued in the same name is usually enough to get the password reset, at which time you can go in and change your security questions and other info.

If that doesn't work, then try support by phone instead of e-mail.
Thanks all for the posts.

Unfortunately, for some reason, he cannot find his Aion serial code, either, and because he is something of a neat freak, he had already deleted the confirmation email from creating the Aion account.

I am also finding it very difficult to understand how they cannot match who he is to the owner of the account. He has been on the phone with them, and is getting this kind of answer after spending time on the phone. While I am glad that they are careful about giving someone access to the account, there are lots of things they could look at to help support his account ownership. I do understand that IP addresses can be "faked" - but if the IP address of the email is the same or from the same company and region as the IP addresses that he logged into the game with and posted here on the forums with for the past several years, I would think that should help some.

He doesn't use a credit card, but generally does use a debit card for paying his subscription - I have no idea why they aren't using that to verify his ownership of the account. They should have access to or be able to verify billing information for a significant period of time previous to the account being stolen.

Oddly (or not, considering the profitability of stealing an Aion account ), they had stolen the Aion account and his NCSoft master account - but he had been able to log into his CoH account right up to the time he reported the account as stolen.

I hate gold farmers. I know it's "only a game" - but having an account stolen really makes you feel vulnerable and violated. As I said, it happened to my WoW account in January - so I've some recent experience with the issue.

Thanks again!

Storm


Serenity is not freedom from the storm, but peace amid the storm ...