So, last week I left for a week business trip to Portugal, and my last login was Sunday or Monday.
Apparently, my characters disappeared from the guild list on Thursday. At that time I had no way to possibly log in.
I come back and try to log in today, and I can log in on my name/password, but all my characters (both on Staghelm and Lightbringer) are gone.
I've submitted an in-game ticket from a new character I made, a tauren shammie named Boeuftorte (french for Beefcake). I'll let people know when I get updates.
If my account was hacked, they probably DE'd/sold all my stuff for the goldfarmers first (I had over 1200 gold on hand on Staghelm, not to mention a ton of sellable stuff) so if you had sent me a lockbox for opening, I don't know when you'll see it (if ever).
Thanks Mendicant. Yeah, I can imagine that wordless departure must have looked very odd...
Anyway, after sending an email to their tech support and submitting an in-game ticket from Boeuftorte, a few hours later I got a notice that my account had been locked pending review, and a form to fill out and fax in with a copy of my driver's license. That's done now, so the ball is in Blizzard's court.
Fortunately, I hadn't played at all since the last reset, and I would be surprised if they don't do full backups on at least those days. So if they can roll me back to at last Tuesday, I shouldn't lose anything.
I just want to mention that today's my birthday. How's this for a present?
Apparently, common enough that there is a long backlog on getting missing characters and lost items restored.
How do I know this? Thursday I called Blizzard, and waited almost a half hour on hold before I got to talk to a tech support person. He couldn't confirm that my fax had been received successfully (he suggested I send an email asking if it was, which I did, but I have no reply so far) but was able to give me some info on time scales.
So here's what should happen.
After getting the in-game trouble ticket, they lock the account. Then you need to fax in a form to prove that you're the account holder.
Then there is a delay of up to a week before they get around to confirming your account. This is to "make sure they aren't giving the account back to a hacker." During this time they collect the IPs of those machines that logged into your account, who they mailed items or gold to, etc.
Once that's done, they email you a password to go and change your password, and you can log back in.
Note that this is just the account-locking fix; the characters are still gone. Once you are back in, you need to submit a new trouble ticket to BEGIN the character restoration process. That has another 2-3 week backlog. You can play a new character, or any characters that aren't missing, during this time.
Bleh. All told, it could be almost an entire month before I get to see my characters again. All so some damned goldfarmer can steal my crap to sell for, all told, maybe $30.
What really worries me is I have NO IDEA how this happened. I've never used an executable, AdAware found no trace of any virus or trojan (including the infostealer.Wowcraft.D), I've never entered my account info into any webpages, I've never shared my login with anybody... how can I know that whatever they did to steal my account won't just happen again?
Well, as of last night, my account is unlocked again, with a new, much longer password. I've now started the process to get all my characters and gear back; this may take up to 2-3 weeks, according to the phone guy I talked to.
In the meantime, I can still play Boeuftorte. Could I get someone to send me four 14-slot bags from the AH? I'll repay you for the gold once I get my hoard back...
I'm going on a couple trips through July, so I won't be on much for the next month, however, so even if they do get restored, don't expect to see much of me until August.
UPDATE: Carch has volunteered to make me some runecloth bags from his mage... thanks, sharky!
So I'm still in Portland for another week plus, but I have gotten an email from Blizz saying that the next time I log in, my characters on Staghelm will be there again.
The email also said that "any items I had may have been sold or disenchanted" and if they were missing I would need to submit yet another GM ticket to start the restoration process. But all my items and gold on Lightbringer were restored, so I'm hopeful that everything will be back...
Comments
Apparently, my characters disappeared from the guild list on Thursday. At that time I had no way to possibly log in.
I come back and try to log in today, and I can log in on my name/password, but all my characters (both on Staghelm and Lightbringer) are gone.
I've submitted an in-game ticket from a new character I made, a tauren shammie named Boeuftorte (french for Beefcake). I'll let people know when I get updates.
If my account was hacked, they probably DE'd/sold all my stuff for the goldfarmers first (I had over 1200 gold on hand on Staghelm, not to mention a ton of sellable stuff) so if you had sent me a lockbox for opening, I don't know when you'll see it (if ever).
I did send you a mithril lockbox but could care less what happens to it - just get your stuff back and we'll see you around
Anyway, after sending an email to their tech support and submitting an in-game ticket from Boeuftorte, a few hours later I got a notice that my account had been locked pending review, and a form to fill out and fax in with a copy of my driver's license. That's done now, so the ball is in Blizzard's court.
Fortunately, I hadn't played at all since the last reset, and I would be surprised if they don't do full backups on at least those days. So if they can roll me back to at last Tuesday, I shouldn't lose anything.
I just want to mention that today's my birthday. How's this for a present?
Well... uhhhh
Happy Birthday!
(in spite of everything)
Though I wouldn't suggest eating it... my cooking is like 35.
Happy B-Dray man.
We are all just glad that you didn't leave the guild. And if you need it We'll help run you through instances and get you back to 60 soon(ish)
Best of luck with the Blizzard poo!
{Symantec has updated the info on their link with more details}
Update your defs later today or tommorow when this is added to them. (the timing would depend on when your A/V provider adds protection.
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/infostealer.wowcraft.d.html
Infostealer.Wowcraft.D
Discovered on: June 19, 2006
Last Updated on: June 19, 2006 11:12:50 AM EST
Infostealer.Wowcraft.D is a Trojan horse that attempts to steal password information for the World of Warcraft game and sends it to a remote attacker.
Symantec Security Response is currently investigating this threat and will post more information as it becomes available.
Good to hear they have some kind of procedure in place for this kind of thing. I wonder how common this is...
Hope you get your chars back soon!
How do I know this? Thursday I called Blizzard, and waited almost a half hour on hold before I got to talk to a tech support person. He couldn't confirm that my fax had been received successfully (he suggested I send an email asking if it was, which I did, but I have no reply so far) but was able to give me some info on time scales.
So here's what should happen.
After getting the in-game trouble ticket, they lock the account. Then you need to fax in a form to prove that you're the account holder.
Then there is a delay of up to a week before they get around to confirming your account. This is to "make sure they aren't giving the account back to a hacker." During this time they collect the IPs of those machines that logged into your account, who they mailed items or gold to, etc.
Once that's done, they email you a password to go and change your password, and you can log back in.
Note that this is just the account-locking fix; the characters are still gone. Once you are back in, you need to submit a new trouble ticket to BEGIN the character restoration process. That has another 2-3 week backlog. You can play a new character, or any characters that aren't missing, during this time.
Bleh. All told, it could be almost an entire month before I get to see my characters again. All so some damned goldfarmer can steal my crap to sell for, all told, maybe $30.
What really worries me is I have NO IDEA how this happened. I've never used an executable, AdAware found no trace of any virus or trojan (including the infostealer.Wowcraft.D), I've never entered my account info into any webpages, I've never shared my login with anybody... how can I know that whatever they did to steal my account won't just happen again?
In the meantime, I can still play Boeuftorte. Could I get someone to send me four 14-slot bags from the AH? I'll repay you for the gold once I get my hoard back...
I'm going on a couple trips through July, so I won't be on much for the next month, however, so even if they do get restored, don't expect to see much of me until August.
UPDATE: Carch has volunteered to make me some runecloth bags from his mage... thanks, sharky!
The email also said that "any items I had may have been sold or disenchanted" and if they were missing I would need to submit yet another GM ticket to start the restoration process. But all my items and gold on Lightbringer were restored, so I'm hopeful that everything will be back...
Guess I'll know in another week or so!