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Bertha Bot

Bertha Bot

Entropia News Fetcher
Joined
Jul 26, 2006
Posts
3,315
Account Lockdown Information
28 May 2008

During Monday evening several Entropia Universe accounts where locked. This is Standard Operating Procedure when Mindark's Monitoring Team encounters suspect transactions within the Entropia Universe system. A problem was discovered with a payment provider, Paynova, whose service Mindark uses to allow PED deposits into Entropia Universe.

A glitch in Paynova's software allowed for the deposit of PED without the corresponding amount in real funds being credited. A few former Entropia Universe participants exploited this glitch and got hold of illegal PED. As soon as the situation was verified, logs and transaction records were quickly analyzed using advanced tools developed by MindArk for this purpose, and the initial exploiters' accounts where locked, as well as those that had any association with the illegal PED. A thorough investigation commenced during Monday night and continued throughout Tuesday. Accounts whose holders were evaluated to have been acting in "good faith" were unlocked and all transactions validated. The initial exploiters' accounts remain locked.

Originally Posted Here
 
Nice to see public statement issued. Way go to :)
 
Bertha Bot said:
A glitch in Paynova's software
Click to expand...
So it was Paynova's fault, not Mindarks'.... heh..told ya so

My next guess will be that because it was Paynova's glitch, they will be paying for the mistake, and the illicitly gained peds will be paynova's responsibility.
 
Good to know, but illegal peds are in system right now, how do Mindark intend to recoup this loses?

If I think better... I don't wanna know :(
 
I'd really like to know who those "former participants" are.
 
Buzz :)

Bertha is not a realy official MA staff.

Its just a kind of vpn bridge between ef and MA main website.

Stoopid animal :D
 
Hope they are banned for life, not a single regret towards exploiters from me :)



Nice move MA :)

and wb all unlocked ones :)
 
Bertha Bot said:
A few former Entropia Universe participants exploited this glitch and got hold of illegal PED.
Click to expand...

I like the word "former" ;)

Hopefully they were the top resellers and we will never see them again.

If they were a normal no-morals bug exploiter for their financial gain types then thats good too. :)

gj MA !
 
Hulyss said:
Buzz :)

Bertha is not a realy official MA staff.

Its just a kind of vpn bridge between ef and MA main website.

Stoopid animal :D
Click to expand...

*kicks Hulyss*

I *KNOW* that, but hopefully MindArk sometimes CHECKS the reactions to Bertha's VPN fetched threads :D ;)
 
Wee, more mod faps will drop!
 
+ rep for MA for dealing with this. I wasn't locked (probably I'm just too poor ;) and not sell or buy much stuff), but I understand that many locked people could be pissed of with being locked (I would be). So big gratz for MA for dealing with the problem relatively fast. It would be good if MA could do the same to help the people who's accounts have been hacked in the past and who did not have GC... But it is completely different discussion.

I have a question though... If exploiters have bought various items from other participants, and now they are permanently banned, what will happen with items in their posession? I have heard that there vere several high end items bought using that money... Should we understand that they will be returned to the lootpool or were they completely removed from the system? I think that lack of few high end items can be a bit unbalancing for the market and drop rate of such items (I'm assuming they still drop, even extremely rare and even if there is very small chance to loot them).
 
Good to see the statement, thanks Bertha.

Move along people, nothing more to see unless your account is still locked (and you probably know why that is the case by now)

We now not only know that there is a Monitoring Team but also that there are SOP's! :rolleyes:

/Slupor
 
combo22 said:
Good to know, but illegal peds are in system right now, how do Mindark intend to recoup this loses?

If I think better... I don't wanna know :(
Click to expand...

maybe from 'A few former Entropia Universe participants that exploited this glitch' ?? :D
 
slupor said:
We now not only know that there is a Monitoring Team but also that there are SOP's! :rolleyes:
/Slupor
Click to expand...
There has to be, you can't leave online universe unatended...

And I would also like to know nicks of exploiters' avatars...
 
Last edited:
Aandar said:
I like the word "former" ;)
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Yeah :D

Hopefully they were the top resellers and we will never see them again.
Click to expand...

Well, i gotta say: i have picked up some incredible deals on auction lately. Whether it was because the temporarily locked resellers hadn't gotten back in and restarted their auction bots or because they were permanently banned is unclear, but this issue definitely reduced auction manipulation.

Sarah Hawkwood said:
And I would also like to know nicks of exploiters' avatars...
Click to expand...

We need a jailhouse in one of the rustic-style areas, complete with tavern and sherrif's office. The temp-banned avatars can be confined to the "jail" and the banned avatars can have a tombstone on "Boot Hill" cemetary with their crimes on the tombstones.

Not the first time this has been suggested, but i think it would go a long ways toward promoting "civil obedience".

Oh, and make the area PvP so we can have gunfights. :)
 
Nice to see a statement from MA, always helps to prevent rumours and speculation getting out of hand :)
 
combo22 said:
Good to know, but illegal peds are in system right now, how do Mindark intend to recoup this loses?

If I think better... I don't wanna know :(
Click to expand...

If it is true that its Paynova's fault then Paynova pays the piper. Thus the "illegal PEDs" aren't illegal anymore being they are paid for out of Paynova's coffers.

I would surmise if the accounts in question did ONE deposit with a normal deposit amount then they will be reinstated. IF however they Abused the system once they found the glitch and deposited well-over their normal deposit amounts then I would gather they will be ousted unless they make restitution at least. Which probably is impossible for some.

Dex :cool:
 
chielsen said:
Wee, more mod faps will drop!
Click to expand...

This is interesting, some really nice items were bought from auction with this peds, I wonder if this items will be released in loot again.
 
Dion Red Strike said:
Heh, yeah, me too... I wonder if they were 'former' prior to Monday, or 'former' as of Monday ;)
Click to expand...

I believe its .. as of monday and hope we wont be seeing the exploiters faces again :sniper:
 
And paynova support say it's a glitch in MA's system... :rolleyes:
 
Dextar said:
If it is true that its Paynova's fault then Paynova pays the piper. Thus the "illegal PEDs" aren't illegal anymore being they are paid for out of Paynova's coffers.

I would surmise if the accounts in question did ONE deposit with a normal deposit amount then they will be reinstated. IF however they Abused the system once they found the glitch and deposited well-over their normal deposit amounts then I would gather they will be ousted unless they make restitution at least. Which probably is impossible for some.

Dex :cool:
Click to expand...

I reckon you've got it right. If PayNova glitched, they will be accountable, provided MA set up the terms correctly.

The only question that remains for me, as others have also asked, is what becomes of the items? Are they back in the system for the honest players, or are they collateral damage, lost forever?

Oh, and of course, respect to MA for getting it right. Seems much of the earlier criticism was far too impetuous. ;)
 
e-lite said:
And paynova support say it's a glitch in MA's system... :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I have yet to see a note from Paynova support saying such... a quick check of their website reveiled nothing... so, can you be so kind as to link us to this? Or, is this a sarcastic comment?
 
Are we gonna see a pissing contest between MA and Paynova now?

Here's a blurb on the "merchant" section of PayNova:

"Risk management basics
All communication is encrypted using https server-server dialog between the Merchant and Paynova. Paynova uses market-leading hardware and software for protection against fraud, information protection and protection against hackers and server attacks. All traffic is monitored 24 hours a day. All consumer information in Paynova’s transaction model is kept confidential and is inaccessible to third parties."

It'll be interesting to see how this plays out! Either partner in this buisness relationship isn't going to want a black eye over this, but it certainly seems there's one to be had.

AG
 
AlphaGeek said:
It'll be interesting to see how this plays out! Either partner in this buisness relationship isn't going to want a black eye over this, but it certainly seems there's one to be had.

AG
Click to expand...

WHo cares anyway..

MindArk pisses on Paynova
Paynova pisses on MindArk

MindArk pisses on us...
Who can *we* piss back on?
 
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