Missing items

I went on a 2 week vacation to Thailand in december, when I returned and logged in, I found these items missing:

marber bravo long range plasma rifle
justifier mk2
2 2x0 axes
katsuichi honor
amps: a102 a103 a105
minor teleport chip
emt ek 2500 fap
2 abrer laser sights
1 bjornir precision scope
400 peds cash

I made a support call to mindark:

We can see in our logs that all those items were dropped by your avatar 2005-12-27 and were later picked up by another avatar.

If you believe that someone hacked your account we advice you to from now protect your system better. The first step will be to install a firewall and scan your computer for viruses and other suspect programs. After that, change your password, this is done by reactivating your account at the website. For total safety consider buying a Gold Member Card.

Since it is your own responsibility to protect yourself against such attacks we are sorry to say there is not much we can do to assist you in this matter. We can only advice you to turn to your local police and report this matter. When they contact us, we will supply them with any information needed to solve this case.

/Regards
Support

Mindark is unwilling to give me any further details about it. Ofcourse i had good protection (spyware, antivirus). I am now under the impression that someone hacked our website. My login there was similar (though not identical) to my pe login. I am seriously thinking about a gold card, although i think they are quite expensive to pay for.

Just a warning to any player out there: Make sure your login for PE is entirely different to what you use anywhere else.

On a positive note, cupcake loaned me an a105 and an axe 2x0 so i am hacking away again...

Will they not even tell you who it was that picked it up?

My reply to mindarks case:

I have a good antivirus/antispyware package installed and they both came up clean. We also have a website. I have changed my password now, but the pass I used there is similar to the one I used to use for login to pe. I am the leader of the society Lithium forces unknown. I can understand how these things work that you dont want to give me the name of the one stealing from me, but could you please give me some clue if I have to search within my own society ranks (somebody who may have hacked our website). This so I can warn all my society members to change their passes immediately as well. I never gave my login to anyone, so it strikes me as really coincidental that I was hacked just when I was on a 2 week vacation. I am willing to go to the police, but a bit more detail would really be useful. Thx in advance


Hi,
We do understand your concern, but unfortunately we cannot follow up on your request and help you further. All details about different accounts and avatars are confidential and cannot be discussed with other participants.
/Regards
Support

thats fucking bullshit! It's like they are saying. For ex- if someone stole my car and the police is like "according to our logs some people took your car and we cannot give details about them even though we know who they are ..." Well maybe not really... but it's theft!

I feel sorry for ur loss but I hope this wont happen in future.

For future, make a login thats totally random... even sometime you cant remember it. Dont make it anything like what u usually use for ur passwords.

Sorry to hear that. I find it weird that MA won't give any details at all.

I got a gold card a week ago. Works great I am very happy with it. I too found it expensive to buy, but now I am sure that my account is really well protected. Took only a week to get here, was very fast.

I recommend that anyone who has a good amount of money/time invested in PE should get one. It makes login a little longer (like 10 seconds), but it worth it for the piece of mind.

Good luck and I hope you get a big hof so you can get some more stuff

Hi
i'm sorry for your loss, but think about this for a second: if you think a gold card may be a bit expensive, dont you think you would have been better off with it now that you have been stolen from? i mean, there was 400ped cash alone, so u could even buy two cards for that! its better to have some insurance imo.

Sorry to hear of your loss. That really sucks and i don't know what i'd do if that happened to me.

I don't know what virus scan you are using, but before christmas there was an avi ingame touting a website which allegedly gave tips for pe.

The download was an app called NeoMap.exe which was in fact a keylogger (and NOT actually a genuine copy of NeoMap). I already knew this when i downloaded it (thanks to ef), but when i scanned it with McAfee it came up clean. I forwarded it to McAfee who then sent me a small update to my dat file so McAfee would detect the problem.

Up till then, I'd always thought my system was secure too

PS - I'm not saying your system isn't secure - because i thought mine was, but I had become complacent thinking I was safe.

that has got to be the worste customer service i have ever heard...guess buying an apartment or land area would have the same response if someone were to hack an account and go put it up for auction for 10ped buyout so the other avatar they own could just buy it up fast or even trade it if its doable, (i have no clue since i never bought a land space) with that kind of customer service though....id be very afraid to spend big bucks hehe

makes no sense since they said the items were dropped, logical thought would say "hey this guy might be hacked, lets look into this some more" unless they think you were the one trying to cheat and getting double items.

sorry for your loss, if you think your comp might be unsafe, better get a gold card type thing for bank accounts and eveyrhting else where the real money is if you do online banking

Rhino said:

Hi, I don't know what virus scan you are using, but before christmas there was an avi ingame touting a website which allegedly gave tips for pe.

The download was an app called NeoMap.exe which contained a keylogger. I already knew this when i downloaded it (thanks to ef), but when i scanned it with McAfee it came up clean. I forwarded it to McAfee who then sent me a small update to my date file so McAfee would detect the problem.

Up till then, I'd always thought my system was secure too

PS - I'm not saying your system isn't secure - because i thought mine was, but I had become complacent thinking I was safe.

Click to expand...

So if I download Neomap using google to find the homepage it would be affected also?

I'm sorry for your loss as well, but the simple fact of the matter is that MA can't tell whether your being honest or scamming them. I'm not saying its the case, but its possible that you could have dropped the items, and had a friend pick them up and hold them. MA decides to be nice and return your items and now you've instantly doubled your inventory. MA would go broke very quickly if they adopted this stance.

They give you the opportunity to protect your account with the Gold Card. Its only $20. In the items you lost, you're looking at alot more than that. The $20 is well spent.

Think about it this way. Its your MMORPG. You're the one in control of the cash. You've got 300,000 players and each one decides to file a complaint. They've each lost 200 PED, and assortment of items. The missing items are not in MA's posession, they're in the scammers hands, so in order to give them items back, you've gotta dig into your own pockets. Giving one or two people back their Axe 1x0 might not be a big deal, but perhaps 1000 people are missing one. Your looking at 7000 PED, $700 thats gotta come from somewhere.

Be careful with your account. Change your password constantly. If your forgetful, write it down at home. Write it on your hand, or spray paint it on your dog. Doesn't matter, just change it often. MA isn't going to take responsibility for these things anymore. Everytime they replace a scammed item, we all get crappier loots. The money's gotta come from somewhere.

So if I download Neomap using google to find the homepage it would be affected also?

Click to expand...

no. NeoMap is a legitimate program. Some wiseass decided to create a keylogger and name it NeoMap so that people would think its OK to use. Just be careful about what you install.

I'm sorry but i just don't accept that MA are not willing to look into it. This is utter BULL. He's not wanting MA to replace the stuff, just help him to find out who took it. MA is in this case helping the theiving bag of pig pooh to get away.

Ooopppss!! Re-posted by mistake.

hehe same thing here my little keylogger was a file i downloaded from this forum .a map! that didnt work lol . i lost 1k cash + my friends cash and all my items lol and i was looted in pvp3

Indeed i didnt ask for replacement of the items. Just wanted to know wich ip-adress took it, so i could cross-compare with my members/guests list on our webby.

Anyways, evil lootius felt sorry for me. He put a powerful heal chip inside a berycled. I sold it for 1000 peds.. So i have all items replaced again.

Thank You Evil Lootius! and thx for the support of all players replying here.

Wow... good to hear you had a bit of change of luck.
Hope you're taking measures to make sure no one gets into your account again.

Good to hear that things were made right again (sort of). Is still very wrong that they didn't give you any info on what happened, but at least you were able to make it up in the end.

I hope evil lootius is kind to you again in the future

Spawn said:

{snip}

Anyways, evil lootius felt sorry for me. He put a powerful heal chip inside a berycled. I sold it for 1000 peds.. So i have all items replaced again.

Thank You Evil Lootius! and thx for the support of all players replying here.

Click to expand...

I wonder....

Did the person who "gained poseation" of your missing items (worth about 1000 ped) log on one day, only to find them "missing" from their account.

If they did, would they file a support case?

"HI, I found shed loads of stuff, worth about 1000 peds just lying on the ground, in a nice neat pile, and picked it up, and now it's vanished from my account. Where has it gone?"

REPLY: "The items you mention were TT'd/dropped by your avatar, at (timelace) and so we can't help you, case closed."

Or would they just keep quiet, knowing that they stole them?

Then, WOW, you suddenly score a 1000 Global.....

MA might not admit liability, but it sure looks like they take action to me.

Glad you got enough ped back to cover the missing stuff, however it came about.

Has anyone ever thought about the fact that MA might be not allowed to give one any user-related data for legal reasons. This may also be the reason for them to advice you to contact your local police. If this was the case then their answer still was not very polite, but it was correct.

Anybody around who knows something about swedish law?