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 Scamming Alert

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cherebi

cherebi


Location : NY
Posts : 1310
Join date : 2009-07-11

Scamming Alert Empty
PostSubject: Scamming Alert   Scamming Alert EmptyFri Apr 11, 2014 12:00 pm

I guess this should be obvious and works for every game, not just PWI. Recently, a lot of scamming has been going around in RT (and other servers as well). The scamming is done by a couple? that makes tons of alts accounts with various IGNs. I'm just going to list the warnings on how to protect yourself:

1. Never share account information with anyone.
-You never know that "real life strangers" behind the computer. They don't know you IRL, you don't know them IRL. You never know what harm they're going to do to your account.
-DO NOT share account information with your real life friends that you talk through Skype/facebook/or whatever. Sure, they may know you IRL and you know them too. But you never know how they practice their computer securities. They probably will never leak your account info, however their computers might have keyloggers on it. All in all, only login your character on your own personal computer.
-I would go as far as prohibiting my family from using my personal computer/using my account because I never know what kind of website my dad/mom going to. Some people may disagree with this since it's their family. But I never trust anyone 100% in game and IRL because logically, I can't control their minds. I don't know what they're going to do. I don't own their brains.

2. Never mention your full name (both first and last name, first name only is OK), your email (even without the password), your exact address, and especially a NO NO social security number, credit/debit/paypal account.
-Hacker can use a search engine for your first and last names and pull out your info from other social networking sites. It's called social engineering.
-Your email (especially email related to your game account) alone is not safe. Hacker find ways to brute force password to get to your email.
-Your exact address can also be used to pull out your info.
-SSN numbers and bank accounts - should be obvious why you shouldn't share them. Hackers want your real life cash.

3. Change your email password and game password regularly.
Hackers often find new ways to gain access to account info. Recently on the news, we have a silent bug called "Heartbleed" (just google for info). It is there for around two years now, and it's in the faulty of the server host (has to do with the flaw of openSSL). So even if you practice a good account security, these things happen. All you can do to minimize the chance of getting hacked, it's to change passwords regularly.

4. Use a strong password.
This may seem obvious, but you won't believe how many people actually use an "easy-to guess" passwords. People use easy passwords such as "abcd" or "1234". Well obviously, everyone knows that "abcd" is the first sequence in the alphabet and "1234" is the first whole positive number sequence. People like this are usually  bad at memorizing/too lazy to memorize so many passwords. Please for your own sake, STOP DOING IT. Use a hard-to-guess password, but easy for you to remember. A good example:
*MniCPimFGFaE1369 = My name is Cherebi. PWI is my Favorite Game Forever and Ever (13 and 69 are my favorite numbers).

See how it looks gibberish to other people, but not for you because you make the password and knows the meaning behind it.

5. Use the safe code bank feature to protect your gears.
In PWI, thankfully, we have this system for free (unlike in MapleStory). Please use it. In case the hacker manages to get into your account, all items and coins in your bank are safe. The gears/fashion that you are wearing is also safe. The fashion in wardrobe is also safe. This system has a flaw however:
-Safe Code doesn't protect you from losing items/coins in your bag. When I just login yesterday, I NPCed my old Jones' Blessing that is almost expired. When I go to NPC, it doesn't ask me to put in my password.
-Safe Code doesn't protect you from losing items/coins in account stash. It never asks me to put in password when I pull something from stash. Don't put valuable stuff in your stash.
-Safe Code doesn't protect you from dropping items in PK. You should use Safety Lock or Guardian Scroll for that.
-Safe Code works per character, not per account. So, you need to set up Safe Code for every character in the same account (different Safe Code for different character is highly recommended).
-Safe Code doesn't protect you from swapping gears on your bag with your equipped gears? I'm not sure about this. I need to do more tests. But yesterday, I didn't put any safe code and manage to swap my equipped old Jones' blessing with a new one. If a gear swap doesn't require safe code, it is best to store your expensive gears in bank if you are not gonna play PWI for more than a week.
-Safe Code doesn't protect any items/coins stored in your mailbox. Usually I stack up Jones' Blessing in my mailbox just in case, if PWI fked up again with blessings. You don't need to put a safe code to access mailbox.
-Safe Code protects your gears from getting decomposed. I tried to decompose a lowbie weapon to make genie food and it asks me for a safe code before decomposing.
-Safe Code doesn't protect you from losing items due to direct trade. I trade stuff between my chars on daily basis right after I login. It never asks me for a safe code.

What I still don't know:
-Safe Code protects your gold and event gold. My guess is a no, but I never test it since I haven't bought anything from there recently.
-Safe Code protects your character from getting deleted. A pissed off hacker can go as far as deleting your character if they can't steal anything valuable. My guess is also a no.
-Safe Code protects gears from getting destroyed because the gear is bound. I would guess that this is a yes, since destroying gears have essentially the same meaning as decomposing gears (lose the gear forever). However, NPCing gears don't trigger the safe code feature, so I'm confused here.
-Safe Code protects you from buying/selling items to catshops, buying/selling coins/golds in Auction House, buying/selling items in Auction House. My guess is a no since direct trade doesn't ask for a safe code.

**Myth:
HAHAHA hackers can't get anything from me now! All my items are bound and I use a safe code like you said here!
NO! Please don't get over your head that you are safe with all the security practice that you did. Nothing is safe on the internet. Hackers always find new ways to steal. Bound items don't prevent you from losing the items. Bound items only prevent the hacker from getting any profit out of it. Hackers can also brute force your safe code password if it turns out that you have keyloggers/easy-to-guess/short passwords. If all fails, they may end up deleting your character and your character is gone in a week. Just keep your guard up all the time. Promptly change your email, email passwords, and game passwords if it turns out that something is wrong with your account. Run a virus, malware, and spyware scans (whatever you have). Send a ticket to PWI support staff to temporarily shut down/lock your account.

6. Never go to unknown websites/click on random links people post in forum.
-Some phishing websites don't even require you to put any info. As long as you click on the link/open phishing email/website, you are doomed. To prevent this, simply don't go to those websites.
-Don't believe if your friend/boyfriend/girlfriend/guildies and what not tells you to go to certain website to claim for "freebies". You never know if they're already got hacked or not. It could be the hacker PMing you to go to those sites. This method is actually a very effective method that manages to scam a lot of people (yes, even people with super endgame r9T3+12 gears recently fall for this). One rule for all, there's no such thing as free stuff outside PWI website. If PWI give freebies, it is only through Arc. Meaning, you just login to Arc and redeem codes there. You don't even need to open your internet browser to get the freebies. PWI will also announces it in the game news and/or forum, which is showing up in Arc main page. Maybe, it's a good thing to install Arc huh?

I guess I'll cover most of it hopefully. Most of what I mention here is a common sense, but apparently it's not for some people.


Scamming methods that have been going around in PWI and are proven to be quite effective:

1. Hacker makes an alt account with similar IGN as known guild leaders/directors. It happens in my faction. Hacker impersonates my faction leader's name by simply putting upper case i (since it looks like lower case L). Then, the hacker starts their action by PMing online people in the faction, asking for their account info.

2. Hacker makes an alt account with similar IGN as known guild leaders/directors. Then, the hacker joins another faction that usually isn't related to the faction that  he/she impersonates. Then, start asking guildies for account info.

3. Hacker already hacks a person. Then, the hacker proceeds to PM the victim's friends on the friendlists, asking for account info or go to phishing websites to claim freebies. Hacker may also ask to "lend him coins/golds" or "Can I try your gears for a second?" kind of method.

4. Hacker already hacks a person. Then, the hacker proceeds to PM the victim's guildies, asking for account info or go to phishing websites to claim freebies.

5. Hacker joins a faction with his possibly main char with r9T3 gears (that he probably gets it from scamming people). Then, he proceeds to befriend some people, gain their trusts, and all. Eventually, he asks for account info or go to some phishing websites.
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