Boards›Player Behavior

Account Hacked & Charged $170 Through PayPal. Riot Support Helped Me & Then Banned

TLS Mindotaur··156 votes·6,351 views

Hey everyone,

My name is Kiarash, I've been playing League of Legends for several years and I've been nothing but a healthy member of the community. Last year I put together a web-series pilot about competitive League called "Team League Squad." We worked closely with content developers over at Riot Headquarters and even got Phreak and Kobe in as cameos. We got on the front page of r/leagueoflegends so maybe some of you have seen it. If anyone hasn't seen it, check it out, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyTSMjsMNcE

I guess I'm telling you a little more about myself in order to show just how upset I am about my banned account. I haven't been active for the last month or so and I wasn't aware of the hack until I saw the PayPal charges. I disputed immediately and got in touch with Riot Support. I was banned a few days after regaining my account for "malicious software" and all that junk.

It's frustrating to see just how little one can do to turn this ban around. I've never been extremely competitive with the game, I have nothing to gain by cheating. After all I've given to Riot, it would be nice to have at least a proper conversation about this. I'm sure several feel the same when their account was banned and there was nothing they could do about it.

I know this is coming off like every other post about a banned account but I'm hoping that I can have some sort of dialogue with anyone over at Riot Support.

Thank you

93 Comments

ModWuks35 votes

The request should still be open and under investigation. Once the status of the ticket changes, keep me updated and hopefully I can try to help if you find yourself in a less than ideal situation.

Virgin Ray14 votes

Caitlyn "I'm on the case."

Imperial Japan1 votes

{quoted}

The request should still be open and under investigation. Once the status of the ticket changes, keep me updated and hopefully I can try to help if you find yourself in a less than ideal situation.

Oh hey this is like the first time I've seen someone post ever since deep sea nami

ModWuks3 votes

My focus has been primarily on collegiate efforts lately, but now that we've got a good start on a program at my university, I'll be able to balance a bit more of my time between the Boards and that program.

Imperial Japan1 votes

{quoted}

My focus has been primarily on collegiate efforts lately, but now that we've got a good start on a program at my university, I'll be able to balance a bit more of my time between the Boards and that program.

That's pretty cool

DrCyanide20 votes

If Riot helped you get your account back, ask then to verify that the malicious software was used in a period when you were hacked. They've turned around bans like this in the past when they had previously helped the person recover the account.

TLS Mindotaur5 votes

Good to know. Thanks!

Brenon11 votes

Oh Riot, when are you going to get on board with security and implement two step verification? I see these posts way too often and it is 100% preventable.

ModWuks7 votes

Hi, I just wanted to check in to see if there was any updates? :)

TLS Mindotaur1 votes

Riot gave my account back and banned it again four days ago :( Haven't even touched League since the original ban, I'm waiting for my new computer to ship. Soo I guess I gotta follow up on this some more.

ModWuks1 votes

Gosh darnit. Did they give you a reason for the suspension issued four days ago? Do you have a ticket number available?

TLS Mindotaur1 votes

No reason, it was an automated message. When I was first banned they said it was an error and my account was flagged incorrectly. I'm not really sure what the deal is. Ticket number is 23812802.

Telephone Booth2 votes

Nvm

notice me Sin pi19 votes

as if we can do anything about it

we actually can do something about it: upvote the thread

Upvotes bring riot's attention. Upvotes are what made rito reconsider deleting item sets in new client. Upvotes are what had brought riot's attention to thousands of falsely banned accounts. Upvotes are what made rito recolor Star Guardian Poppy's graphics from yellow to blue. And so on.

Telephone Booth5 votes

[{quoted}](name=SAO T1 Yui,realm=NA,application-id=ZGEFLEUQ,discussion-id=gzWTZMf1,comment-id=00030000,timestamp=2016-11-02T04:43:13.150+0000)

we actually can do something about it: upvote the thread

Upvotes bring riot's attention. Upvotes are what made rito reconsider deleting item sets in new client. Upvotes are what had brought riot's attention to thousands of falsely banned accounts. Upvotes are what made rito recolor Star Guardian Poppy's graphics from yellow to blue. And so on.

Alright... I'm a reasonable person... I'll take away the down vote lol.

MonkeyMadness2 votes

Classic Riot. Hope this gets resolved quickly, but based on what I've seen around here, you're a good 500 upvotes and a few hundred comments too short for Riot to even bother looking into this. Good luck.

RISE Shlack1232 votes

How is that Riot's fault? Please explain.

MonkeyMadness1 votes

It's Riot's fault because their customer support is literally the biggest pile of shit on the face of the earth. It probably took OP over a week to sort out the hack in the first place through them, and they ended up banning him anyways. They KNEW he got hacked and they worked to resolve the issue, but banned him anyways. There is 0 communication between Riot departments, there is 0 transparency anywhere, and this guy will likely have to wade through the shit yet again to resolve this. I'm sure he tried contacting player support regarding the ban and got a series of canned responses about how the decision is final and based on conclusive evidence etc and then they probably just closed the ticket on him. I have read too many false ban posts like this one where someone is 100% innocent of whatever offense Riot accuses them of, but due to their indifference toward their own community, the only way to get through to someone at Riot is to make one of these posts and hope it gets enough traction. It's fucking bullshit, and it's most decidedly Riot's fault.

Verdade2 votes

Riot owns your account, not you. If they want to disable it, they can do it without reason. If they want to unlock all skins/champs they can do it without reason.

So, it's certainly not Riot's fault, it's one of Riot's rights.

Also, if he got hacked he gave out his passwords OR downloaded infected files, in both cases being OPs fault.

MonkeyMadness1 votes

Actually this is not true. Riot needs a reason that is in line with their own terms of service. They can't just ban you "without reason". The reason doesn't have to be all that good, but they still need one, or they are violating their own terms of service, which would fall under a violation of contract law, and they could face civil and/or criminal charges.

Also, if he got hacked he gave out his passwords OR downloaded infected files, in both cases being OPs fault.

This is like saying it's the girl's fault that she got raped because she was wearing "slutty" clothing. Victim blaming at its finest. It is the HACKER'S fault that OP got hacked, and to blame OP for being the victim of a crime is just straight up retarded.

RISE Shlack1231 votes

Giving out passwords or downloading malware are not the same thing as rape-shaming. That's one of the worst leaps I've ever heard. You compare actually giving out your information to "asking" to be raped because you want to dress in a provocative manner.

Negligence with your own information is your fault. Dressing how you want and getting raped for it isn't. You have a LOT to learn.

MonkeyMadness1 votes

You blamed OP for getting hacked. My analogy stands.

RISE Shlack1231 votes

Because the VAST majority of the time, getting hacked either means you have a weak password or you have a keylogging bot on your PC. Both of which are OP's fault. My statement stands. Your analogy remains inappropriate and downright childish.

MonkeyMadness1 votes

It is still 100% the fault of the hacker. Committing a CRIME automatically places 100% of the culpability on the offender, not the victim.

RISE Shlack1231 votes

Also, if your car got stolen because you left the keys in the ignition and the door unlocked, who would you blame? The filth that stole your car or the person who knew better? The answer is both of them.

Your rape analogy just doesn't fit on a philosophical level because you aren't going around asking to be raped simply by wearing something others would deem "slutty."

The key difference here is shared blame - a concept you clearly don't understand. When you leave your car running or make your passwords extremely easy to guess, you share in the burden of responsibility because you knew what was likely to happen and let it happen anyway. Getting raped isn't at all the same thing - people who rape take the person fully against their will. And in most cases, a woman who was raped fought back (ie attempted to defend herself). A person who is willfully negligent puts up no fight, but rather leaves the door wide open.

Like I said, philosophical difference. And to further add to that point, if you get hacked due to brute-force scripting (something Riot has intrusion prevention methods in place to prevent) then it's clearly not your fault. Brute-force hacking is using a script to run millions of passwords all at once until one works. There is nothing you can do about that except hope your account host (Riot, in this case) has the aforementioned protection in place. Getting raped done through brute force. Getting hacked because you have crappy passwords is shared responsibility with the hacker and the hackee. There's a fundamental difference here - one that you should learn and understand.

MonkeyMadness1 votes

Also, if your car got stolen because you left the keys in the ignition and the door unlocked, who would you blame? The filth that stole your car or the person who knew better? The answer is both of them.

You need to leave this country asap or the rest of us are doomed. When a CRIME is committed, it is NEVER the victims fault. Doing something ILLEGAL is 100% the fault of the OFFENDER, with ZERO exceptions. Could the victim have taken steps to prevent their victimization? Potentially. But to put even part of the blame on them is categorically immoral. You are literally victim blaming here. It's identically the same as telling a girl that got raped that she is at fault for the clothes she was wearing. Please, I beg of you to say that you believe that statement is true. It will be so fun for me to watch you get torn apart.

RISE Shlack1233 votes

You're totally missing the point. It's 100% obvious that anyone who commits a crime is punished and should go to jail. The hacker holds 100% of the culpability in the eyes of law enforcement. That's not what I'm talking about at all.

I'm talking about the fact that people so readily do nothing to protect themselves and bitch and moan at big brother for not stopping the wolf from getting in when all they had to do was shut the door. It's that simple.

I'm not saying the victim is guilty of the crime. I'm saying the victim didn't do anything to protect themselves and got burned for it. Next time, protect yourself.

Now, again, as for the rape analogy, it's not even in the same ballpark. I'll refer you to the analogy I made to you in another thread - you have different levels of response for different levels of violations. You don't lock a petty thief up for life the same way you do a convicted murderer. There are some crimes that are too heinous to even come close to "victim blaming." Saying the OP got hacked because he didn't have a good enough password is common knowledge in today's IT world - there are security protocols in every major computer-based company about using strict passwords with rotating schedules and such, but there is no protocol to prevent rape because rape is the bottom of the barrel type of evil.

Please, ease up on the SJW crap already. I wish every rapist would burn in hell for eternity. But that's not the point here. The point is the person left their keys on the table and got their stuff stolen. And yes, the thief was the one who stole it, but the OP did nothing to stop them.

Are you quite done comparing burn-in-hell evil to petty theft?

MonkeyMadness1 votes

The hacker holds 100% of the culpability in the eyes of law enforcement. That's not what I'm talking about at all.

And in our little microcosmic universe, Riot is the law enforcement. Done. QED. You have no leg to stand on.

Also, OP is not bitching and moaning at Riot for not protecting his account, he is bitching (and justly so) that Riot is PUNISHING HIM for being a victim. None of the fault rests with him, you cannot fairly blame him for the actions of another. But that is precisely what Riot is doing (assuming we have the whole story).

RISE Shlack1231 votes

You'd rather Riot enforce the law without doing an investigation? Who is it now that doesn't understand metaphors?

You don't understand how much personal investigation it takes to prove your account was hacked and that any malicious activity performed on your account wasn't done by you. They have to dig up logs, track IP addresses, track dates and times, etc etc etc. You can't expect Riot to just assume that he didn't do it because he said so. Criminals always say they are innocent.

MonkeyMadness1 votes

You don't read very well, do you? I'd rather that Riot not ban accounts when there is obvious evidence of a hack. To me, that seems pretty reasonable, but for some reason, they would rather just ban these accounts and place the burden of proof on the players. This is so backwards it hurts.

RISE Shlack1232 votes

Three words: Terms of Service.

RISE Shlack1231 votes

There's a whole shit-ton of "i think" and "i'm sure" in your argument instead of cold, hard facts. If you're going to criticize Riot's support, you should really stick to the facts. Otherwise, you're projecting your own personal opinion of Riot onto someone else's issue, with which you're not familiar. Perhaps you should just not interject if you have nothing of value to add.

MonkeyMadness1 votes

I stick to facts as I have had to wade through Riot support myself on many occasions and it fucking sucks. Fortunately, I am not among the group of people who have been falsely banned, and so I can move on fairly easily. This guy can't. Stop defending Riot, they actually have no right to do shit like this. People pay good money to support this game and then Riot turns around and treats us like crap.

RISE Shlack1231 votes

Refusing to join the "Riot sucks" circlejerk =/= defending Riot.

MonkeyMadness1 votes

Refusing to acknowledge that Riot is at fault for the terrible state of the game at present may not be the same as defending them, but it sure as hell is a functional equivalent.

RISE Shlack1231 votes

You can't go changing the definition of words and phrases simply because it doesn't fit your point of view. We don't have nearly enough information to blame Riot in this particular case. So, while you're allowed to feel the way you feel about Riot, you can't go using the "either you're with me or against me" mentality. There are more than 2 sides to almost every story or situation.

MonkeyMadness1 votes

Enlighten me: to which definitions are you referring? And if you have any knowledge of the real world, you would have heard of a little phrase "innocent until proven guilty". Now, I understand that this phrase is abused to shit in our current social climate, but it definitely does apply in its truest sense here. Riot NEVER shows the "evidence" they have of these offenses. They just issue the ban, and then proceed to lockdown on the player support side and refuse to offer further assistance, or even demonstrate that their punishment was justified.

RISE Shlack1231 votes

Not blaming someone isn't the same as defending them. How much more basic does it get?

MonkeyMadness1 votes

In this case, there are but 2 absolutes: either you support Riot's decision to ban OP for an offense that he did not commit (or so it would seem from the limited evidence we have), or you don't support this decision. It really is that black and white, at least in this particular instance.

RISE Shlack1231 votes

You are far too narrow minded to understand what I'm saying. facepalm

Riot's decision is WAY too harsh. The OP made a grave mistake. There can be a third option. You don't know everything.

MonkeyMadness1 votes

Perhaps OP did make a mistake in his account security. But the fact of the matter is, SOMEONE BROKE THE LAW, AND OP IS BEING PUNISHED FOR IT. If you think this is acceptable, then there is no help for you.

RISE Shlack1231 votes

Finally you understand. So why are you trying to blame Riot instead of the hacker?????????????

RISE Shlack1231 votes

And at what point exactly did I say it was acceptable? The hacker is the one who broke the law. I called YOU out for BLAMING Riot. Not the other way around. You then got stuck so far down this rape-comparison rabbit hole that you missed my damn point entirely.

MonkeyMadness1 votes

I'm blaming Riot for banning OP unjustly, and then refusing to have an open discussion regarding what actually happened. This is what happens all the time when account security is compromised. Riot autobans the account, then sends the same canned response about "overwhelming evidence" and "the decision is final, and we will consider the matter closed". This is ENTIRELY Riot's fault, as they most certainly have the tools and technology to actually investigate shit like this, but instead they take the easy way out and place the burden of proof on players like OP.

Verdade1 votes

Actually, you're not paying for support. That would be in case if you paid monthly fees. You pay for content, and that's what you get. If you don't like, you don't have to pay.

MonkeyMadness1 votes

???

Right, Riot turns 0 profit from skin sales...

Nr 9031 votes

If you got your money back from PayPal and they were like punch of 20-30 dollar purchases, most likely your paypal account will be closed down soon enough. I myself had similar issue, PayPal viewed my case and payed me back, but week later they shut my account (and everyone's account related to my living space) for no reason. Support just said that they don't want you as their customer anymore and basically fuck off.

RISE Shlack1232 votes

You're a liability at that point. They were on the hook for your expenses, and they weren't willing to do it more than once. Chances are you had malware on your system and there were a lot of failed login attempts made after PayPal forced you to reset your password.

Man, is internet security such a non-issue for you guys? Take it seriously, yeah?

PaladinNO2 votes

I have yet to understand how such a hack/loss of accounts is even possible. Yes, I understand servers using poor encryption and containing non-hashed passwords gets hacked, but in most cases it's all about common sense (or lack thereof) that is the real reason. Aka user-error.

If I need a password for something I don't take seriously, it will be something like this: Examples.

el7M4_K7l7YlSYt

If I do take it seriously:

}M<~6'];,:6*%a$,W0@F

Yeah, I like online security. I got a well-fed paranoia. But then I've never been hacked either.

I'm also not a very social guy, so I got NO (no username pun intended) social media accounts. Which I feel help my case, when there's then much less personal information about me available anywhere.

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