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Life Time Ban for Third Party Software depite being inactive and Having a Low Level in the Game

AngelaDE··1 votes·748 views

Today I received an email that my account had been permanently banned because I was using 3rd party software. I have just found out by reading other posts on the forum that I am not the first one this has happened to. But this raises the question, how can we be sure of playing the game in the long run when this is how sensitive and ridiculous Riot can get?

I have not used my account for the last 3 months. My level was around 14. Even if we assume for the sake of argument that I am indeed guilty, surely Riot can see that this gamer was inactive, and that he is at such a low level even after using the 3rd party software that he hasn't gained much advantage by using it. I understand that they would not want to even consider the possibility of a hack as this way they would be admitting faults in their own system. So they cover their own bottom and say i was the one using it. And then they think that a player whose level did not increase even after using such techniques deserves a lifetime ban!

I have also come to know that such things can happen if one tries to get free rp or visit sites that provide such stuff. I have of course never done that. Plus I am a web programmer and even if someone did tell me to visit such sites, I am aware enough to know they are almost always scam. I do not believe I have ever downloaded something by mistake, being aware myself of how malicious software can enter your system through such sites.

So my question to fellow gamers is this. Knowing riot does this, how do you know you will not be banned tomorrow for life? When you invest so much time in the game, how can you be sure riot wont ban you for life for something to didn't do? And the worst part is, Riot won't share the details of what happened because it compromises future investigations or something like that. SO you've basically got no chance to even defend yourself!

25 Comments

redniwediS2 votes

Knowing riot does this, how do you know you will not be banned tomorrow for life?

I don't mean to be rude by answering this way, but it is the truth so I'm going to say it. I know I won't be permanently banned tomorrow because I take measures to keep my account secure. I won't be willingly breaking the rules, and because I have a secured account I know no one else will be either.

It honestly does suck to lose an account like this, but if a support ticket can't fix it that means there isn't enough evidence to show it wasn't you. You don't really need their information to present your best case for innocence too, so maybe if you're going to try and argue it start from your own side. Best of luck moving forward mate.

Chermorg2 votes

I understand that they would not want to even consider the possibility of a hack as this way they would be admitting faults in their own system.

Riot does take compromised accounts seriously, and if your account was in fact compromised they will see that and appropriately return it to you sans any punishment applied while compromised.

That being said, Riot's third party bans are exceedingly accurate and so you are unlikely to get much sympathy here. You ask how we know we won't be banned tomorrow, and we know such because we don't use third party bans.

Emerald Fang1 votes

Hasn’t riot had this issue before after a recent wave of scripting bans? There was an influx of posts a few months ago about many false bans so this just might be an error in the program?

Chermorg2 votes

The last time I remember there being a mass issue was almost (if not over) a year ago. In those cases the issues are generally identified, there is a Rioter post about it, and the accounts are unbanned and restored. They do audit their automated systems and so are able to identify issues in detection and fix them - even without player complaints.

TrulyBland1 votes

To my knowledge they only once had a problematic ban wave where they ended unbanning a lot of people (probably the same as Chermorg is talking about). The problem is that there is always a moderate influx of posts about "false" bans when they do a ban wave on scripters and hackers. I'll never forget when somebody posted a screenshot of a thread in a hacker forum after a recent ban wave, where people were actively encouraging people to go to the LoL-boards and complain about their "false" bans just as a way to troll Riot.

That does not mean Riot's detection is 100% fool proof. But when you know that there are people who are this dedicated to lying about being falsely banned, it does make it difficult to trust any one individual story of an allegedly false ban.

Edit: To not end on a cynical "trust nobody" note, I'd also like to point out the other side of the medal: There are people who do get unbanned when they write a support ticket; specifically people who were hacked like OP claims to be. That's why I'm not really that quick to believe people who have already written a ticket and had their request denied. At the end of the day, since Riot does admit they do mistakes and since they do fix those mistakes when they find them, that means that refusal to unban an account likely is not the result of a "Fuck you, we never do mistakes"-stance.

AngelaDE1 votes

{quoted}

Riot does take compromised accounts seriously, and if your account was in fact compromised they will see that and appropriately return it to you sans any punishment applied while compromised.

That being said, Riot's third party bans are exceedingly accurate and so you are unlikely to get much sympathy here. You ask how we know we won't be banned tomorrow, and we know such because we don't use third party bans.

And this is the type of response that I am talking about. You won't be banned because you know you dont use third aprty software. I wont be banned because i dont either. The point is, I was banned. AND. Riot refused to even point out how i could do that when I havent even logged in in three months. Pointing to a hack got them angry.

AngelaDE1 votes

And I forgot to point out one thing.

It was initially a one month ban. Then I asked them how its possible that I used third party software when I havent even logged in in three months? I explained how even if it happened, it could only have been a hack, my ban was turned into a lifetime ban saying they cannot share the details of how they caught me using third party software.

Modi3 votes

Look at your match history If it wasn't you, it was a compromised account.

Chermorg2 votes

As far as I'm aware one month bans do not exist at all, so I believe you may have been mistaken there.

Keep in mind their bans are not issued immediately upon detection but could be issued many days, weeks, or even months later. If you ever let anyone else access your account and they used scripts, that is also cause to ban your account.

AngelaDE1 votes

{quoted}

As far as I'm aware one month bans do not exist at all, so I believe you may have been mistaken there.

Keep in mind their bans are not issued immediately upon detection but could be issued many days, weeks, or even months later. If you ever let anyone else access your account and they used scripts, that is also cause to ban your account.

The nonsense carries on. Now they want to discuss the matter and want to contact me through a different email address. I have never seen someone so incompetent at hiding their own inefficiency.

Chermorg1 votes

This is not nonsense. They noticed your account may have been compromised and are asking you to initiate account recovery to prove yourself the rightful owner.

AngelaDE1 votes

{quoted}

This is not nonsense. They noticed your account may have been compromised and are asking you to initiate account recovery to prove yourself the rightful owner.

The nonsense part is that they 'did not notice' my account may have been compromised even though I showed them it was. They kept insisting I was using 3rd party software when I kept telling them I hadn't opened the game in 5 months. if that doesn't point someone to a hack then I don't know what will.

Chermorg1 votes

If you don’t open your account in a few months, then you start playing again, even if from a drastically different location, it looks more like you just moved and had some real life troubles for a while, then picked it up again.

It is not Riot’s responsibility to try and figure out “oh this person logged in from a new location, did they move after a couple months of non-play?” - it’s simply their job to watch for obvious compromise. A move in location over multiple months does not signify obvious compromise, and someone simply repeating that they didn’t play in 5 months does nothing to justify the use of scripts.

Keep in mind it is two separate teams that handle this - the behavior team handles your concerns on your punishment, and the accounts team would handle the recovery process and determining if it was compromised. You can tell the behavior team you’re compromised all you want, but all they’ll do is lock the account (which you admit they did) until you contact the accounts team for help recovering your account.

It looks like they did everything right in this case, and you have a huge case of assuming bad faith and that they’re all evil and out to get you here.

AngelaDE1 votes

{quoted}

If you don’t open your account in a few months, then you start playing again, even if from a drastically different location, it looks more like you just moved and had some real life troubles for a while, then picked it up again.

It is not Riot’s responsibility to try and figure out “oh this person logged in from a new location, did they move after a couple months of non-play?” - it’s simply their job to watch for obvious compromise. A move in location over multiple months does not signify obvious compromise, and someone simply repeating that they didn’t play in 5 months does nothing to justify the use of scripts.

Keep in mind it is two separate teams that handle this - the behavior team handles your concerns on your punishment, and the accounts team would handle the recovery process and determining if it was compromised. You can tell the behavior team you’re compromised all you want, but all they’ll do is lock the account (which you admit they did) until you contact the accounts team for help recovering your account.

It looks like they did everything right in this case, and you have a huge case of assuming bad faith and that they’re all evil and out to get you here.

You are saying exactly what Ive been saying to Riot. Remember, I have been accused of using 3rd party software. Not of getting my info compromised(which I know is my responsibility). 3rd party software got me a suspension till 1st january. So I make a ticket and tell them I haven't even used my account, and they respond with a permanent ban. You see the problem here? Then I had to dig out my match history and send it to them to prove I was indeed hacked. Now they've considered the possibility of the hack and agreed to open my account again after ive provided all the info they needed. The question is, why couldn't they send me the same questionnaire 'in case I thought it was a hack'. That way, they could have seen from the info I would provide that it was indeed a hack and i wasn't the one playing the game. Running it in parallel wouldn't have taken any extra time. If there are two departments looking at this then they need to think about how the player is thinking. Its not my job to know who I am talking to and what responsibilities they have. They need to figure that out themselves.

As for them locking my account, they didn't. They banned me. If they had locked it, I would have been happy to get it unlocked because I wasn't even aware my account was being used. SO again, they would have killed two birds with one stone. But they handed me a ban as soon as i mentioned a hack was the reason.

Sorry but they did nothing right here. From a one month suspension to a permanent ban to giving me my account back, all within 24 hours just proves they have no clue

Chermorg2 votes

The permanent ban applied was a lock designed to get you to contact the accounts team to resolve the issue. The system worked exactly as designed here, as I've said before.

Also as I have previously said, you are coming at this with quite the combative attitude and assuming Riot has bad faith and is out to get you. I recommend taking a break for a while and coming back to understand what happened once you've cooled off from this issue.

AngelaDE1 votes

I understand all those saying they know they wont be banned because they make sure they dont use third party software. That is fair enough. However, understanding that you may not want to believe me, I did not use third party software. As i mentioned, im just the type of player who plays the game because a friend told me so. Thats why i haven't touched the game for 3 months. I dont even know how to use a third party software. And to be honest, I don't miss the game either. That's not the point.

I just feel their response, saying they cannot give me details, and then accusing me of using 3rd party software, is unprofessional. And this when my account hasn't even been used in 3 months!

As for the member saying he ensures his account never gets compromised, good enough. But the point is, when you get an email saying you've been banned because you did something that you know you didn't do, what will you do? You sure aren't going to get any help from Riot because when they say you did it then you did it. So, what's the point of protecting your account?

As for them taking hacks seriously, I do not believe that. If they did, they'd have treated my request differently where i clarified how this could only have come about through a hack.

I may be the one wrong here. I will happily admit that. But I just want to point out the lack of help I got from Riot, as if I am some sort of criminal who tried to break into their bank accounts during his sleep.

nerak231 votes

Did you have ant other accounts, or does anyone use your IP Addy for league? A legit question ?

AngelaDE1 votes

That was my only account. No one in my family or home plays video games let alone league of legends.

I started playing lol when I was living in a shared flat where one other guy had played the game(he had stopped playing when i started). That happens to be the only place and the only PC I ever logged into my account with. If that was an issue, Riot would have caught me then. And surely that would not fall under 3rd party software? If a friend of mine plays using the same internet I do(assuming my friend did), im sure Riot could tell me in simple words that it was against their TOS? I don't know what a league is but as i said, even if someone in those days was doing something wrong, I would either have been banned then or Riot would have told me that that was the reason. Why say im using 3rd party software and why so much secrecy?

nerak231 votes

{quoted}

That was my only account. No one in my family or home plays video games let alone league of legends.

I started playing lol when I was living in a shared flat where one other guy had played the game(he had stopped playing when i started). That happens to be the only place and the only PC I ever logged into my account with. If that was an issue, Riot would have caught me then. And surely that would not fall under 3rd party software? If a friend of mine plays using the same internet I do(assuming my friend did), im sure Riot could tell me in simple words that it was against their TOS? I don't know what a league is but as i said, even if someone in those days was doing something wrong, I would either have been banned then or Riot would have told me that that was the reason. Why say im using 3rd party software and why so much secrecy?

I don't know that is why I asked :)

Welp sorry I know next to nothing about 3rd party stuff. I will keep up with your thread GL

AngelaDE1 votes

I have an email telling me I got a one month ban, till Jan 1st, 1018. So they do exist.

I have seen my match history now and I see games were played from my account on 26th, 27th and 28th November. Of course this wasn't me. This makes me even more p1ssed. When I told Riot I hadn't touched my account in months, they could have at least told me there was activity on my account. When I told them I might have been hacked, they not only turned the ban into a permanent one but also refused to share any details of the nature of my ban other than that I was using 3rd party software.

I still can't believe how thick Riot support are! I guess you need to be spending money on the game for them to even listen to you.

WaffIe Iron1 votes

you cheated and got banned stfu and make a new account

AngelaDE1 votes

I would have done that if I had cheated. Point is I haven't even used the account and Riot couldn't figure out that it was a hack. Now they have at least agreed to the possibility of a hack but they aren't willing to discuss that through this account. They want me to create a new one to discuss the matter further. I am just interested in knowing how far they will go to hide their own incompetence and it looks like there is a lot still to come.

AngelaDE1 votes

The issue is my ban, which was at first just for a month was changed to a permanent ban when I was trying to show them the right thing. They've obviously woken up now and at least considered the possibility of a hack.

AngelaDE1 votes

@Trulybland "that means that refusal to unban an account likely is not the result of a "Fuck you, we never do mistakes"-stance."

It was simply a matter of listening to the player. In the email they sent me, if they had simply put in a 'If you think this is a mistake or you weren't the one using the account, please contact us' clause, I'd have contacted them. The way did it, it was a fcuk you we don't make mistakes stance. Which is the reason I am p1ssed.

AngelaDE1 votes

I have my account back now.

I know I am coming at this with a combative attitude(just like Riot). But the permanent lock was designed to get me to contact support? That is a joke and I can't believe you said that after all I have told you here.

First, it wasn't a lock, it was a ban. Can you even read? I explained it in my last post why I would have been perfectly OK with a lock.

The system worked perfectly. But that's like saying let's sentence this guy to death and when he appeals we can investigate if he really is the killer!

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