Help I feel i'm getting hacked

Hi folks,

I'm 90% sure my account is/has been used by goldsellers.
Why?
Very recently, every time I want to change my email password, I cannot and when after contacting the support team I finnaly manage to change it, 1 hour later the password doesnt work AGAIN.
And of course it's the email i'm using for the sqaure enix account.

I'm also getting disconected during the game and cannot log in because ''someone else is logged in''.

And lastly 2 weeks ago my steam account got hacked and when i get it back my steam wallet was empty ( luckily there was only like 5 euros )

I did everything I can to clean up my computer, and i'm waiting for the token to arrive ( meanwhile I emulated android on my pc to have at least the software token , I dont own a smartphone ).

Thing is, before i discover my character completely naked with a ban from SE, is there a way to contact the STF team to see if my account was indeed used for goldsellers and if yes, not getting banned since i should have my physical token in the next week or so ( waiting 2 weeks already -_- )

I heard that even if you can prove you are not guilty of anything and just a victim, the STF team shows no mercy and bans you forever, is that true?

Thanks for reading.

Question the first: Do you have an authenticator?

Question the second: Does your Steam account have Steam Guard?

Further questions to follow.

Did you change your email account password?

The fact your FFXIV has been broken into twice AND your Steam account at least once suggests you have a keylogger installed on your computer. Unfortunately if it's not getting picked up by your anti-virus software, you'll need to show it to someone technical and/or make plans to reinstall it (reinstall is the safest way to be sure).

You are running up to date anti-virus software right? What the above said about SteamGuard is a good idea as well, although I thought it was on by default. It requires an email verification code to entered when you connect to Steam from a different computer.

also use the virtual keyboard option when logging in.

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Originally Posted by RedekerKane

Question the first: Do you have an authenticator?

Question the second: Does your Steam account have Steam Guard?

Further questions to follow.

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1) I told you that I bought one 2 weeks ago from SE story and still waiting for it , meanwhile I installed the software version on an emulated android on my pc
2) yes it does , im using my steam account for more than 5 years now, and the account plus the email linked to it got both hacked ( luckily i got my steam account back , not the email )

@jay : i changed my email password 3 times with like the maximum caracters+numbers i can found that i wrote on a paper, twice it got hacked ( by hacked i mean i coudnt acess it) today so we will se for the 3rd time. Sadly that email account is linked to the SE account , lol.
And yes i'm using the keyboard by now , but didnt use it most of the time so i guess it doesnt matter anyway

@worldofneil : i'm using avast free and its up to date, i dont have money to use a paid version.

Are you using Gmail. Does you email account have security questions and such. Just go through and change everything you possibly can. This sounds like a toughy. Sorry to hear about it. has your ffxiv account been logged into that you know of since you started using the android one time password app? Also check your retainer for transaction history and see if anything fishy has been going on with your auction house sales/purchases.

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Originally Posted by Minzy

I'm also getting disconected during the game and cannot log in because ''someone else is logged in''.

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Sad to hear you might be getting hacked, but i would also like to point out there is a problem with people getting disconnected (error 9000 i think), and then not being able to log back in because it says they are already logged in (forget the code, 3000 something). That doesn't mean they were hacked, but was common for a while. Still, as hard as i hear support is to get, might be best to contact them if you can.

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Originally Posted by jayquik03

Are you using Gmail. Does you email account have security questions and such. Just go through and change everything you possibly can. This sounds like a toughy. Sorry to hear about it. has your ffxiv account been logged into that you know of since you started using the android one time password app? Also check your retainer for transaction history and see if anything fishy has been going on with your auction house sales/purchases.

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Yeah that what i was doing all my afternoon : changing the security settings of my email accounts to see if i would be able to get them back ( and it paid of otherwise i wouldnt be able to get back my email account that got hacked twice today ).
I'm using hotmail btw.
Also the strangest thing I havent said yet is that when I was intalling the android, for the first time on this computer I got a blue screen of death AT THAT PERFECT TIMING, like someone is watching everything you do.
After that, as I said earlier I was getting disconnected and when i wanted to get back to the game it said someone else is logged in and i had to wait a few minutes. SCARY

edit : yes , i read about that problem rabbit and maybe its linked or not, i dont know, all i want is to contact STF team so they can tell me my account is fine or not.
Like I dont want to invest time into a game with a fear of being banned 2 monthes later, I hope people can understand that.

Personally I would re-install windows because the things you are saying sound like you really do have a key logger or someone has access to your pc. I've never had a key logger or any time of software where someone could access my pc (that I know of) or even know how rare or un-rare a thing like this is. but it's an option. Anyone elses thoughts?

As I understand it there are a few ways 'hackers' take accounts.

1. Compromised data bases from older games. They take the registered passwords and email addresses and try to access them through verifications like 'forgot player name'. Some people use the same, or similiar, password for just about everything. Once they have this they have access to your email which in turn gives them access to your characters.

2. Key logger. There are plenty of ways one of these nasty programs can get lodged into your computer. However most anti virus software will indeed pick it up if it's up to date. AVG, a free anti virus program, will pick up 95% of threats like these when up to date.

3. You visitd a website that sells Gil, and/or have submitted account information. Sometimes it can be a simple questionaire that asks you for your email information and player name. From there some pass cracks can be used but if you have a password that's decent these usually don't work. Never go to these sites, never submit information about your email or accounts unless you've verified the source. This, I hate to say, is the primary cause of account hacking. Players wanting an easy way out make a deal with the devil and get burned. Also to note that this goes back to my first reason, as once they have any information on you they will have it always until you change it. These are the same people from older/different games. So if you've made that mistake in the past, even visited a website for it, change your passwords.

There are other ways of course, but these are the 3 most commonly associated with account 'hacking'. I find more often than not people fall into one of these categories rather they want to admit it or not. So as the other informed people here have suggested, change your account information and passwords to strong passwords and never give out that information. Also investigate the log out error that some people had since this could also be that. Good luck.

I would just reformat your computer to be on the safe side. You don't know what else is lurking inside your HDD. Just get a clean start.

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Originally Posted by Zack85

As I understand it there are a few ways 'hackers' take accounts.

1. Compromised data bases from older games. They take the registered passwords and email addresses and try to access them through verifications like 'forgot player name'. Some people use the same, or similiar, password for just about everything. Once they have this they have access to your email which in turn gives them access to your characters.

2. Key logger. There are plenty of ways one of these nasty programs can get lodged into your computer. However most anti virus software will indeed pick it up if it's up to date. AVG, a free anti virus program, will pick up 95% of threats like these when up to date.

3. You visitd a website that sells Gil, and/or have submitted account information. Sometimes it can be a simple questionaire that asks you for your email information and player name. From there some pass cracks can be used but if you have a password that's decent these usually don't work. Never go to these sites, never submit information about your email or accounts unless you've verified the source. This, I hate to say, is the primary cause of account hacking. Players wanting an easy way out make a deal with the devil and get burned. Also to note that this goes back to my first reason, as once they have any information on you they will have it always until you change it. These are the same people from older/different games. So if you've made that mistake in the past, even visited a website for it, change your passwords.

There are other ways of course, but these are the 3 most commonly associated with account 'hacking'. I find more often than not people fall into one of these categories rather they want to admit it or not. So as the other informed people here have suggested, change your account information and passwords to strong passwords and never give out that information. Also investigate the log out error that some people had since this could also be that. Good luck.

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Indeed.

It's very funny when people say "they hacked my account" and they imagine a skinny neckbeard guy with long hair sitting in a dark room alone full of computers everywhere, typing random keystrokes in his keyboard in a fast motion and magically getting people's accounts credentials.

That's not how it works folks, that only works in hollywood. In the real world, a phrase like "I have gotten my account hacked" would be MUCH more realistic than "someone has hacked my account", since hacking relies in social engineering: phishing sites, keyloggers, account info sharing...

Even if you change all the information from the same computer, its still compromised. Reformat and start over from scratch, but before that change all the info from someone else's computer. And as Zack85 said, clicking on wierd stuff in ur email, going to gil seller sites = Easiest way to get ur account hacked. Some of the gil seller sites got injections that auto installs key loggers to ur system without you even getting a notice of it.

Im taking into account all of your advices but i really need to know how to contact STF team or anything like that x.x

up..............................................

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Originally Posted by Minzy

Im taking into account all of your advices but i really need to know how to contact STF team or anything like that x.x

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US user
https://support.na.square-enix.com/c...ect=ID+Unknown

JP User
http://support.jp.square-enix.com/about.php?la=1&id=20

EU user
http://support.eu.square-enix.com/