Question Regarding Bans on Compromised Accounts

[Jojoya]

No one here is blaming SE for the compromised account. What I am blaming them for is charging us for playtime while the account is not accessible. That is very different. Also, to make assumptions on how an account was compromised doesnt necessarily help in any way, and its quite rude. We were literally in the middle of a frontline when he was disconnected from the game and then locked out. There was no 'inputting my info into a link" so that is irrelevant. (very victim blamey of you). The condescension is unhelpful and unnecessary, have the day you deserve

It may be an issue of timing.

What date did your husband get the email for the upcoming payment notification? I usually get mine 4-5 business days in advance. Once they send that email, the payment is in the billing queue for processing even though it's not actually submitted until the billing date. They may not able to stop the processing on a specific account.

As for paying for time while the account is suspended, the account is still under investigation. Adjustments (if any) would only be made after the investigation is completed.

Their customer service for Account and Billing Support is one area that they really need to improve. It's a common source of complaints.

Out of curiosity, did your husband report the account compromise to SE immediately, or only after the ban notice was received? Immediately reporting the compromise should have prevented the ban from happening. Failing to report the compromise immediately upon discovery leaves the impression that your husband might have been complicit in the compromise, allowing the account to be used.

Even if a compromise doesn't cause loss to items held on the account, it should always be reported for your protection. A character rollback offer can be refused but at least SE is aware that actions during the compromised time period were not those of the account holder.

Its principle, I wouldn't care if its .01 cent, if you are charging people for services they do not have access to, that is unethical. I don't care if they have the entire company working on the investigation, that is irrelevant. I shall make a stink with or without your approval.

They are not responsible for your account getting compromised, nor are they responsible if your husband failed to report it after recovering the account but before the ban notice was received.

Make a stink all you want but it's not going to change anything. They will conduct their investigation then make their determination.

[Gramboozle]

Good thing this isn't a support forum.

What an impressive contribution to the conversation. Congrats.

[Gramboozle]

It may be an issue of timing.

What date did your husband get the email for the upcoming payment notification? I usually get mine 4-5 business days in advance. Once they send that email, the payment is in the billing queue for processing even though it's not actually submitted until the billing date. They may not able to stop the processing on a specific account.

As for paying for time while the account is suspended, the account is still under investigation. Adjustments (if any) would only be made after the investigation is completed.

Their customer service for Account and Billing Support is one area that they really need to improve. It's a common source of complaints.

Out of curiosity, did your husband report the account compromise to SE immediately, or only after the ban notice was received? Immediately reporting the compromise should have prevented the ban from happening. Failing to report the compromise immediately upon discovery leaves the impression that your husband might have been complicit in the compromise, allowing the account to be used.

Even if a compromise doesn't cause loss to items held on the account, it should always be reported for your protection. A character rollback offer can be refused but at least SE is aware that actions during the compromised time period were not those of the account holder.


They are not responsible for your account getting compromised, nor are they responsible if your husband failed to report it after recovering the account but before the ban notice was received.

Make a stink all you want but it's not going to change anything. They will conduct their investigation then make their determination.

Semantics aside, He actually reported the account compromised within minutes of it occurring because he was online and was disconnected, went to log back in and his pw wouldnt work, then reset his password, but it didnt work because someone else who logged in from a console in bosnia put their own OTP on it, but didnt change the email linked to the account, we were able to unlink the other OTP with a code that was sent to his email, that then allowed him to reset his pw, and add his own OTP, he then submitted a ticket to customer service notifying of the compromise. was able to change his password back, added an OTP connected to his phone, and was able to log in and play for an entire day. As of today still no response from the ticket opened last thursday. Tried to log in on saturday, account was banned, tried to log in to mogstation to remove the payment information, but that was included in the account ban, so we had no access to make any changes to the account at all and the sub renewed today.

[Greyhawk]

What an impressive contribution to the conversation. Congrats.

Pot, meet kettle.

Glad you went back and edited the post to what I was referring.
Saved the day there.

[Gramboozle]

Pot, meet kettle.

Glad you went back and edited the post to what I was referring.
Saved the day there.

Watch out everyone, the forum title police is here. If you aren't going to be helpful, minding your business is free.

[Kes13a]

you prevalent attitude aside.. you have bigger issues.

if your story is true, someone from Bosnia, logged into an account which has a OTP. you may want to sit back and think about that, and what that may mean to other accounts instead of thinking up more vitriol to throw around the forums. I mean you didnt go to any links or anything you say, but they seem pretty deep into your affairs... just a thought you may want to mull over a bit.

but done here. good luck with the account. I hope your husband is the one dealing with Customer Service.

[Gramboozle]

you prevalent attitude aside.. you have bigger issues.

if your story is true, someone from Bosnia, logged into an account which has a OTP. you may want to sit back and think about that, and what that may mean to other accounts instead of thinking up more vitriol to throw around the forums. I mean you didnt go to any links or anything you say, but they seem pretty deep into your affairs... just a thought you may want to mull over a bit.

but done here. good luck with the account. I hope your husband is the one dealing with Customer Service.

Simply returning the vitriol and condescension directed at me for absolutely no reason, there is nothing wrong with defending yourself from forum trolls. Your judgements aside, the issue is being resolved thanks to helpful people not keyboard cowards like yourself.

[Vahlnir]

Semantics aside, He actually reported the account compromised within minutes of it occurring because he was online and was disconnected, went to log back in and his pw wouldnt work, then reset his password, but it didnt work because someone else who logged in from a console in bosnia put their own OTP on it, but didnt change the email linked to the account, we were able to unlink the other OTP with a code that was sent to his email, that then allowed him to reset his pw, and add his own OTP, he then submitted a ticket to customer service notifying of the compromise. was able to change his password back, added an OTP connected to his phone, and was able to log in and play for an entire day. As of today still no response from the ticket opened last thursday. Tried to log in on saturday, account was banned, tried to log in to mogstation to remove the payment information, but that was included in the account ban, so we had no access to make any changes to the account at all and the sub renewed today.

These things take time. If the account was indeed reported as compromised in a timely fashion, the chances are probably decent that the account will be returned to your husband. The downside is that this process can take weeks or even months. So as much as the situation sucks, you and your husband will need to be patient. Again, it takes time. Vent all you want, as that is your right, but it won't get things done any faster, I assure you. Hopefully a lesson or two was learned here. Some lessons are best learned the hard way, sadly, but those are the ones that really stick with you. Live and learn and all that jazz. It will all probably work out, just not in an ideal time frame.

[Plebkac]

No one here is blaming SE for the compromised account. What I am blaming them for is charging us for playtime while the account is not accessible. That is very different. Also, to make assumptions on how an account was compromised doesnt necessarily help in any way, and its quite rude. We were literally in the middle of a frontline when he was disconnected from the game and then locked out. There was no 'inputting my info into a link" so that is irrelevant. (very victim blamey of you). The condescension is unhelpful and unnecessary, have the day you deserve

Hi Gramboozle, I've never posted on the forums as I tend to just lurk around and read threads that interest me. Your post I'm quoting however was worrying me enough that I felt the need to reply.

You said you didn't click any links nor entered your credentials on any suspect sites. Before being compromised, did your husband use the same password for his account anywhere else? If so, a data breach on a different site could explain how they were able to compromise his SE account. This could have wider reaching consequences than just your FFXIV account being suspended, hence my worries.

As for the ongoing payment issue, I'm afraid I can offer nothing but my sympathies for your plight. Not being able to suspend your payment for a service you are unable to use would also upset me.

As a general tip to anyone reading this, please make use of password managers and MFA when possible.

[Gramboozle]

Hi Gramboozle, I've never posted on the forums as I tend to just lurk around and read threads that interest me. Your post I'm quoting however was worrying me enough that I felt the need to reply.

You said you didn't click any links nor entered your credentials on any suspect sites. Before being compromised, did your husband use the same password for his account anywhere else? If so, a data breach on a different site could explain how they were able to compromise his SE account. This could have wider reaching consequences than just your FFXIV account being suspended, hence my worries.

As for the ongoing payment issue, I'm afraid I can offer nothing but my sympathies for your plight. Not being able to suspend your payment for a service you are unable to use would also upset me.

As a general tip to anyone reading this, please make use of password managers and MFA when possible.

Hi! I appreciate the empathy and kindness! So we both play on PlayStation, and haven’t had a need to input our account info into anything other than the game client, until he got kicked out and had to reset his password. Luckily everything else of monetary value has a 2FA attached, but our game passwords aren’t reused in other service accounts, we still aren’t sure how someone was able to get into the account to add their own OTP, or why they’d go through all that trouble just to send out phishing links, or why they didnt change any of the info like the email, they didn’t even take any of his Gil (granted he only had like 30k cuz we just bought a FC house). We did put a fraud alert out with our bank because they likely had access to our payment information, but thankfully we use a separate account for gaming so it’s isolated but still frustrating.