Buying (or selling) an account IS explicitly listed in the ToS:

https://support.na.square-enix.com/f...la=1&kid=68216

Examples of RMT include offering or receiving compensation for the following:

- Accounts
- Characters
- In-game currency (gil)
- In-game services
- In-game items
- In-game activities (such as selling clears)
The thing is that in-game, it's pretty clear to see a reported chat ad saying "FFXIV gold for sale sketchywebsite.com!!!" Any specific transaction/report would need to be appended with a bunch of additional out-of-game information.

With that said, attention to the ToS once more:

Examples of RMT include offering or receiving compensation for the following:
You are considered a guilty party as a buyer just as much as if you were a seller. Why would SE help people who willfully breach the ToS? It's not like there's any "legal" means of doing so through an official sanctioned marketplace, and you're talking about people "accidentally" buying one off a "black market" - from the first, trading accounts is explicitly verboten.