Account locked - any experience or advice?

Blind Owl

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Some advice
  • Never ever ever ever EVER buy SC accounts unless you can afford to lose them.
  • Grey market is 100% fine for ship buyers if you do your due diligence and can handle walking away from a deal if it feels fishy.
  • Never buy from a new shmuck you know nothing about, only buy from trusted sellers who have been actively selling for over 6 months, preferably a few years.
  • Don't buy from middlemen either. Sometimes trusted sellers sell other people's buybacks and ships, don't buy those. Ask specifically if the seller owns this ship in his hangar or if the ship is in his buyback because you do not buy from middlemen. Most of the long time sellers will tell you upfront if you ask.

If you bought an account that someone is being fraudulent with you about, or a fraudulent seller sold you a ship... Your only recourse, that I know of, is a chargeback or legal.

Sorry you got your account locked, I hope it works out for you.
Gunny Bunny knows best.
 

maynard

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I know someone who bought an account *cough cough*

it was the only way to acquire a very rare limited-edition ship I *cough* they wanted

fortunately the seller didn't pull any shenanigans
 
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NaffNaffBobFace

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Sucks dude, a lesson hard learned and I don't doubt at a cost too.

I very much doubt you'll be getting access to that account again if how Montoya says it went down. I think taking ownership of another account is against CIG T's &C's however no one ever reads those and scammers know it.

Thanks for sharing your story of woe, this could be a very powerful video subject for Montoya to put out to make sure few as possible backers are effected by similar scams. I know CIG doesn't speak about the gray market AT ALL but for those unwary that just leaves them open to this abuse and scam mercents.

Hope you still have access to the 'Verse with another account?

@Montoya now you are an Influencer is there any possibility of a PSA video of the most common SC gray market scams and their likelihood to screw a good TESTie over like this? (perhaps after seeking permission/fact checking from your [Corporate Efficiancy] links at CIG?)
 
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vahadar

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Yes, don't buy from the grey market, I know :(. I felt like I was careful in purchasing from legitimate sources, but I've definitely learned my lesson.

So my account has been locked for two weeks + and I've not heard anything from CIG outside of the original email from my ticket. Has anyone had any experience with this process? My biggest frustration is that since the account is locked, I have no way to check on my ticket other than emailing them with no response back. Is there any other course of action to get any information outside of email?
This is how it worked.

Somebody sells their account for to a trusted middleman. He then finds a buyer.

Buyer pays middleman who then gives him the account login.

New owner logs in, changes email and password and enjoys brand new fancy ships!

Original owner of account contacts CIG and says "I think I was hacked, I can't log into my account!"

CIG tracks account history and can not verify if claims of hack are true or not, also will not bother spending time investigating grey market transactions, so they simply revert account back to original owner.

Sharpone tries to log in, sees he is locked out with no way to get back in... CIG will probably not be responding because they do not support or provide assistance with any grey market transactions that go south.
Awww this really sucks. I feel sorry for you @sharpeone, i hope you will be able to resolve this.

What was the name of the middleman and the seller?
 

Dibs

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If it was an account sale, you're probably out of luck. If it was a ship sale, some sellers guarantee against charge backs. If it was the latter, once you confirm with CIG which item it was, contact the seller and they may be able to help you. Because it may not have been the seller, but someone previous to them that did the charge back.

There was a discussion recently on Starcitizen_Trades, if you wish to have a read here is the link.

If you have no luck at this point, at the very least, contact the moderation of the subreddit, they take this stuff very seriously, and will help if they can.

Sorry you have to deal with this, it really is a pain in the ass. Good luck.
 
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sharpeone

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Actually it was not the account that was purchased (sub accounts are still accessible), it was a ship that was mentioned in the first reply from CIG. My concern is the amount of time with no communication from CIG :(. I'm within the 6 months of Paypal to be able to take care of it. As soon as I am able to cross reference the chargeback or issue, I plan on reporting to StarCitizen_trades subreddit to keep anyone else from dealing with this.

I've read where others have experienced a two week wait period while others have been 10+ weeks. I just wasn't sure if anyone here has experienced this and wonder the length of time they had to wait for any response (after initial ticket response).
 

Montoya

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Actually it was not the account that was purchased (sub accounts are still accessible), it was a ship that was mentioned in the first reply from CIG
Can you explain the issue?

You bought a ship from the grey market, which was then removed from your account?

The title implied your entire account was locked out.
 

Thalstan

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you mentioned sub-accounts. As far as I know, there are no sub accounts.

That said, the purchase of a Star Citizen/CIG account is not allowed under the TOS. You can buy, sell, and gift ships, but not the account to which the ship is attached, this is to prevent people from buying/selling big capital ships, and help prevent the hacking/loss of those big ships. It prevents them from being brought into lawsuits and law enforcement actions, and keeps them from having to keep track of who owns what account.

even if you do have access to the account, but the ship you wanted was gifted/sold etc. You don’t have standing with CIG to recover that ship as you are not the owner. In reality, any a
gray/black market sale is at your own risk. No amount of documentation you produce will convince CIG to give you access to a ship or account you did not purchase from them directly.

without Good detailed info (not names) about what you purchased and what you can and can’t access, we can’t help.

enough people here have Javelins and/or Krakens that no one will bat an eye about trying to buy one.
 

sharpeone

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Can you explain the issue?

You bought a ship from the grey market, which was then removed from your account?

The title implied your entire account was locked out.
Sure thing. My primary account is locked. I had purchased another account (what I called a sub account earlier) with a specific ship, but that second account has never been locked. I am still able to access that account without issue, so my assumption is that is not the issue.

I had purchased several ships over the past few months from StarCitizen_Trades subreddit. I've gone through all of my purchases via Paypal and Reddit and have put them all in a spreadsheet with dates and other information that I can use to cross reference to figure out which seller caused me the issue once I hear back from CIG. I've checked on the accounts I've purchased from and I don't see any of the sellers on the blacklist, so I'll share my findings with their mods.

The explanation I got from CIG support is pasted below.

"Your account has been temporarily locked due to suspicious activity involving some of the gifts that have been received by this account.

During the investigation, your account will remain inactive."


My biggest concern is the amount of time that has passed with no communication even though I have contacted them via email a few times. Because my account is locked, I'm unable to view the actual ticket to get any updates so I'm primarily relying on email through their support which has been nonexistent.
 
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Thraesh

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So here is a couple questions:

1. Did you ever buy ships for this sub account as you call it or gift anything from this account to your main account at any point?
2. Did you ever send items from your main account to this other account?
3. Did you ever connect these accounts in any way before or mention or talk about with anyone or on any forums that you had bought another account?

Lastly, why bother buying accounts? It is, as many have stated and everyone should know, against the TOS
 
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sharpeone

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I sent one ship from the second account to my main. I mainly purchased the second account due to it's backer status. I would assume if it dealt with that second account, it would have locked that account first. I'm able to access that account without issue.

Maybe that's a bad assumption?
 
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Thraesh

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I sent one ship from the second account to my main. I mainly purchased the second account due to it's backer status. I would assume if it dealt with that second account, it would have locked that account first. I'm able to access that account without issue.

Maybe that's a bad assumption?
Worst case scenario if this is all the case, you will lose your main account now. This is due to the original owner most likely reported the account hacked. When CIG investigated they see that the item/s on the account were moved to your main one. This in turn caused them to block your main account so you can't (in their eyes) sell the newly acquired items to others or use for yourself as you are not the original owner.

You can probably only access the secondary account right now until the investigation is over and at that time both accounts will most likely be locked. You on the other hand will be out of luck as the original owner of your second account can provide evidence that the account is his.

Again this is all worst case scenario, but just be ready in case.
 

sharpeone

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Worst case scenario if this is all the case, you will lose your main account now. This is due to the original owner most likely reported the account hacked. When CIG investigated they see that the item/s on the account were moved to your main one. This in turn caused them to block your main account so you can't (in their eyes) sell the newly acquired items to others or use for yourself as you are not the original owner.

You can probably only access the secondary account right now until the investigation is over and at that time both accounts will most likely be locked. You on the other hand will be out of luck as the original owner of your second account can provide evidence that the account is his.

Again this is all worst case scenario, but just be ready in case.
Thanks for the insight...I hope that's not the case about the original account though as that's where all my ships and money reside :|.
 

Montoya

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I dont think you lose your main account.

As Thraesh said, it was a ship you gifted your main account that some original buyer has claimed was stolen. Once they work through that, you will likely get your main account back, less one ship.
 

sharpeone

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I dont think you lose your main account.

As Thraesh said, it was a ship you gifted your main account that some original buyer has claimed was stolen. Once they work through that, you will likely get your main account back, less one ship.
I'm definitely good with losing the ship as long as I get my account back at this point as I was concierge and have/had a sub :(. I can deal with the issue via Paypal after that happens. I've definitely learned my lesson!

My main reason for this post was really to get any ideas on the timeframe, but you guys have been great providing more information than I asked for. I appreciate it!
 

DirectorGunner

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Sure thing. My primary account is locked. I had purchased another account (what I called a sub account earlier) with a specific ship, but that second account has never been locked.
With black market trades, if you want to empty the ships out of it have the original seller trade you those ships first, then buy the account once it's empty if you're buying the account for original backer rewards.

Right now, it can easily look like someone else logged in to the original owners account and gifted out a ship.
Even though you had a legit trade, CIG does not support it, they'll default to the original owners claim.
I would assume CIG has the IP addresses and browser user agent strings on record.
If an IP address drastically changes and proceeds to gift a ship and that's it, they may have a red flag that automatically pops up for that kind of activity. *
speculation on my part
I know some who bought accounts and started selling off the ships from it, and then the original owner bought the account back minus the sold ships.
It can go well for both parties.

The shady thing of sellers selling accounts and then claiming hacked, is a serious risk, which is WHY that subbreddit https://www.reddit.com/r/Starcitizen_trades/ has a big old disclaimer on the side of their subreddit via a link called "Our stance on account trading" https://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen_trades/wiki/accounts

The subreddit requires this disclaimer in all account selling posts
(1) Account sales are in clear violation of RSI's terms of service, and are at high risk of being terminated at any time.

(2) The original owner will remain the legal owner of the account except in specific jurisdiction where local laws that supercede RSI's EULA allows for account transfers.

(3) Seller understands that some personal information may be permanently associated with their account and consent to this information transferring with the account with this and any future transaction involving this account.

I (seller) promise to abandon my account, agreeing to never attempt to recover said account via RSI or any other means. As per RSI’s EULA all accounts remain the original account owner and RSI’s sole property.
If the seller had that disclaimer, quickly grab a screenshot if the post is still up, if the post is not still up, report this immediately to the subreddit mods and ask for a copy of the original post via a screenshot if possible.

The disclaimer / TOS clearly states the seller gave consent for you to transfer the ship out of the account once you bought the account.
CIG will not support this, however, you can use this as evidence for your own claim via bank or paypal.

DO report the seller immediately to that subreddit's mods, please.

That subreddit, if all directions the mods post are followed, is an excellent place to buy if you add some extra common sense to mitigate your risk.
And then ofc the better place to buy for Testies is our marketplace here.

P.S. My longest support ticket I think took nearly 6 months iirc... perhaps even longer.
The average response time for my support tickets, I'd guess would be 2 to 4 weeks range.
The answer time for tickets really depends on
  1. their workload,
  2. who first gets the ticket
  3. who they assign the ticket to
  4. if the person assigned the ticket is delayed by anything. Like a vacation, researching your answer, or waiting to get a response from someone else to give you an answer or decision.
 
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sharpeone

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I would assume CIG has the IP addresses and browser user agent strings on record.
If an IP address drastically changes and proceeds to gift a ship and that's it, they may have a red flag that automatically pops up for that kind of activity. *
speculation on my part
That's a great point and could be a possibility. I could have actually done it to myself :(. I'll definitely hold off on sending seller's name to moderators until I figure it out.

Do you not think they would have locked the second purchased account though as part of the investigation? That's where I'm confused if this were the case. I can still log into that account without issue.

Crap I hate to hear 6 months though....I'm trying to satisfy that itch by playing X4 Foundations but it's just not the same :(
 
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