My worst nightmare has happened....

[Sarayana]

Sorry to hear of this. I'm sure all your stuff will be restored.

My question is are the hackers just looking to gold sell in game and then get your credit card information etc???

Apparently, the best way to make money off of WoW right now is to steal the gold - hack an account, sell everything that's sellable, steal all their gold, ravage their guild bank (and apparently, there's a hack for that so that stack limits don't apply), etc. - and sell it to others. This is why buying gold is so detrimental to the community (not to mention it's a pretty sure-fire way to get hacked, visiting those sites). Sometimes the hacked toons are used to farm, such as the underground mining and all that, sometimes they're used to spam the gold-selling sites, etc. In those cases, the account usually gets suspended relatively fast, as people report it.

Seems like it's majorly big business to steal from one and sell to another... *sigh*

[Slickrock]

I'd like to know who really buys it all... other than the leet top-tier raiders that buy gold, I don't know who else does.. kids with dad's credit card?

[Sarayana]

I actually know quite a few people that buy gold. People that would like to buy some of the gold sink items (Dalaran rings, mounts, etc.) but don't have the time or patience to farm/craft/do dailies, people that feel the raiding takes so much of their WoW time that they can't raise the gold to pay for raiding consumables and gems/enchants, etc. Generally, all their gold buying ventures have also ended the same way: with their toons naked and broke in Dalaran. Sometimes on different servers (they'll use the level 80s as "mules" to transport gold between realms if they find a buyer on a different realm).

Probably kids with dad's credit card are also a fairly sizeable part of that group. But you have to realise that gold buying is actually "cheap." For a couple of real life bucks - less than a Starbuck's coffee - you can buy a couple of thousand gold. If you're not aware of the risks, it might seem like an investment in your game time, similar to the Blizzard store mount and minipets.

[Saturo]

Just minipets, Bulletdance.

[Ëlfdragon]

Well, my dad said he wont buy me an authenticator, claiming my brothers account has been hacked 3 times (It hasnt even been hacked once, my brothers to careful about things to get hacked)...So seems like the soonest i could get one is after my birthday(September 14th...), when I'll (hopefully) have enough money to buy one myself.

[Vephriel]

What's your father's reasoning behind that? If your brother's account had indeed been hacked then wouldn't an authenticator be a good thing? o.O It's not like they're expensive..you really only pay for the S&H. And it's worth the peace of mind and security.

[Ëlfdragon]

I'm not sure why he wont, he just says he wont. I'll try to ask him again later, maybe something has him in a bad mood atm.

[Vephriel]

Hope everything turns out okay for you.

[Teigan]

If you've got a way to earn the $6.50 or so, which should be easy (go mow a lawn or something) just do it and hand your Dad the money and then, when he isn't busy with anything else, explain why it's important.

[Sarayana]

I'm with Teigan here. See if you can find a way to make the cash and get your dad to pick it up for you that way. Perhaps see if you can make $13 and have him get one for your brother too?

[Ëlfdragon]

So yeah, got off the phone with Blizz half an hour ago, and i got my account back! Now just to wait untill i get all my gear back. Hopefully it wont take to long.

[Bulletdance]

I'm glad you got it back alright.
Don't forget to change your email password and wow one too.

[Slickrock]

So yeah, got off the phone with Blizz half an hour ago, and i got my account back! Now just to wait untill i get all my gear back. Hopefully it wont take to long.

Woot! Grats.

Now carefully work with your dad to get that authenticator...

[Ryai]

So yeah, got off the phone with Blizz half an hour ago, and i got my account back! Now just to wait untill i get all my gear back. Hopefully it wont take to long.

Tell him 10 bucks for an authenticator is better than being continuously hacked. And if he still claims it, tell him someone told you who had a friend half a world away, help her buy an authenticator when she could not. Yeah Aria had to buy me one when I was unable to fix my info on the blizz store so I could get one and get one shipped to the right address as I evidently put in one wrong number for my address <_>

If he still won't buy it, offer to like, mow the yard for 10 bucks instead, then have him use the money he just gave you, to buy an authenticator. He can't complain then since you already earned the money.

[kamoodle5]

What Vephriel recommended to me earlier when I was under my own fiasco is to make a gmail address for just my battlenet account. That's what I did as soon as I got my account back. I wasn't gonna take anymore chances. In fact, I posed a strong message in my address. So you might try that.

Do you and your brother have cell phones btw?

[Ëlfdragon]

No, we dont have cell hpones, and heres one last update: So, after explaining how i was able to tell my account was hacked so easily (my guild masters wife had asked how i had known in vent [I can only talk in guild chat atm, and she wasnt on a toon that wasnt in our guild so i had to use vent]) and her husband sugested i dl a scan that scans only for malware, keyloggers, ect. So i did, and i started the scan when i went to bed. When i checked this morning, the scan had found 7 things, which have all been removed. Hopefully my computer is safe now. They also offered to buy me an authenticator so hopefully i'll be geting one soon

[Sarayana]

Aww that's so nice of them! Check with your dad first though, he might not want people you only know through the internet to know your address... Just to be safe, you know.

[Ëlfdragon]

I already asked him, and he said its fine with him. I love my guild master and his wife sometimes, they're also so helpful

[Sarayana]

That's excellent, if it can all be worked out that way. I wasn't trying to be difficult anyway, I just know I'd refuse if my son was to ask that. I know many, many people online and have found many friends, but you know... it's my son. >.> /overprotective. At least I'd want to talk to them and get to know them. Then again, I'd probably be playing WoW with him. ˆ—ˆ Aaaaanyway. Sorry for derailing the discussion.

Good to hear you got your comp scanned too. Those keyloggers may have gotten on your comp for WoW, but that's not all they're logging, you know? Best to clean up the system often and diligently.

[Ëlfdragon]

Lol, np. And yeah, going to try and make it a habbit to scan my computer with both my scanners once a week now.