48 replies to this topic

[sylwen]

yea but this would of been great information maybe 3 days ago?

[Jerbear]

yea but this would of been great information maybe 3 days ago?

 

Hey, the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago; the second best time to plant a tree is today.

 

The knowledge for this kind of stuff has always been there - it is literally as old as the internet. People just get really trusting when it comes to 'official' channels (i.e. "I'm on the official support website! I'm safe here!"). That doesn't matter--be cautious, always. Everyone needs to educate themselves and know what to look for when it comes to cybersecurity. The reason these people do this is because people do fall for it and it's because people don't really know what to look for when it comes to scams. That's why scam callers exist claiming they're from the U.S. Government and that they need you to call back and give them your information because, "your sOciAL seCuRiTy nUmBer is about to E X P I R E!" Pro tip: it doesn't expire.

 

Rules of Thumb:

• No one in a support role will ever ask for your password
• Use different passwords for different services/accounts
• If it sounds too good to be true, it is
• If it feels weird to you, it is

Edited by Jerbear, 01 August 2024 - 11:40 PM.

[mark0707]

If we can't trust official channels then where do we get help? I am not saying I am not at fault   but there has to be meaning in going to the official website/channels. who to trust who to get helped if not there... 

 

I didnt click any suspicious site.

I went to official website

I checked the name of GM. I confirmed that is same name that helped me last time inquiry 2023 just below the new ticket.

I checked again if official site after replying bunch of times in the ticket.  it is correct site, with correct name GM Aunoe

I wanted reverse the trade asking for card back, but threated to block my account as there was agreement in place as zeny been acquired, just waiting for me to proceed.

 

 

Hey, the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago; the second best time to plant a tree is today.

 

The knowledge for this kind of stuff has always been there - it is literally as old as the internet. People just get really trusting when it comes to 'official' channels (i.e. "I'm on the official support website! I'm safe here!"). That doesn't matter--be cautious, always. Everyone needs to educate themselves and know what to look for when it comes to cybersecurity. The reason these people do this is because people do fall for it and it's because people don't really know what to look for when it comes to scams. That's why scam callers exist claiming they're from the U.S. Government and that they need you to call back and give them your information because, "your sOciAL seCuRiTy nUmBer is about to E X P I R E!" Pro tip: it doesn't expire.

 

Rules of Thumb:

• No one in a support role will ever ask for your password
• Use different passwords for different services/accounts
• If it sounds too good to be true, it is
• If it feels weird to you, it is

 

 

Edited by mark0707, 01 August 2024 - 11:50 PM.

[Jerbear]

If we can't trust official channels then where do we get help? I am not saying I am not at fault   but there has to be meaning in going to the official website/channels. who to trust who to get helped if not there... 

 

I didnt click any suspicious site.

I went to official website

I checked the name of GM. I confirmed that is same name that helped me last time inquiry 2023 just below the new ticket.

I checked again if official site after replying bunch of times in the ticket.  it is correct site, with correct name GM Aunoe

 

 

Well, let it be a PSA to everybody, all staff posts and replies will have "Employee Post" as shown below:

 

This is the internet - people will grift your ass at every chance they get. They've been doing it for over 30 years. Don't fall for it and keep yourself safe out there.

 

 

 

I mean, really, that's how you know. That's who you trust. It's written there for the benefit of the users, not for the support staff. Support staff doesn't need to know that GM Ambernite or GM Aunoe are support staff - they work on the same team. That information is there for all of us.

 

You checked a lot of things, which is good, but you didn't check one of the most crucial things - the "Employee Post" tag. But even you said, initially, you felt weird that they asked for an account password. And then you felt weird when they threatened you with a ban. This is how internet scams work. The scammer will operate in a way that is almost always URGENT (i.e. "do this or else" or "you have to do this now because x, y, z..") and the entire situation will almost always seem odd or off to the user. These are all red flags. I hope anyone reading this understands how easy it is to fall for scams like this if you aren't being mindful. I also hope anyone reading this learns from this and is able to be educated to not make this kind of mistake.

 

Beyond holding somebody's hand on the internet, there isn't much else that can be done from our end. We try to watch out for each other by making posts like this to inform others to be careful. But at the end of the day, it's not my job or anyone else's to walk someone through step-by-step on the things to watch out for or be careful for on the internet. It's on you to protect yourself. The same way it's on me to protect myself. The same way it's on the people reading this to protect themselves.

 

Yes, it's also on WP to clean up on their side - which they've now done as the scammer account is banned. But it won't be the first time and it won't be the last time.

 

The best you can do: Watch yourself. Learn from this.

 

The GMs said they're going to fix it, so you'll be alright. It may take a while, but don't ever fall for this kind of stuff again.

 

It comes down to each user to do the best that they can do until it's cleaned up on the other side.

Edited by Jerbear, 02 August 2024 - 12:01 AM.

[Jerbear]

<snip>

 

Cool your jets, turbo. This is a learning experience for not just this user but anyone reading.

 

We're playing this game--lest I remind you--by our own choice, so we're stuck in this system that is around us. Until it's fixed, it's on each of us to be careful and some of the guidelines to be careful have been outlined in this thread.

 

Edited by VModIceCreamCake - Removed quote of trolling message

Edited by VModIceCreamCake, 03 August 2024 - 01:20 PM.

[mark0707]

I missed that tiny detail beside their name I know I am an idiot for not seeing it. But hear me out "I didn't know there was a employee tag like that in the first place." and is official channel that only GM can use in their website/support page too. 

 

There is no right or wrong, but awareness not to trust official website. I just hope my credit and debit card is not compromised because losing items is my last of my concern. 

[Jerbear]

I missed that tiny detail beside their name I know I am an idiot for not seeing it. But hear me out "I didn't know there was a employee tag like that in the first place." and is official channel that only GM can use in their website/support page too. 

 

There is no right or wrong, but awareness not to trust official website. I just hope my credit and debit card is not compromised because losing items is my last of my concern. 

 

Now this is a major problem. I've been playing RO for 20 years so I've gone through the transitions from the garbage Bulletin Board System in the early 2000s to our current support system. I knew about this "Employee Tag" since they did their big transition to WarpPortal, but hearing that others aren't aware is not good. It's a failure on WarpPortal's part to not make that common knowledge to all users.

 

Everyone needs to know that this is their system of checks & balances. So post it to your friends, post it to your family that play, and watch your ass.

 

Your card information should be fine as card information/purchasing has nothing to do with support tickets.

 

Unless, of course, you used the same passwords for things like your bank as you did your RO account... (don't do that crap).

[HickV]

I mean, really, that's how you know. That's who you trust. It's written there for the benefit of the users, not for the support staff. Support staff doesn't need to know that GM Ambernite or GM Aunoe are support staff - they work on the same team. That information is there for all of us.

 

You checked a lot of things, which is good, but you didn't check one of the most crucial things - the "Employee Post" tag. But even you said, initially, you felt weird that they asked for an account password. And then you felt weird when they threatened you with a ban. This is how internet scams work. The scammer will operate in a way that is almost always URGENT (i.e. "do this or else" or "you have to do this now because x, y, z..") and the entire situation will almost always seem odd or off to the user. These are all red flags. I hope anyone reading this understands how easy it is to fall for scams like this if you aren't being mindful. I also hope anyone reading this learns from this and is able to be educated to not make this kind of mistake.

 

Beyond holding somebody's hand on the internet, there isn't much else that can be done from our end. We try to watch out for each other by making posts like this to inform others to be careful. But at the end of the day, it's not my job or anyone else's to walk someone through step-by-step on the things to watch out for or be careful for on the internet. It's on you to protect yourself. The same way it's on me to protect myself. The same way it's on the people reading this to protect themselves.

 

Yes, it's also on WP to clean up on their side - which they've now done as the scammer account is banned. But it won't be the first time and it won't be the last time.

 

The best you can do: Watch yourself. Learn from this.

 

The GMs said they're going to fix it, so you'll be alright. It may take a while, but don't ever fall for this kind of stuff again.

 

It comes down to each user to do the best that they can do until it's cleaned up on the other side.

 

 

If there's a vulnerability such as this where scammers can pretend to be GM's in the official support website then who's to say that they would not be able to just change a couple lines of code or whatever and have that exact same official badge next to their name?

Blaming a player for falling for a scam on the support page is pretty low, specially since the only people that should be moderating the tickets are official staff. I can already tell you're quite a piece of work just by your comments lmao.

[Jerbear]

If there's a vulnerability such as this where scammers can pretend to be GM's in the official support website then who's to say that they would not be able to just change a couple lines of code or whatever and have that exact same official badge next to their name?

Blaming a player for falling for a scam on the support page is pretty low, specially since the only people that should be moderating the tickets are official staff. I can already tell you're quite a piece of work just by your comments lmao.

 

If they could do that, the scammer would have done that to make themselves completely indistinguishable.

 

You can absolutely go into your WP Support page and change your profile picture to match a GM's as well as change your display name to do the same.

What you can't do is nail the "Employee Tag" to yourself as the account you're scamming with isn't an actual support account.

 

Again, it is absolutely WarpPortal's issue to combat and fix, but we, as players, are stuck with that problem. I can't make them fix their own system and neither can anyone else. It is 100% on us to be aware of what scams are in place until (if) these problems get fixed. That's what these posts are.

[KriticalAssassin]

Probably just found a way to send tickets to other users or whatever, should be possible in the system but just disabled on front end from being visual. That + making your account name/profile match a gm.

[mark0707]

now gm asking me this   I can't because I have given 10 mins for the scammer to go wild on all my characters + storage. what to reply here? I am screwed am I?

 

Where did you get the item: 
Detailed item (refine, card, enchant, etc.): 
Why the item was lost: 
Please attach the last screenshot before the item lost: 

 

I am not getting back everything right? and if I added the wrong thing I am blocked/ban? and if I only remember some things I am only getting those items? what is the used of logs...

Edited by mark0707, 02 August 2024 - 12:46 AM.

[KriticalAssassin]

wow, stupid gm asking what item when you told them they stole everything.
Just insist further that they emptied out the account and give them the time frame of when it all happened.

Edited by KriticalAssassin, 02 August 2024 - 12:44 AM.

[Jerbear]

now gm asking me this I can't because I have given 10 mins for the scammer to go wild on all my characters + storage. what to reply here? I am screwed am I?

Where did you get the item:
Detailed item (refine, card, enchant, etc.):
Why the item was lost:
Please attach the last screenshot before the item lost:

I am not getting back everything right? and if I added the wrong thing I am blocked/ban? and if I only remember some things I am only getting those items? what is the used of logs...

Naw, you need to push for them to do a full rollback since the account was hacked using their support as a medium.

Give them the info they want there (name your most valuable stuff) then push to have it escalated to a supervisor.

[LordXeres]

I would like to thank you, Jerbear, for bringing this to the everyone's attention regarding the Employee Tag. I have played for a long time and have sent too many tickets for verification and never noticed that. So I thank you for spreading this info. It will help create better secure trading guide.

First and foremost, it is the fault of the user that got careless and was scammed. He had red flags that a gm was asking for password and he still sent them.
Second, you cannot fault for someone to think that something might not be a common knowledge. Stop taking that as an insult and listen to the person sharing the information.
Lastly, almost every system can be hacked and you should practice carefulness when dealing with them.

[mark0707]

They threatened to block/ban my account if I did not proceed with the trade. I was telling them that I dont want to and want to reverse the trade. but GM aunoe saying they already have zeny, I also already todex the Baphomet card, just need the account password to pass the zeny on my 5 characters.   This is all happening in the warpportal support page. The very support website that can be asked for help. There are red flags for sure, I didn't want to. but if another person was/were on my shoes. they might have gave in too.

 

it was the power of authority and belief on the very system you rely on which is warpportal support page. I was careless? may be and may be no and is it my fault? is not simple answer when all I did was comply on the warpportal support site where GM should only be the one that can reply to me.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by mark0707, 02 August 2024 - 01:52 AM.

[Jerbear]

So that's another person unaware of the tag, and I would consider Xeres to be a veteran player. WarpPortal has done a piss poor job making this common knowledge among players in recent years that it seems this knowledge is basically lost to time now. Now I'm curious if this is even posted on their support website in any form. I bet it isn't.

 

The reason I know is because when the server merge was happening in 2010, I sent a ticket to support to document all of my MVP Cards & God Items with screenshots ahead of time in case something happened to them during the merge. In addition, I PMed Heimdallr on the old forums and asked him whether or not someone would reply to it to confirm that they've received it and he said they will reply back under an official support account with an Employee Post tag on it. They did so.

 

 

People can clown on me all the want, but everything I've said is real talk. Protect yourself. It's becoming more clear that this isn't as common knowledge as I assumed. So, welcome to the Public Service Announcement. Wish I saw the other thread a few days ago, but I don't touch forums much. I only saw this one when someone messaged me on Discord and said, "don't touch WP Support tickets."

[mark0707]

Thank you, all you guys, for spreading the awareness. I am just grouchy, feeling aka feeling the pain/loss. but I never meant harm. I never did realize or seen the employee tag it was just tiny detail easy to miss also never heard of it until now.

I am going to log off, do other stuff and hopefully take my mind of what happened. Hopefully more people can see this post. Microsoft gets hacked, google gets hacked so there is no exception like Jerbear said.it hurts but it is my fault as there will be no smoke if there is no fire.  

[LordXeres]

They threatened to block/ban my account if I did not proceed with the trade. I was telling them that I dont want to and want to reverse the trade. but GM aunoe saying they already have zeny, I also already todex the Baphomet card, just need the account password to pass the zeny on my 5 characters.   This is all happening in the warpportal support page. The very support website that can be asked for help. There are red flags for sure, I didn't want to. but if another person was/were on my shoes. they might have gave in too.

 

it was the power of authority and belief on the very system you rely on which is warpportal support page. I was careless? may be and may be no and is it my fault? is not simple answer when all I did was comply on the warpportal support site where GM should only be the one that can reply to me.

It defintiely sucks. Getting scammed is a very annoying feeling. Especially when you trust something to be safe. But take this as a lesson that anything can scam you and try to be cautious as mucha s you can.

 

So that's another person unaware of the tag, and I would consider Xeres to be a veteran player. WarpPortal has done a piss poor job making this common knowledge among players in recent years that it seems this knowledge is basically lost to time now. Now I'm curious if this is even posted on their support website in any form. I bet it isn't.

 

The reason I know is because when the server merge was happening in 2010, I sent a ticket to support to document all of my MVP Cards & God Items with screenshots ahead of time in case something happened to them during the merge. In addition, I PMed Heimdallr on the old forums and asked him whether or not someone would reply to it to confirm that they've received it and he said they will reply back under an official support account with an Employee Post tag on it. They did so.

 

 

People can clown on me all the want, but everything I've said is real talk. Protect yourself. It's becoming more clear that this isn't as common knowledge as I assumed. So, welcome to the Public Service Announcement. Wish I saw the other thread a few days ago, but I don't touch forums much. I only saw this one when someone messaged me on Discord and said, "don't touch WP Support tickets."

Yeah, I never notice that tag until you told me about it. I am trying to imporve the secure trading practices for people and hopefully this link will help a bit.
https://irowiki.org/...:Secure_Trading

[ThePlutonians]

Thank you, all you guys, for spreading the awareness. I am just grouchy, feeling aka feeling the pain/loss. but I never meant harm. I never did realize or seen the employee tag it was just tiny detail easy to miss also never heard of it until now.

I am going to log off, do other stuff and hopefully take my mind of what happened. Hopefully more people can see this post. Microsoft gets hacked, google gets hacked so there is no exception like Jerbear said.it hurts but it is my fault as there will be no smoke if there is no fire.  

 

Knowing something like employee badge/tag is just a nice thing to have, especially since (iirc) this is not part of their security awareness campaign/educational materials. There are absolutely no rights for them or anybody to blame you on their system's vulnerability.

 

Having said that, sharing passwords/OTP or any other authenticating methods IS your fault and you should be held accountable for your action. This is basic cyber security knowledge and I think Warp Portal has also done enough to remind you this (they even regularly broadcast messages like this).

 

Anyway good luck on retrieving your items. I hope they don't complicate things and can restore all your lost items/zeny. Their system's gap (I'm not sure if the system is being hacked or the scammer just found a way to be involved in the ticketing system) is one of the reasons you being scammed, so I were them I would treat you nicely and make things easier for you.

[Jerbear]

Thank you, all you guys, for spreading the awareness. I am just grouchy, feeling aka feeling the pain/loss. but I never meant harm. I never did realize or seen the employee tag it was just tiny detail easy to miss also never heard of it until now.

I am going to log off, do other stuff and hopefully take my mind of what happened. Hopefully more people can see this post. Microsoft gets hacked, google gets hacked so there is no exception like Jerbear said.it hurts but it is my fault as there will be no smoke if there is no fire.  

 

It's going to be annoying and/or frustrating to get your stuff back with support, but I have faith they'll do right by you. It'll likely take a long time, too, as they confirm then re-confirm information with you. Then you'll probably get referred to a team specialist who will do the brunt of the work. The GM Team should just roll you back so you get all your stuff back as it were before this happened, but... who knows what they'll do?

 

Just in case they don't just do a rollback, you must compile a list of your most expensive gears that you lost. Do top 10 or top 20, I don't know. If they don't do a full rollback, you need to get the most expensive things you owned back at a minimum. Losing a +7 Cranial Valkyrja's Shield doesn't matter, but losing any MVP Cards or gears worth billions of zeny? That's a big deal.

 

I assume you locked the scammer out of your account with a password reset afterwards, meaning you probably have your characters.

 

Regardless, characters can be remade and levels regained; gear is absolutely the limiting factor. I implore you to be diligent with the process, don't settle for half-answers, and ask them for occasional updates once the process begins.

 

For what it's worth, they've now posted a warning on Facebook to alert players of this. They really should also post a warning on the main website and as a snippet in every Maintenance Patch Notes. Your temporary loss probably prevented more people from being scammed because you went ahead and posted about it. Now you just have to get to working with support to get your stuff back. I hope you get everything back.

[tlc9711LOgo]

Also ppl, please read this -> https://forums.warpp...-scams-and-you/

and drill it into ur mind xD

 

• Your password is a sacred key that guards your precious goods. There are only two places you will ever need to type in your password: the RO client log-in screen, and the official Warp Portal Account Binding page. Once your RO game account is bound to your Warp Portal account (and this only applies to users who created a RO account before the Warp Portal system existed) you will never ever ever ever ever ever EVER EVER need use your password anywhere but the game’s log in screen. I know this sounds like common sense, but you would be surprised how easily some users throw this information around. We even receive tickets saying “hey Mr. GM help my game crashed and my password is megaman!” Remember what I said before? We don’t need your password so you shouldn't give it out – even to us!

Edited by tlc9711LOgo, 02 August 2024 - 07:05 AM.

[mark0707]

Update, now the scammer is emailing me making my hopes up with restoring my equipments...

 

As much as, I want to put trust on security on the warp portal site, he was able to access my old password which is unique as I only used it on warp portal. It is my old password few years ago. He was not able to create anymore ticket in the site support page but then again he was able to access my old password. Good thing I didn't store any cards(debit or credit) and used only PayPal with mobile authenticator.

 

Spoiler

 

The audacity of this scammer though is unbelievable that it is kind of amusing he reminds me of not giving the password to anyone but asking me to change password  imagine if he is still using official support page  . also, good thing I know how phishing and look at what platform he's using. It is Hotmail. 

 

 

Edited by mark0707, 02 August 2024 - 04:56 PM.

[mark0707]

Today, GM restored 96% to 99% of my items. I honestly can't remember everything and will settle for 50% or anything just to play because I miss the game so much! Also, I am at fault too for trusting blindly even with a legit support site but thank you GM Toxious!! Thank you   

[LouisLu]

so what  happen next?

where is the update