Banned - Exploiting the economy..

[Kezotar]

Just logged in after 4th day after subscribing...

***Notice of Account Closure***

Account Name: WOW1

Reason for Closure: Terms of Use Violation -- Exploitative Activity: Abuse of the Economy

This account was closed because one or more characters were identified exchanging, or contributing to the exchange of, in-game property (items or gold) for "real-world" currency. This exchange process negatively impacts the World of Warcraft game environment by detracting from the value of the in-game economy.

Even if this is the result of account sharing, the account owner can still be held responsible for the penalty because of the impact it had on the game environment.

We've found the above behaviour is many times directly related to groups responsible for compromising World of Warcraft accounts; we take these issues very seriously. To better understand our position against exploitative activity and the risks involved, please review this article: http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/services/anti-gold/

The exploitative activity that took place on this account violates the World of Warcraft Terms of Use. We ask you take a moment to review these terms at http://eu.blizzard.com/company/legal/index.html. Any recurring subscriptions on this account have been suspended to prevent further monetary charges.

If you believe your account was compromised, please go to the following website https://eu.battle.net/account/suppor...-recovery.html. Our support staff will assist you as soon as possible. If you are unable to access your account due to the password being changed, please visit our Login Support site here: https://eu.battle.net/account/suppor...ord-reset.html

For any disputes of this action or further information on Exploitive Activity, please visit the Exploitative Activity FAQ and contact page here: http://eu.battle.net/support/en/article/200783

Regards,

Customer Services
Blizzard Entertainment Europe
http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/

Are more getting these? I had one of these like.. 1 year ago and it was resolved, however, what is this? Is Blizzard Perma banning their subscribers randomly? I haven't touched the AH, the trade window, the mailbox. Just did a few bgs and loads of arenas

[Deleted]

Could be that someone had compromised your account and used it as a mule to transfer gold from account to account. Blizzard do not just randomly ban their subscribers.
Just ticket them and explain yourself to their support and they will do a deeper review on your account and lift the ban.

[raviadso]

Perhaps it was a typo if you really didn't do anything wrong.

Otherwise I've never once heard of someone mistakenly targetted. I've been banned after being hacked when the hacker tried to sell gold with my account, but Blizz reversed that ban within seconds when they looked at the account and saw that I'd been logging in from the states since launch and then suddenly had a bunch of activity from Ukraine.

[glowpipe]

I got one after sending herbs from herber to an alchemy alt.

I leveled from 1 to 400 ish herbalism in one sitting. Sent all the herbs to my alchemist. 2 days later i was banned. A swift call to blizzard and my account was unbanned straight after. It was the amount of herbs i sent through mail that got me banned. Some auto ban system that doesnt really work that well

Seing that you did not touch the ah or mailbox. i cant really tell what happened. If you didnt do anything that you wont tell us. Just call them and its unbanned within an hour

[Kezotar]

Could be that someone had compromised your account and used it as a mule to transfer gold from account to account. Blizzard do not just randomly ban their subscribers.
Just ticket them and explain yourself to their support and they will do a deeper review on your account and lift the ban.

With a Mobile Phone Notificator and A authenticator that seems.. rather hard.

[Deleted]

Appeal. Exploiting economy pretty much always ends up getting reversed.

[Kezotar]

Perhaps it was a typo if you really didn't do anything wrong.

Otherwise I've never once heard of someone mistakenly targetted. I've been banned after being hacked when the hacker tried to sell gold with my account, but Blizz reversed that ban.

Never even touched the account for months. Just added some time, played a few bgs and arena and that's it. No hacking, no exploiting, no nothing.

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Appeal. Exploiting economy pretty much always ends up getting reversed.

Yeah, I did and waiting for reply. However why do these happen?

[raviadso]

With a Mobile Phone Notificator and A authenticator that seems.. rather hard.

I don't see the point of making this a public thread. Seems much more like:

A) It's a mistake that you can handle with a quick, private phone call between you and Blizz
or
B) you did it and want to air your grievances publicly.

Honestly sounds like your account had suspicious activity (being played from multiple locations, lots of money changing hands, etc) and logging in again from your home was the last straw

[Kezotar]

I don't see the point of making this a public thread. Seems much more like:

A) It's a mistake that you can handle with a quick, private phone call between you and Blizz
or
B) you did it and want to air your grievances publicly.

Honestly sounds like your account had suspicious activity (being played from multiple locations, lots of money changing hands, etc) and logging in again from your home was the last straw

No, the reason I am doing it publicly is because this isn't the first time it happend, it's the second, and I know my brother had this issue at least 3-4 times himself and ALWAYS, they end up reverted. But my question is, is Blizz auto banning accounts?

[raviadso]

No, the reason I am doing it publicly is because this isn't the first time it happend, it's the second, and I know my brother had this issue at least 3-4 times himself and ALWAYS, they end up reverted. But my question is, is Blizz auto banning accounts?

For botting as well as economy hacks, they do have an automated system, but they only ban the most egregious/obvious accounts (people spamming trade and then passing 100k to another account, people botting figure-8s in BGs, etc) based only on their algorithms. Otherwise, it's all done by reporting or individual investigations.

[blackblade]

No, the reason I am doing it publicly is because this isn't the first time it happend, it's the second, and I know my brother had this issue at least 3-4 times himself and ALWAYS, they end up reverted. But my question is, is Blizz auto banning accounts?

Why would the MMO champion community have an answer to that question? We're not blizzard, and we know about as much about the inner machinations of blizzard's GM team as you do.

I hate to say it, but try giving them a call and demanding an explanation if feel you were banned in error, and have been banned in error multiple times.

[Shisui-kun]

Could be that someone had compromised your account and used it as a mule to transfer gold from account to account. Blizzard do not just randomly ban their subscribers.
Just ticket them and explain yourself to their support and they will do a deeper review on your account and lift the ban.

Yes they do. They are allowed to suspend you for any reason.

[Kezotar]

For botting as well as economy hacks, they do have an automated system, but they only ban the most egregious/obvious accounts (people spamming trade and then passing 100k to another account, people botting figure-8s in BGs, etc). Otherwise, it's all done by reporting or individual investigations.

Haven't spammed shit. I told you, I did arenas with a friend on Skype, battle ID and /say talking about Justin Bieber with a guy, just how much we love him. At first I thought I was banned for trolling, which I'd understand, but .. Exploiting? I got lik 2-3 k gold

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Yes they do. They are allowed to suspend you for any reason.

I know that, but I didn't know they banned random.

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Why would the MMO champion community have an answer to that question? We're not blizzard, and we know about as much about the inner machinations of blizzard's GM team as you do.

I hate to say it, but try giving them a call and demanding an explanation if feel you were banned in error, and have been banned in error multiple times.

I know that, but I'm asking if they've heard of more occurances like this, where Blizzard automaticaly bans players for absolutely no reason.

[raviadso]

Haven't spammed shit. I told you, I did arenas with a friend on Skype, battle ID and /say talking about Justin Bieber with a guy, just how much we love him. At first I thought I was banned for trolling, which I'd understand, but .. Exploiting? I got lik 2-3 k gold

I didn't say you did. I just answered your question. If you want more detailed info, then you should probably speak with Blizzard.

[edmorte]

Well, ask for evidence.

If they banned you, they should have log to prove it.

[jn27]

Shortly after I first started playing WoW I got a 3-day ban out of the blue for "exploiting the economy" or something to that effect. It didn't mention real money trading or go into as much detail as yours does, but it was also a long time ago. I think it happened before or soon after I got my first character to level cap, but it also got reversed the same day I put in the ticket. Just a silly memory I have regarding exploiting the economy.

[Neliah]

I've never once heard of someone mistakenly targetted.

Same thing happened to me a few months ago, I was apparently also exploiting the economy while I was sleeping. I did a malware scan right after my account got closed and saw that I had the Disker64 on my PC.I sent the appeal to a GM including the log from my malware scan it was opened a few hours later but I was never told what was actually done on my account.

[Phookah]

Seems so hilarious that you see all these people get banned and its always "for no reason".
You did something, or it was a mistake.
Either way, going to the forums does absolutely nothing. Call blizzard.

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They don't give proof, even if you ask it, because if they did and you have counter proof, you can sue them and they'd lose.
(Even if you sue, without proof, you'd probably still win, eu declared that virtual items are yours and not the companies (tos or no tos)).

You couldn't EVER sue blizzard for anything they do to you regarding the game. They could ban you for no reason, send you emails saying "LOLNUB" and give away all your stuff and you couldn't do boo.

[Deleted]

Seems so hilarious that you see all these people get banned and its always "for no reason".
You did something, or it was a mistake.
Either way, going to the forums does absolutely nothing. Call blizzard.

Economy abuse most of time is when someone reports you for buying all things on the ah and reselling it for 5x more.

Generally those always get overruled pretty much the day after appealing. In this e-mail it seems a bit more fishy.

[raviadso]

They don't give proof, even if you ask it, because if they did and you have counter proof, you can sue them and they'd lose.
(Even if you sue, without proof, you'd probably still win, eu declared that virtual items are yours and not the companies (tos or no tos)).

You definitely wouldn't win in the US. Have you read the ToS? Have you heard of a single successful lawsuit for this here?

Also, they do give proof. When I called in for my banning, the operator walked me through all the of the evidence they had and it's what helped them see that it was hacked (activity from two different countries, transfers of currency between my account and other accounts I'd never had contact with, etc.)

edit: looks like OP is in Europe, but the point stands that they do tell you what evidence they have, and they've always been honest and on the level.