GDukin Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 Caution, our guild was recently the target of a scammer, who pretended to be me, and proceeded to clear our our guild bank. I am currently the GM of Kinetic (Mediicus) on the Shadowlands server, but I am on temporary leave due to the birth of a child. Someone came on today claiming to be my alt, and was promoted to a rank commiserate with being my alt. This person then proceeded to empty our guild bank of everything that (s)he was able to (up to the rank privileges). This has been reported to CS, but if you haven't been requiring some sort of secondary verification for alts, I'd strongly recommend it (this happened because the person who had current GM powers wasn't actually me, as I'm on leave). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prototypemind Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 (edited) Ouch. Hope that they're able to do something for you, but sucks that the guild wasn't left in capable hands. Edited February 22, 2015 by Prototypemind Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neoforcer Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 Caution, our guild was recently the target of a scammer, who pretended to be me, and proceeded to clear our our guild bank. I am currently the GM of Kinetic (Mediicus) on the Shadowlands server, but I am on temporary leave due to the birth of a child. Someone came on today claiming to be my alt, and was promoted to a rank commiserate with being my alt. This person then proceeded to empty our guild bank of everything that (s)he was able to (up to the rank privileges). This has been reported to CS, but if you haven't been requiring some sort of secondary verification for alts, I'd strongly recommend it (this happened because the person who had current GM powers wasn't actually me, as I'm on leave). then that is a problem with your officers of the guild my officer know that no one is promoted unless they are on voice chat and say can you promote my alt named this. This should be a rule in your guild it save you from this fate. As for your loss nothing will be done as BW policy is you promoted the person to that rank if they took stuff then nothing was stolen from the guild. This issue has come up many times before and the guild always lost out. Sorry for your lost items it is just the way it is though. Best of luck in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brucesim Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 It seems to me that the only way an alt should be promotable is confirmation from the main that the alt is who they say they are. Not perfect, but better than the outcome you have now, imo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rankyn Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 Certainly something that needs to be reported to CS, but your guild officers need to a better job of confirming identities before promoting people to a level where they can do damage to your guild. I would suggest either making a list of your alts outside of the game or contacting each other through a known alt with the identity of the character to be added. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rankyn Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 As for your loss nothing will be done as BW policy is you promoted the person to that rank if they took stuff then nothing was stolen from the guild. This issue has come up many times before and the guild always lost out.Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if they did do something about it because the person was impersonating another player. True, it was stupid to promote them without confirmation, but this is a different scenario from just some random guild member who had permissions stealing everything and running. I think the impersonation factor will tip the scale in the guild's favor. ...unless CS can't confirm the OP's version of events. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Banthabreeder Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 I know it's too late for you, and I'm sorry this happened to you and your guild, but in the future, if any officer invites an alt into the guild claiming to be the GM or any other high authority, that officer should never up that alts level but leave it to the GM himself/herself to log in with there actual character and they then have the option to raise their own alts level to what ever they want. Good luck with Bioware on resolving this disgusting crime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liquor Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 I know it's too late for you, and I'm sorry this happened to you and your guild, but in the future, if any officer invites an alt into the guild claiming to be the GM or any other high authority, that officer should never up that alts level but leave it to the GM himself/herself to log in with there actual character and they then have the option to raise their own alts level to what ever they want. Good luck with Bioware on resolving this disgusting crime. only time to raise rank of an alt is If the main character just logged off to log on said alt, AND is on comms with you to verify voice. when I recruit new players, they stay recruits for 3 months with very limited access to the bank. if they stick through the 90 day probationary period, then they are a worthy addition to the guild. if not and they bounce, it shows lack of patients and dedication thus in the end, no big loss to the guild. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerba Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 (edited) then that is a problem with your officers of the guild my officer know that no one is promoted unless they are on voice chat and say can you promote my alt named this. ^ This 100% percent. Customer Service will do nothing about this. The game systems are designed clearly enough to not allow scams, and if you promote the wrong person to a rank, it's nobody's fault but your own. Issues like this quickly develop into a "he said, she said" discussion and CS just does not want to get involved in that. Be careful who you give the rank, then you won't have any problems. Edited February 22, 2015 by Jerba Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kjetil Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 In my guild we have a rule that in order for an alt to be invited into the guild it must either already exist on our Enjin website or you must promise to do so on our voice chat (and then ofcourse actually do what you promised or people tend to get rather annoyed). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dacentabaal Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 We normally ask for confirmation on TS or Skype and The officers have a list of all the other officers alts including secret characters then ask for a mini list of name of characters as if they are who they say they are they can just pop open their legacy window and read them off For lower ranked people we just restrict their access.. so no funds removed and only 5 items in the basic tabs of the vault, the pricey and valuable stuff is kept in the officers vault Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GDukin Posted February 22, 2015 Author Share Posted February 22, 2015 While I agree it was an error not to verify the alt, to me this is a different problem than over-allowing bank access to multiple toons (or giving members overly generous access). We had this problem prior (before I was an officer, let alone GM), and we corrected our permissions, and have been fairly careful ever since. This is a case of someone clearly creating a toon with a name similar to mine, stating that they were someone who they were not, and taking advantage of the fact that I am currently on leave and gave control of the guild to one of my other officers. This person has now either deleted or re-named their character. If BW is able to track every usage of the Ravager's exploit, and is able to see/verify chat logs of people who are harassing/inappropriate in game, this is something they should easily be able to see (and our bank ledger is clear proof). While we, as a guild, will learn from this, and will take steps that this won't happen again, this is clearly a thought-out scam, which should be able to be tracked and rectified (and hopefully the person responsible should be punished). Please see the Customer Support Help Center responses for both Scamming and Guild Bank: http://www.swtor.com/support/helpcenter/1886 http://www.swtor.com/support/helpcenter/4513 Both threads acknowledge that there will be times that scamming will happen despite proper precautions being taken. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prototypemind Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 I still, like others, am skeptical that anything will be done, but I hope that I am wrong. Regardless, your guild should definitely handle things differently in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annabethchase Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 A guild I was in had something similar happen today on Shadowlands as well. It looks like most guilds are being run by people who don't understand the extremely high level of trust that should be needed before putting in officer ranks. For me, i'd need 100's of hours with someone first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alec_Fortescue Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 (edited) CS won't help you at all, sorry. Even though scamming is a ToS violation they don't care about it and do not get involved in stuff involving guilds. If they do help you, please send me a message. Edited February 22, 2015 by Alec_Fortescue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNahash Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 Caution, our guild was recently the target of a scammer, who pretended to be me, and proceeded to clear our our guild bank. I am currently the GM of Kinetic (Mediicus) on the Shadowlands server, but I am on temporary leave due to the birth of a child. Someone came on today claiming to be my alt, and was promoted to a rank commiserate with being my alt. This person then proceeded to empty our guild bank of everything that (s)he was able to (up to the rank privileges). This has been reported to CS, but if you haven't been requiring some sort of secondary verification for alts, I'd strongly recommend it (this happened because the person who had current GM powers wasn't actually me, as I'm on leave). First of all, congratulations on the baby, mate! As for your issue, hopefully you'll learn from the experience and be more careful in the future. And even though I agree that scammers like that are absolutely horrible, I don't see what Bioware could do. Bioware gave each guild the means to protect itself from such scams. And since this wasn't a hack or a bug that allowed someone access to your guild bank but a mistake of your officers, I seriously question whether Bioware should do anything about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theeko Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 The guild I'm in only the GM can withdraw credits / items from the high end tabs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mdgshorty Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 I am in a guild on Shadowlands and what they do is they must have an account on our website and if they need an alt invite even if you are an officer, you must jump on mumble in order to get the invite. I suggest that you should set up something similar to this as its really a good security measure in place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
branmakmuffin Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 (edited) I am currently the GM [...] Someone came on today claiming to be my alt, and was promoted to a rank commiserate with being my alt. Some officer just took the person at his word? You need new officers. Why was the response not "If you're the GM, yeah, I'll invite you, you'll be a recruit, then you can just log on as the GM and promote your alt." Clearly you need new officers. That officer and the "imposter" are now splitting the proceeds, methinks. Edited February 23, 2015 by branmakmuffin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soul_of_Flames Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 Tbh, you don't even need to be on voice chat to confirm this. Just login as one of your guilded toons and say "hey, I have an alt, can you please invite "blahblah" to the guild?" That should be enough confirmation in and of itself. But someone coming on out of the blue and claming to be you? That has to at least spark a tiny bit of suspicion. No? While it sucks you were at the butt end of this... I don't think BW is responsible for reinstating your lost items. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
branmakmuffin Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 (edited) Tbh, you don't even need to be on voice chat to confirm this. Just login as one of your guilded toons and say "hey, I have an alt, can you please invite "blahblah" to the guild?" That should be enough confirmation in and of itself. But someone coming on out of the blue and claming to be you? That has to at least spark a tiny bit of suspicion. No? While it sucks you were at the butt end of this... I don't think BW is responsible for reinstating your lost items. I would not be surprised if the whole thing is a scam on the part of the GM and his "buddy" to loot the guild bank for himself (or themselves, if there are in fact two people) and give the rest of the guild a plausible reason for the whole thing. This posting in the forums just serves to bolster the believability of the claim. Wouldn't be the first time a GM has looted his or her own guild's bank. But, we'll never know what actually happened. Edited February 23, 2015 by branmakmuffin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rashadk Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 I would not be surprised if the whole thing is a scam on the part of the GM and his "buddy" to loot the guild bank for himself (or themselves, if there are in fact two people) and give the rest of the guild a plausible reason for the whole thing. This posting in the forums just serves to bolster the believability of the claim. Wouldn't be the first time a GM has looted his or her own guild's bank. But, we'll never know what actually happened. 10/10. Nice job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Creetes Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 I would not be surprised if the whole thing is a scam on the part of the GM and his "buddy" to loot the guild bank for himself (or themselves, if there are in fact two people) and give the rest of the guild a plausible reason for the whole thing. This posting in the forums just serves to bolster the believability of the claim. Wouldn't be the first time a GM has looted his or her own guild's bank. But, we'll never know what actually happened. This was not a scam of the buddies. I know 2 Different guilds this has happened to yesterday. This was well planned and I have an Idea of which guild did it. If I knew what this guys guild knows I could almost assure you which guild is behind these scams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neoforcer Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if they did do something about it because the person was impersonating another player. \\ been done many times like that BW stance on it has not changed since launch you have tools to stop this so use them even if the person said the were some one alt it is the responsibility of the officer or teh person promoting to check into it. Trust me when i say the will say there nothing they can do because you made a mistake an promoted some one saying some thing un true in the first place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianDmitruk Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 (edited) This is why, as an officer of the guild I'm in, I don't *touch* recruitment. I don't mess with ranks, even though I have the permissions to do so. I might occasionally promote a new alt to the rank just above probationary when I'm on voice with the person who made it, so they can use things like XP boosts and stims from the bank while they wait to catch the GM online, but anything above that, yep talk to the GM. I mean hell, the GM told us a while back to pick one main toon on each faction to have our permissions. It was a PITA back then as that was before legacy storage (legacy storage made it much easier though). But I'm pretty sure this was why. If someone made a new alt and tried this stunt, we'd be like, "Erm, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?" Edited February 23, 2015 by AdrianDmitruk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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