Preventing Hacks Assisting Victims
A Guide Against Hacks and Scams
Hello everyone, I am peridot1. You can call me peri for short. I am making this guide to help you fight hacks and scams and to assists those who have already fallen victim to this terrible force.
Hack: The unauthorized access to another user's account.
To report one go here: Report a Hacking
Scams: People who try to take other users' assets with get-rich-quick schemes or promises of rare items.
To report one go here: Report a Scamming
Both are against Gaiaonline's Terms of Service and Rules & Guidelines. If anyone does this then they will most likely be banned.
How to Prevent Hackings and Scammings
Privacy Notice: Your Choices: Second Paragraph:
YOU, the user, must take precautions on keeping your account safe. It is not the fault of the hacker or scammer, it would be your own fault. This is the first thing that YOU must realize. Only you can protect yourself from getting hacked or scammed. Here are the ways to keep yourself safe from harm:
1. Password: The absolute most important thing you can do for yourself is to have a strong password. I cannot stress how important it is to have a strong secure password. You should have numbers, lower case letters, uppercase letters, and characters like $ or % or any of those. 1337 passwords work exceptionally well if you know it. If you can't remember it all then make 2 e-mail accounts so that you can send the password to the other one and have it handy if you forget it.
2. Personal Information: This is a no brainer, just don't do it. This includes your password. NEVER EVER GIVE IT OUT, not even to administrators and moderators. Not only will the staff of Gaiaonline not ask you it, they don't even with hold your passwords in the same server.
3. Scanning: Routinely scan your computer for viruses, spy-ware, ad-ware, malware, and keyloggers; and clear your cache and cookies often. Some people will say they got hacked but never gave out their password, the reason behind this is keyloggers. Keyloggers are programs that comes into your computer with out your knowledge and records each key you press. Which will record your password if you type it in.
4. Knowledge: Keep updated on the latest scams and hacks. There is nothing more powerful when preventing hacking and scamming than knowledge. Scammers and Hackers will try to trick you by making you give your password. They will pretend to be a staff member of gaia and will ask you for your password, ANYONE WHO ASK FOR YOUR PASSWORD IS A SCAMMER AND IS TO BE PROMPTLY REPORTED! Another way they might get you is with a fake login page. They will give you a link and when you click on it you find yourself logged out, NOT TRUE!, when you type in your username and password in the fake login you would actually handing out your username and password. Another way that is similar to the last sentence is that you go to the fake login and you know it is a fake, so you leave. But what happened when you went there is that you picked up a keylogger.
5. Never: Never trust anyone with important information, period!
HVA: Hacked Victim Assistance
If you are hacked or scam you can still defend yourself. There are many ways to help you and the moderator that you contact.
Banned due to Failed Login
Another way people try to hack is to guess your password. You will have multiple e-mails saying you were banned due to too many failed login attempts. To help lessen, if not stop, this annoyance is to have a strong password, change your username, and dress way down to new user cloths.
Someone is Currently Hacking You!
If you find that you have filled out a fake login, or might have a keylogger, or if your password and e-mail has changed while you are still on then you need to contact a moderator, omni-moderator is the best for this particular situation. Tell them what is going on and have them "freeze" your trades and gifting and change your e-mail back to what it was orginially, this will allow you log off safely knowing your items will be okay. First thing you should do after that is to scan your computer for keyloggers, viruses, spy/ad/malware. Then change your password. After all that you should then contact the moderator that froze your account and tell them to unfreeze it.
Someone is in Your Account and you Can't get in
If you find that there is a stranger on your account and you are not, simply and quickly use the "Forgot my Password" option, this will knock out the hacker and allow you to log back in. Once that happens then do the step by step instructions above.
You have Been Hacked!
Well, you just got hacked. All your gold is gone, all your items are gone, and they completely messed up your information. All you can do now is to fill out a Hacking Report. Give in details what had happened. Tell them of all items that have been stolen, and if you can include screen shots. Then wait, it should take up to 2-6 months to process. All you can do now is to make a new account and try to reclaim what you lost. When you get your account back then the wait will be worth it because you will have twice as much stuff as you had before you were hacked, that is if you went on and try to get all the stuff you lost.
Hey, Whats my Friend Doing?!
"HEY! What are you doing friend?! That is against the rules!!!"
All of a sudden you find your friend trolling and posting scams. Most likely they were hacked and the hacker is using the account to capture more victims. What you can do is try to alert your friend via e-mail, or if you know him/her in real life call and tell them. Then they will have to go through the process of filling out a hacking report.
I would also suggest no name dropping. Because if someone was hacked and the hacker did use that account to start pming and posting scams, and if people started saying that your friend was a scammer then their names and reputations would be ruined. I would just suggest pming an omni-moderator.
Contacting a Moderator
When you find yourself at the point of finding a moderator then here are a few things that will help you out:
1. At the top of each Forum there is a green link that says "view forum's moderators"
2. You will mostly see that all moderators are offline, this is not always true. Moderators tend to keep their status off so that they aren't bombarded with pms.
3. There are different moderators for the job. The staff is also colored coordinated to help you identify them. So if anyone says they are staff of gaia and their name isn't colored then they are a scammer.
4. Send only one pm and wait, moderators are always busy. So if they don't respond right away then they busy with something else. If you sent the pm and they have not responded within thirty minutes then go to your outbox and see if the pm is still there (if it is in your outbox then the person has not read it yet). If that is the case then delete it and send it to a different moderator.
5. Always thank them even if they were not able to help you. They took time to look at your pm, the least you can do is pm them.
The Differences
Gaiaonline's staff does different things. My signature will tell you what color their names will be in. This is specifically what each person does:
Administrators: Leaders of the Community and Moderator teams. They are responsible primarily for high-level administrative tasks, billing issues, and overseeing Gaia moderation staff.
Omni Moderators: Responsible primarily for account issues, hacking and scamming cases, as well as special projects related to account security, site safety and moderator training.
Global Moderators: Responsible for Abuse and Harassment cases, as well as help oversee Terms of Service violations across the entire site. Global Moderators may have other special functions that are specific to a particular role.
Site Moderators: Responsible for specific forums on the site, as listed above, handle Terms of Service Violations and thread move requests. These moderators also cover Gaia games, chat rooms, towns, and other features of Gaia.
Moderator Assistants: (formerly "Helpers") Responsible for thread moves only in specific forums they are assigned to Moderator Assistants DO NOT assist users with Terms of Service violations.
Non-Player Characters: A Non-Player Character (example: [NPC] Rina) is an account that is used on Gaia to speak to the public about important and fun topics (like quests and newsletters). Any persons posting with these accounts are Gaia staff but will not be helping you with Terms of Service violations please contact Gaia Moderators and Administrators for assistance.
Artists, Developers and other staff: There are many other people who work hard to make Gaia awesome by creating new features and new art, items and much more for you every day! These people have brown names and may post around the site but will not be able to help with Terms of Service violations please contact Gaia Moderators and Administrators for assistance.
How to Fill Out a Report
Like the staff of Gaiaonline, there are different reports you can fill out for different situations. Here is how you fill one out:
1. Fill out the correct report.
2. Fill out only ONE report.
3. Take screen shots to include in your report.
4. Make it as detailed as you can.
5. RECORD ALL AND ANY EVIDENCE, REPORT NUMBERS, AND EVERYTHING YOU WROTE IN THE REPORT!! (suggest keeping all the recorded reports you do in a journal entry)
6. Wait for 2-6 months for a reply.
A Guide Against Hacks and Scams
Hello everyone, I am peridot1. You can call me peri for short. I am making this guide to help you fight hacks and scams and to assists those who have already fallen victim to this terrible force.
Hack: The unauthorized access to another user's account.
To report one go here: Report a Hacking
Scams: People who try to take other users' assets with get-rich-quick schemes or promises of rare items.
To report one go here: Report a Scamming
Both are against Gaiaonline's Terms of Service and Rules & Guidelines. If anyone does this then they will most likely be banned.
How to Prevent Hackings and Scammings
Privacy Notice: Your Choices: Second Paragraph:
Quote:
To protect your privacy and security, we take reasonable steps to verify your identity before granting you account access or making corrections. HOWEVER, You are responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your unique password and account information at all times.
YOU, the user, must take precautions on keeping your account safe. It is not the fault of the hacker or scammer, it would be your own fault. This is the first thing that YOU must realize. Only you can protect yourself from getting hacked or scammed. Here are the ways to keep yourself safe from harm:
1. Password: The absolute most important thing you can do for yourself is to have a strong password. I cannot stress how important it is to have a strong secure password. You should have numbers, lower case letters, uppercase letters, and characters like $ or % or any of those. 1337 passwords work exceptionally well if you know it. If you can't remember it all then make 2 e-mail accounts so that you can send the password to the other one and have it handy if you forget it.
2. Personal Information: This is a no brainer, just don't do it. This includes your password. NEVER EVER GIVE IT OUT, not even to administrators and moderators. Not only will the staff of Gaiaonline not ask you it, they don't even with hold your passwords in the same server.
3. Scanning: Routinely scan your computer for viruses, spy-ware, ad-ware, malware, and keyloggers; and clear your cache and cookies often. Some people will say they got hacked but never gave out their password, the reason behind this is keyloggers. Keyloggers are programs that comes into your computer with out your knowledge and records each key you press. Which will record your password if you type it in.
4. Knowledge: Keep updated on the latest scams and hacks. There is nothing more powerful when preventing hacking and scamming than knowledge. Scammers and Hackers will try to trick you by making you give your password. They will pretend to be a staff member of gaia and will ask you for your password, ANYONE WHO ASK FOR YOUR PASSWORD IS A SCAMMER AND IS TO BE PROMPTLY REPORTED! Another way they might get you is with a fake login page. They will give you a link and when you click on it you find yourself logged out, NOT TRUE!, when you type in your username and password in the fake login you would actually handing out your username and password. Another way that is similar to the last sentence is that you go to the fake login and you know it is a fake, so you leave. But what happened when you went there is that you picked up a keylogger.
5. Never: Never trust anyone with important information, period!
HVA: Hacked Victim Assistance
If you are hacked or scam you can still defend yourself. There are many ways to help you and the moderator that you contact.
Banned due to Failed Login
Another way people try to hack is to guess your password. You will have multiple e-mails saying you were banned due to too many failed login attempts. To help lessen, if not stop, this annoyance is to have a strong password, change your username, and dress way down to new user cloths.
Quote:
STEP BY STEP
1. Contact Omni-moderator and tell them to freeze your trades and gifts.
2. (If e-mail was changed) Change your e-mail back.
3. Log off and Scan your computer.
4. Log back in and change password.
5. Contact the moderator that froze your account and tell them to unfreeze it.
1. Contact Omni-moderator and tell them to freeze your trades and gifts.
2. (If e-mail was changed) Change your e-mail back.
3. Log off and Scan your computer.
4. Log back in and change password.
5. Contact the moderator that froze your account and tell them to unfreeze it.
Someone is Currently Hacking You!
If you find that you have filled out a fake login, or might have a keylogger, or if your password and e-mail has changed while you are still on then you need to contact a moderator, omni-moderator is the best for this particular situation. Tell them what is going on and have them "freeze" your trades and gifting and change your e-mail back to what it was orginially, this will allow you log off safely knowing your items will be okay. First thing you should do after that is to scan your computer for keyloggers, viruses, spy/ad/malware. Then change your password. After all that you should then contact the moderator that froze your account and tell them to unfreeze it.
Someone is in Your Account and you Can't get in
If you find that there is a stranger on your account and you are not, simply and quickly use the "Forgot my Password" option, this will knock out the hacker and allow you to log back in. Once that happens then do the step by step instructions above.
You have Been Hacked!
Well, you just got hacked. All your gold is gone, all your items are gone, and they completely messed up your information. All you can do now is to fill out a Hacking Report. Give in details what had happened. Tell them of all items that have been stolen, and if you can include screen shots. Then wait, it should take up to 2-6 months to process. All you can do now is to make a new account and try to reclaim what you lost. When you get your account back then the wait will be worth it because you will have twice as much stuff as you had before you were hacked, that is if you went on and try to get all the stuff you lost.
Hey, Whats my Friend Doing?!
"HEY! What are you doing friend?! That is against the rules!!!"
All of a sudden you find your friend trolling and posting scams. Most likely they were hacked and the hacker is using the account to capture more victims. What you can do is try to alert your friend via e-mail, or if you know him/her in real life call and tell them. Then they will have to go through the process of filling out a hacking report.
I would also suggest no name dropping. Because if someone was hacked and the hacker did use that account to start pming and posting scams, and if people started saying that your friend was a scammer then their names and reputations would be ruined. I would just suggest pming an omni-moderator.
Contacting a Moderator
When you find yourself at the point of finding a moderator then here are a few things that will help you out:
1. At the top of each Forum there is a green link that says "view forum's moderators"
2. You will mostly see that all moderators are offline, this is not always true. Moderators tend to keep their status off so that they aren't bombarded with pms.
3. There are different moderators for the job. The staff is also colored coordinated to help you identify them. So if anyone says they are staff of gaia and their name isn't colored then they are a scammer.
4. Send only one pm and wait, moderators are always busy. So if they don't respond right away then they busy with something else. If you sent the pm and they have not responded within thirty minutes then go to your outbox and see if the pm is still there (if it is in your outbox then the person has not read it yet). If that is the case then delete it and send it to a different moderator.
5. Always thank them even if they were not able to help you. They took time to look at your pm, the least you can do is pm them.
The Differences
Gaiaonline's staff does different things. My signature will tell you what color their names will be in. This is specifically what each person does:
Administrators: Leaders of the Community and Moderator teams. They are responsible primarily for high-level administrative tasks, billing issues, and overseeing Gaia moderation staff.
Omni Moderators: Responsible primarily for account issues, hacking and scamming cases, as well as special projects related to account security, site safety and moderator training.
Global Moderators: Responsible for Abuse and Harassment cases, as well as help oversee Terms of Service violations across the entire site. Global Moderators may have other special functions that are specific to a particular role.
Site Moderators: Responsible for specific forums on the site, as listed above, handle Terms of Service Violations and thread move requests. These moderators also cover Gaia games, chat rooms, towns, and other features of Gaia.
Moderator Assistants: (formerly "Helpers") Responsible for thread moves only in specific forums they are assigned to Moderator Assistants DO NOT assist users with Terms of Service violations.
Non-Player Characters: A Non-Player Character (example: [NPC] Rina) is an account that is used on Gaia to speak to the public about important and fun topics (like quests and newsletters). Any persons posting with these accounts are Gaia staff but will not be helping you with Terms of Service violations please contact Gaia Moderators and Administrators for assistance.
Artists, Developers and other staff: There are many other people who work hard to make Gaia awesome by creating new features and new art, items and much more for you every day! These people have brown names and may post around the site but will not be able to help with Terms of Service violations please contact Gaia Moderators and Administrators for assistance.
How to Fill Out a Report
Like the staff of Gaiaonline, there are different reports you can fill out for different situations. Here is how you fill one out:
1. Fill out the correct report.
2. Fill out only ONE report.
3. Take screen shots to include in your report.
4. Make it as detailed as you can.
5. RECORD ALL AND ANY EVIDENCE, REPORT NUMBERS, AND EVERYTHING YOU WROTE IN THE REPORT!! (suggest keeping all the recorded reports you do in a journal entry)
6. Wait for 2-6 months for a reply.
Note: This was written by cyberbuster, not me.