Another one bites the dust EDIT: UNFROZEN TODAY!!!

Post the good things and the bad things that have happened to you on Neopets here.
varii
Posts: 434
Joined: 29 Mar 2007 11:18 pm
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Location: Genosha

Re: Oh, sh*t. another one bites the dust (frozen)....

Post by varii »

Xelio wrote: That leaves me with a question. If one is running No Script does one have to keep it from allowing neopets to successfully block the CG program, or does it have a different url associated with it so that one can allow neopets.com on their No Scrip program and be safe from CG. I just downloaded the program the other day and am not quite sure about how to work it effectively.
I have no idea. I was told downloading it would help guard against malicious content on the site and I make my living by sniping so CG'ers really freak me out. My account has been frozen once since I got it but I was in the middle of a three week vacation and not using neopets anyway so I don't actually know what happened there. I allow neopets and yesterday was the first time I've seen it block anything on the site. I may be using it completely ineffectively but at the very least it makes me feel safer. :)
rei @ neopets
Ailiel
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Re: Oh, sh*t. another one bites the dust (frozen)....

Post by Ailiel »

Oh dear. Things have been quite tense lately, haven't they? I am wondering why now, all of a sudden. Is it a case of follow the leader, where one person figures out how to do something malicious, and then others jump on the bandwagon? I don't get it.

I'm sorry your account is under lockdown, but at least you know it's intact at the moment. Good luck being unfrozen, TNT has been at least willing to clean up their mess in most cases.
Usul_Princess
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Location: Mars

Re: Oh, sh*t. another one bites the dust (frozen)....

Post by Usul_Princess »

Heidi contacted me by a response that seemed automated, but some of the information could have been more specific. I sent in a more specific mail, so we'll see.
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Mistress Morbid
Posts: 849
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Re: Oh, sh*t. another one bites the dust (frozen)....

Post by Mistress Morbid »

Oh no! =( I feel terrible for you right now, I know exactly how you must feel. *gives hugs*

It sounds like you have a head start though with everything. You seem very well prepared with proof, and the fact that you're a paying customer had better mean something. I'm sure you'll get your account back, so just have hope and try to be patient (as hard as that is sometimes).

Good luck!
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Usul_Princess
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Re: Oh, sh*t. another one bites the dust (frozen)....

Post by Usul_Princess »

I filled out another abuse form, and sent a copy of my info from the email address everythingnice525 is linked to back to Heidi. I've heard she's notorious for being slow to reply. (By Charter standards anyway), but if she's the one who'll de-ice me without hassle, I don't care if it isn't "timely", I just want it done.

Aw, thank you for the fluffy plushie MM. ^_^

Edit: David and Charlotte have both replied from Webmail, asking me to fill out two more forms. I think my hair is falling out.
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Ailiel
Posts: 486
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Re: Oh, sh*t. another one bites the dust (frozen)....

Post by Ailiel »

What kind of information are they asking for, Usul_Princess?

I ask because last night, it happened to me-- I clicked on a cookie grabber link. There was no mistaking it from the rearview, although at the time it was completely convincing. I was sniping codestones for a training course for Braedan-- the typical ploy. I entered a shop which had two Vo Codestones at 2,516 np, and when I clicked on the shop link, I saw the codestones briefly before a huge image started to load and pushed them off the screen. Anyone who goes to a shop these days knows you are usually wading through what could amount to two printed pages of images first. I scrolled down impatiently, afraid I would miss the codestones. There they were at the bottom of the image, and I clicked quickly. And that's when things started to go wrong.

The page I was taken to had a blank white background, and some black text on it that said something like "Calculating your neopoints..." There were two large areas beneath that with the typical No Script blocked thing (if you have NoScript, you know what it looks like when it blocks something-- the red outline and the option to unblock whatever it is). My worst fears were confirmed when I looked at the address bar-- we're not in Neopets anymore, Toto.

I backspaced hastily and then saw the decoy codestones that I had clicked on. I scrolled down further, further, allllll the way down past a blank white shop to the very bottom. There were the real codestones that lured me in. I bought them both to save anyone else from doing what I'd done, and then I went into overdrive mode. I immediately changed my password and my PIN for Neopets, and double-checked that I had everything PINned up that I wanted protected. Then I went to all the other websites that I use, like this one, and changed those passwords as well. Then I went through and changed the passwords and PINs for all of my side accounts. I deleted my browser history and cookies, while I was at it. I know it doesn't really do anything but I felt better. I even changed my main account password again for good measure, to something even harder to guess. I changed my email password. When I was all done I realized I didn't know the name of the account that shop was in, or who did this. I submitted an abuse form to Neopets. I read through the frozen form and made sure I had all my information up to date.

So far, all is good. I still haven't ruled out the possibility that I may soon find myself under ice, after notifying TNT about what happened. What really upsets me is that they tell users it's their fault for clicking offsite links, when they make it so easy to disguise links in shops like this. I am 23 and fairly careful about this kind of thing and I was fooled, I can only imagine how vulnerable the average user is.
Mistress Morbid
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Re: Oh, sh*t. another one bites the dust (frozen)....

Post by Mistress Morbid »

It really is unacceptable how they treat they users with cases like this. I hate the guilty until proven innocent method they seem to have going.

Cookiegrabbers are absolutely terrifying because you don't always know if you've clicked on one, and they can be hidden around areas of the site that you frequent constantly. I'm so paranoid now after returning to the site and fighting an uphill battle to get my pets back, only to have them risk being gone again due to something stupid like this. Honestly, I'd rather see them remove customization from shops completely...perhaps with something where you could choose a background and some basic colours and such, but have all those as options from drop down menus so no coding is involved and it would be impossible to input something malicious. I know it's a desperate measure, but it's better than nothing which is what they're doing now.
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Usul_Princess
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Re: Oh, sh*t. another one bites the dust (frozen)....

Post by Usul_Princess »

Ailiel wrote:What kind of information are they asking for, Usul_Princess?

Very specific, sometimes unrealistic sources of information: Like, what were your most recent trades (with whom, for how much?) What are your stocks? What weapons are you equipped with? What's in your SDB, previous passwords, account balance, what's the accounts birthdate? PINs, who are your NF, and neomail them from the current address the frozen account is under. Those are the generic questions.

The incredibly stupid ones are "What was the email you used to first register the account?"
How the hell should I know?! My account is 8 1/2 years old! I guarentee it's some aol address that's long dead back when I had dial-up.

"What was the exact name of the scammer?"
No one's paying attention to that in the heat of the moment once they realize they're being CG'ed.

Another relatively stupid one is "What were the neomails in your inbox about, and who were they from?"
(This is a dumb question, but if you can get specific enough, this is one of them where they might believe it's really you.)

Through God's grace, I've actually had recent trades and neomails that I remember. (What they were and how much I sold/bought them for. But seriously, no one remember's who've they traded with! They're just glad they didn't get rejected.)
They also take account the punctuality of your abuse submission. If you've submitted freezing info close to when you've been iced, and your verification info matches up, you should be okay.

I've also saved screenies that show me inside my own account. Even though it says "don't send multiple abuse forms. As it slows things down" Do it anyway. Raise hell until they pay attention to you. I've received 3 auto-mails so far. (They didn't even read my email!) and I haven't given up yet. Keep in mind, I'm a paying customer, (who asked for her money back during the Fox News article because the site is failing to protect me.) I also have access to my premium webmail, so I can tell them what happened. Yet, no dice. Why would I jepordize my account suddenly after 8 1/2 years?

It's all very stressful. Part of it makes me wish I had never discovered this site.
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Mistress Morbid
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Re: Oh, sh*t. another one bites the dust (frozen)....

Post by Mistress Morbid »

Ugh, all I can say is I hear you loud and clear. =/ Went through all that same crap too. I agree that the key is persistance. I think if you only send one form in and it's auto-responded, they'll never give you a second look.

Just stay positive! I'm sure you'll get it back, it's just a matter of time (and patience).
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zebru
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Re: Oh, sh*t. another one bites the dust (frozen)....

Post by zebru »

I hope they get you your account back fast Usul. I really don't understand why all the extra questions when your side is clearly linked by premium and you have all your premium sign up info as a proof.

I freaked out a bit about CG threat after noticing Ocy was in neolodge. I never ever put Ocy there (he's my dailies junk food bin) and I don't remember using neolodge for my sides in well over a month. My memory is surely not that awful. I doubt there is a RE that puts your active in neolodge? Anyways I changed my password asap.
Last edited by zebru on 27 Aug 2009 12:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Rakumel
Posts: 232
Joined: 19 Aug 2007 04:34 am

Re: Oh, sh*t. another one bites the dust (frozen)....

Post by Rakumel »

Geez, this CG blitz is really getting out of hand. That really sucks, Usul, I hope you get your account restored and returned to you soon. Especially because you've invested so much time and money into it!

I wouldn't object if they took customization out of shops entirely, or limit it to a few drop-down menu items like MM suggested. Not only would that make things safer, but it would get rid of those huge fugly useless graphics that seem to plague most user shops.
Usul_Princess
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Re: Oh, sh*t. another one bites the dust (frozen)....

Post by Usul_Princess »

Part of me almost wants to cry. I know that they're not reading what I've wrote. The more I get up and walk away from it, the less anxiety I have. This time I sent a letter to Charlotte in high priority. I'll wait until Saturday to neomail again.

Not sure if it's an achievement or woe, but my public complaining on Charter has reached 72 posts in support, so what happened to me hasn't fallen on deaf ears from it's users.
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Mistress Morbid
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Re: Oh, sh*t. another one bites the dust (frozen)....

Post by Mistress Morbid »

Rakumel wrote:I wouldn't object if they took customization out of shops entirely, or limit it to a few drop-down menu items like MM suggested. Not only would that make things safer, but it would get rid of those huge fugly useless graphics that seem to plague most user shops.
Yup, that's exactly my train of thought. Galleries could be used for spiffing out with graphics and coding, but shops should just be plain anyways. You only use them to quickly pick something up, you're not there to look. They should have just some options so you can pick a background colour or a neo background, a shopkeeper, font colours, maybe some images, and then a blurb and a blog. It would simplify things and remove those horrendous sparkly glittery things that take 20 pages to load until you get to the items themselves. -_-;


And Usul, just don't give up! It took me a few weeks to sort my stuff out, so keep trying, you'll get through eventually. :)
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varii
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Re: Oh, sh*t. another one bites the dust (frozen)....

Post by varii »

I think it is always a good idea for people to look at the Frozen Account form and have a good idea of what they require just in case. I know about 2 weeks before I was CG'd I stumbled across some pet page (which of course I cannot find now) that made me realise I knew diddly squat about my account, so I went through and took an inventory of everything on that form. If say you have at least one of every stock, you can say I have over 5 million neopoints invested in the stock market, I own at least one share of every company. Or my pet ______ has read 545 books while my pet _______ has read 23.
rei @ neopets
mellaka
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Re: Oh, sh*t. another one bites the dust (frozen)....

Post by mellaka »

Sorry to hear that you're still waiting for your account, and I hope you start having better luck with support staff soon.

Varii, is this the petpage you were thinking of?
http://www.neopets.com/~ShimmeringBliss

And I agree somewhat about the graphics, but since I've invested 44 million in my shop to get it to main market I'd be pretty upset if we were no longer able to use graphics/links in our shops. (I do agree that they are ugly - but they work.) I try to stay away from this debate because I know my opinion is selfish. Though I'm sure that Neo could set up something to easily accommodate malls if they wanted to limit what kinds of graphics/links we could use in our shops.
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