How to spot --Staff Impersonation--

[Akarisoma]

I gotone after mr and my friend tranfered some of my old stuff to her account sadly A answer it and when I tried to log in again I was Banned! I guess they did some pretty bad things to my accont... crying

[Vecz]

Tk I got a few of those

but thanks for the inffo! heart

[The Photogenic Frenchfry]

The Admin

Staff Impersonators sometimes use phrases to scare users into giving out their information, claiming that "you have been reported for hacking", or that "you will be banned" if you do not co-operate and tell them your passwords. However Gaia has many warning signs around the site to remind you that Gaia Staff do not ask for this kind of information.

Please remember these kinds of messages are false!! Even if the sender looks like they have an official name, they may not be staff.

Safety Tips even states that Gaia Staff will never ask you for your personal information.

http://www.gaiaonline.com/info/index.php?info=safety

Quote:

Never Share Your Password
Your Gaia password should always be kept private. If somebody gets your password, they can do all sorts of bad things: they can lock you out of your account, steal your items, change your profile, pretend to be you, and cause lots of trouble. You should never give your password to anyone except your parents. Even giving your password to friends is a very bad idea! Gaia moderators and administrators will never ask you for your password by e-mail, by PM, or by any other means.


If anyone asks for your Gaia Online password, it's a scam! Don't share it!

Some PMs might even have images which say things like "Official Admin Message", or "Official Staff Message", these are also fake, as Admin does not use such images in her Messages. Gaia staff members do not use such images in their PMs either.


When replying to PM messages, you may notice this bright red warning above the box you type in. Again this tells you that Gaia Staff, moderators and administators, will never ask for your passwords.

If you should run into a PM asking for your "username and password", report it immediately!

lol the word reported is spelled wrong...it is sad people actually believe the scams

[HeavensLittleDevil]

Another thing that I've seen many times is that some1 will post a link, saying it's a thread, but it really goes to a fake log-in. It will look just like the normal gaia log-in, but it will have a different web address, and most of the time, they don't use the little circles to cover your password. DON'T FALL FOR THIS PEOPLE!!!
Another thing, most of the time (not all the time), if some1 posts that they were hacked and are begging for gold, DON'T BELIEVE THEM! In my experience, 98% of these people are trying to scam you. They might post pics of their inventory before they "were hacked", but don't fall for this either! Unless they brag about how rich they are so much they decided to keep a pic just so they can post it 24/7, than no1 really takes a pic of their inventory! And to take the actual pic, if they didn't dr it up, then they probably put all their items in their locker or put them in a different account to take the pic!

Sorry if I rambled quite a bit... Just trying to get my point across.

heart
~Lilly

[iambear]

surprised

[Xx-Kitsume-xX]

yeah when are you gonna get gifting fixed...its been like weeks and im tired of seeing gifting is disabled on my gift's......

[Ich Will Deine Seele]

sweet dramallama

[Ultimate Nanakon]

I like Cheerios. But not scammers. I had to explain this to my sibling's all the time. I wish this thread existed sooner. gonk

[ll Cross ll]

cow?...

[remraily9]

It is a good thing that they did this announcement. All the new users that come and join the site never really bother to read the guides. At least they can't say they missed this one.

[Nekeshi]

Kingbry

Jagger-Wolf

mcm

Why is this thread open...?

People fall for fake staff PM's all the time, then come in to the QnA asking why the admin or a mod hacked them. Hopefully people will read this and learn to protect themselves better.

People really think they were hacked by an Admin or Mod? I would think that once they were hacked, they would have realized that the staff member was a fake. confused

exactly why would a admin need to hack? they get to try out everything on gaia.

[Ukthar Va-en]

random thought, what if it's all a pyramid scheme.a buncha people scam others and then trade most of it up until one person has the majority, then that person makes a new account and sends the cheap stuff to it to get the staff off of his back?

[AionTheShadow]

Very helpful! biggrin . Good job admin's!

[Akarisoma]

Couldn't they find awawy so it's impossible to get words like admin in your user name and such

[xHinodex]

This was pretty helpful. Lots of my friends have been hacked, so...