How to spot --Staff Impersonation--

[The Admin]

Recently seeing that announcement on password phishing sites made one of our Moderators very happy. So for a follow up, she put this very helpful thread together for just for you. How to spot a Staff Impersonator. whee

http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/t.39891807/

Just to recap, the password phishing announcement for those that missed it.

[The Admin]

Normally when you receive a PM from Admin, it should look like this. Admin avy outside of the chat bubble, with the message inside.

However sometimes you may receive PMs that look like this. When Admin is not the sender, but Admin's image is in the PM, it is not from Admin!! Another thing to look for is the name of the user sending the PM. Admin has an Orange name, where as normal users only have black names. (Friends will have blue)



Other real Gaia Admins have Orange names too, Moderators have Green names, NPCs have Red names, and Developers have Brown names. They also all have a secondary title, located under their names, that tell you what they are, regular users do not have this.

[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!

[The Admin]

For users who do not like reading a large wall of text, here is a compressed version.

Safety Tips

Staff do not ask for Passwords: Never Share Your Password!! Your Gaia password should always be kept private. If somebody gets your password, they can lock you out of your account, change your email, steal your items, change your profile, pretend to be you, and cause lots of trouble. 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!

Real Gaia Admins have Orange names too, Moderators have Green names, NPCs have Red names, and Developers have Brown names. They also all have a secondary title, located under their names, that tell you what they are, regular users do not have this.

[scottyboy27]

oh wow i got like 20 of those

[crunk_zam]

Looks really good
Hope it helps people.

[Bloodgasm]

Mm I would never fall for it.

[mcm]

Why is this thread open...?

[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.

[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

[Sunlight223]

is there a admin called avi_admen156, because i have been getting harassed by the same person who has multiple accounts and avi_admen156 i think is one of them that she uses and her name isn`t in orange.

[stellacadente]

Sunlight223

is there a admin called avi_admen156, because i have been getting harassed by the same person who has multiple accounts and avi_admen156 i think is one of them that she uses and her name isn`t in orange.

You have your answer right there: The name isn't in orange. "admin" is misspelled. Staff would not harass you. If they're asking for your password, they are not staff. Please report them immediately. You'll probably be helping others, too.

[Sunlight223]

now she has reported me like 100 times so she says, is there away to recover messages that are in the sent tab, i reported her because she is after using so many accounts to pm me and i don`t want to be banned, she is after using like 4 accounts to pm me and the last one i didn`t even know it was her, she chose a diffrent gender and pretended to like me and stuff, i don`t want to get banned over this.

[Like OMFG]

You aren't going to be banned because she is not a real moderator or admin. Report the PMs and add the usernames to your ignorelist. You may also want to turn your PMs to friends only.

Moderator who made this: (I saw the original sticky but won't name names since the sticky didn't) THANK YOU for finally making this thread. It'll help the people who actually read stickies.

[Sunlight223]

yes this is very helpful