Frozen @ Neopets!

[Shoyru_Lover]

Something strange happened @ Neopets today. I jumped online, was working on PPT, then I tried to log into Neopets and it came up with this message:



I'm totally scratching my head on this one as I don't communicate with anyone @ Neopets; and I'm rather careful as to places where I log into Neopets i.e. only websites that start with http://www.neopets.com/ etc.

Anyhoo, I shot off some unfreeze requests to Neopets and hopefully I'll get some updates from their freeze department over the next few days. It will be good material for a new article anyway.

I haven't been involved in freezings for years so I'm curious for anyone else out there who has experience... how long did it take for you to receive a reply?

[Blue]

Kym,
Sorry to hear that you were frozen! Keep us posted on the outcome.
I hope you get your account back soon!

-Blue

[Shoyru_Lover]

I hope I do too. Strangely I'm not really upset with the account being frozen. I'm more, "Oh... well that was unfortunate."

It is a shame... it's nearly a 10 year old account!!

[Lee]

Wow, they didn't even really tell you what they thought you did.

Good old Neopets Team!

Well I really hope this gets sorted out. Being frozen can be a drag, especially if you didn't do anything. *points off to the distance and gives and evil eye to scammers*

[Siouxper]

Wow, that's really too bad. I can send you a list of staff e-mails, if you'd like. I wish you the best of luck in the returning of your account

[Shoyru_Lover]

I hope I get my account back with nothing lost in them. Lucky I had a pin on everything in there so mmm... maybe someone got in, was unable to take anything and froze the account? (That's assuming someone did get into the account.)

I got two responses back from Neopets today actually. That was really fast so I was surprised. Two... very different responses though from two different people so I'm a little bit confuzzled.

Response from Moderator 1:

Hello,

Your account was frozen due to one (or more) of the following three reasons: 1) You voluntarily gave your username and password to a password scamming page while attempting to gain neopoints or items; 2) You voluntarily gave your username and password away to a scammer over an instant messaging service or an email in an attempt to gain neopoints, items, trophies, or avatars; or 3) You attempted to download a cheat program that stole your username and password.

After the scammer got into your account, they used it to try to scam other users out of their hard-earned neopoints, items, and pets.

While we do try to return scammed accounts, we will NOT return accounts stolen while attempting to cheat. If this is the second time you have lost your account due to giving your information away, it will not be returned.

Again, we remind you NOT to give your password out to ANYONE for ANY reason and to keep your browsers updated. Also, giving out your instant message information is potentially very dangerous - which is why it is against our Terms & Conditions. Scammers can also steal your information that way.

If you have any other questions, don't forget to include the entire text of this e-mail with your username clearly at the top. This will help me better address your situation.

I shot back this:

Hi,

Thank you for your very quick response.

I can indeed verify that I do not cheat nor have ever attempted to cheat. All my neopoints are derived from quasi daily purchases at the stock market. (A slow but steady increase in neopoints over time.)

This is also the first time my account has ever been lost. To be on the safe side and to ensure that this won't happen again, I will run a scan through my computers for spyware and viruses to doubly check that it is not anything on my computer.

For the account reference, my IP is ************* and I have only accessed my account from this IP in the past few years.

Awaiting a response from Moderator 1 now.

In the mean time... I got a new email from Moderator 2...

Hello,

Thanks for your email. Unfortunately, the information you provided does not match any in our records. If you cannot give us the correct info requested, we will not release any information about the account in question.

If you cannot provide: the correct birth date for this username, previous passwords in the account that only the person who created it would know, provide or write from the email address that created the account, list pet equipment, stocks you have bought, active trades or auctions you have, names on your Neofriends list, etc ... we will have to consider this issue closed.

If you have any other questions, don't forget to include the entire text of this e-mail with your username clearly at the top. This will help us better address your situation.

A little bit confusing as they both appear to be replies to the first communication I sent them regarding having the account unfrozen.

I suppose I'll just wait for a response from Moderator 1 before deciding what to do next.

Fingers crossed!

[Nekopan]

Hmm, that's odd. My Neopets account was frozen once a number of years ago - probably about 5 now. I got frozen for having more than one main account (which I didn't... my sister was playing Neopets on the same computer though) ... I sent all the emails, but didn't get any replies. I left it for a couple months, then came back and my account was unfrozen, like nothing had happened.

[unspecialfish]

Consider yourself lucky that someone replied at all. A few years ago a friend of mine logged into my account to create a pet for me (for some reason the flash wasn't loading for me). Almost instantly her account, my account, and a few people in my guild's accounts were all frozen. We contacted TNT for almost a month but no one ever replied. We decided to create new accounts and start from scratch.

When it happened to me the same reaction hit me. "Wow, seriously. I thought I'd go out with more of a bang, or on my own accord." It took me about 6 months to actually want to create an account again. You and I are both stock people, so I feel your pain for having to start again. Earning enough NP and such to have a fully functioning stock portfolio takes a heck of a long time and effort. If you need to borrow any points to get started with your portfolio I'd be more than willing to lend you a hand, you're such a good friend.

[Matrinka]

We can take up a PPT fund! I rarely play Neo any more and have some stuff I can give to you to get a new account up and running!

[Shoyru_Lover]

Aww thanks guys.

Hopefully it won't need to come to that however. Moderator 1 replied to my email this morning asking me some account verification details which I just sent back a reply.

If things all go well, I should have my account back by the end of the week.

Looks like I'm one of those lucky ones that had the account return very fast.

[theonlysaneone]

Aww thanks guys.

Hopefully it won't need to come to that however. Moderator 1 replied to my email this morning asking me some account verification details which I just sent back a reply.

If things all go well, I should have my account back by the end of the week.

Looks like I'm one of those lucky ones that had the account return very fast.

From what I've seen and heard recently, this is the most common experience. 9 out of 10 of the people who claim they were unfairly frozen were NOT unfairly frozen. They may have broken a rule without realizing it, but they did break the rule. Autofreezes were ended YEARS ago (and I wonder whether anyone was actually permanently frozen for things like the Volcano Run glitch, etc).

If you truly didn't break the rules, in this day and age, you will get your account back.

[shapu]

Aww thanks guys.

Hopefully it won't need to come to that however. Moderator 1 replied to my email this morning asking me some account verification details which I just sent back a reply.

If things all go well, I should have my account back by the end of the week.

Looks like I'm one of those lucky ones that had the account return very fast.

From what I've seen and heard recently, this is the most common experience. 9 out of 10 of the people who claim they were unfairly frozen were NOT unfairly frozen. They may have broken a rule without realizing it, but they did break the rule. Autofreezes were ended YEARS ago (and I wonder whether anyone was actually permanently frozen for things like the Volcano Run glitch, etc).

If you truly didn't break the rules, in this day and age, you will get your account back.

Magenta was autofrozen permanantly for...IIRC...either defender trainer or warf rescue team.

[Shoyru_Lover]

My account access was restored today. Niceee. Very quick and helpful responses from TNT. Looks like nothing was taken out of it too.

Summary, account frozen and access restored within one week. Very responsive email responses.

Chalk one up for The Neopets Team.

[Blue]

Hey! Congratulations!!

I'm glad you got your account back so quickly!

Did it help to tell (i.e. threaten) them that you were the head honcho of PPT?

[Shoyru_Lover]

I told them no such thing. I prefer anonymity in these types of situations.