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ATTN KABAM: I have evidence to help with people were wrongly targeted by the recent ban wave

NakorNakor Member Posts: 6 ★
in General Discussion
Hello Kabam and fellow players. I have some evidence that can possibly help with people who were wrongly targeted by the recent ban wave.

I play multiple accounts and on Friday evening, only one of them was targeted in the latest ban wave. Since I have played all my accounts on the same two devices for several years, using the same software, this clearly shows there is an issue with the anti-cheat code recently released.

Whether or not you believe me when I say that I have not cheated, the code should have either flagged all my accounts or none and clearly that did not happen. I hope this can shed some light on tracking this bug, and it is a bug.

I tried submitting a very detailed ticket in the help system but all I received was a form response saying that I was using unauthorized third party software. Because it was the weekend, I waited until today for an update but all that came was a follow up email that my ticket will be closed in 48 hours.

Since nobody ready what I wrote in the ticket, I am asking Kabam to please thoroughly investigate all my accounts. I invite this action because I hope that by scrutinizing the details surrounding one account being banned and the others not being banned, you can possibly see what happened.

To be clear, I have never installed the game from any source other than the official google play store release. I have not used any cheats, mods, game boosters, etc. I have never shared my accounts or passwords with anyone and my devices all have passwords so nobody has ever been able to play on my devices either.

At this point I don't know what else to do. I am innocent and my tech support request was apparently ignored. I am basically going to have to quit the game. Not in some kind of protest but because I am afraid I will again be erroneously targeted for cheating when I have done absolutely nothing wrong.

Please Kabam, you really need to look into this. You have definitely punished innocent players with this last action.

Respectfully,

Nakor

Comments

  • SandeepSSandeepS Member Posts: 1,341 ★★★★
    Is there anything about the one account which was banned that was different to the others? For example did you log into the pc version using that account only?
  • NakorNakor Member Posts: 6 ★
    @DNA3000 I did open a support ticket. Please read my full post. Thank you.

    @SandeepS I have not downloaded the PC version. Also the two phones I do use have been used to play every account. Believe me, I've been trying to think of anything that could be a reason but there's nothing that makes any sense. I'm really stuck here because if I login again, I feel like I might get another ban without even doing anything wrong. I'm missing out on alliance events, expiring inventory, double track, all kinds of stuff but I'm really afraid to wrongly catch another ban.
  • SandeepSSandeepS Member Posts: 1,341 ★★★★
    Which countries have you played in?
    Are all accounts same progression?
    Which phones do you use?
  • SandeepSSandeepS Member Posts: 1,341 ★★★★
    Countries is an interesting one, I've been abroad on holidays and played from multiple countries but I know that some are banned and cannot be played without a VPN.

    With regards to phones, some makes or models don't have a native store and would need to be installed, that has caught people out who had to install Google play to install the game from.
  • BringPopcornBringPopcorn Member Posts: 9,824 ★★★★★
    Nakor said:

    They are Valiant accounts. Respectfully, I will decline answering the countries played from and phones used because those are questions Kabam sometimes asks to prove account ownership. I will say that I have used both phones for months with no problems. I have also played in the same location for years. Thank you for your posts.

    Dude nobody wants your suspended accounts ..
  • Moneymike128Moneymike128 Member Posts: 84 ★
    I am curious about how two accounts played on the same device installed through the same platform (eg Google Play) could have one flagged account and one not. There would have to be some kind of discriminating variable.


    My best guess is that if someone shared only one of the account's login with a third party who had a modded game it would cause the disparity, but that's already its own TOS violation that would be handled separately.

    I do think that there's something hinky going on given the sheer volume of players sharing screenshots of their game install details as being from the Google play store. (Yeah I know Photoshop exists but I generally don't attribute to malfeasance what can be attributed to ignorance.)

    The conspiracy-theorist in me wonders if Kabam has accidentally uncovered some kind of clandestine malware running on people's phones against their knowledge.

  • SonikGoldSonikGold Member Posts: 46 ★
    Moneymike128 said:

    I am curious about how two accounts played on the same device installed through the same platform (eg Google Play) could have one flagged account and one not. There would have to be some kind of discriminating variable.


    My best guess is that if someone shared only one of the account's login with a third party who had a modded game it would cause the disparity, but that's already its own TOS violation that would be handled separately.

    I do think that there's something hinky going on given the sheer volume of players sharing screenshots of their game install details as being from the Google play store. (Yeah I know Photoshop exists but I generally don't attribute to malfeasance what can be attributed to ignorance.)

    The conspiracy-theorist in me wonders if Kabam has accidentally uncovered some kind of clandestine malware running on people's phones against their knowledge.

    That was my first concern, then I wondered if since the ban time seemed to start a little after I had connected my Tesla and phone to the same network if my car tried to data mine my phone and triggered it. It's ridiculous that they suspended my account without actually identifying the "problem software". I can login in now. The suspension message is gone, but haven't heard back from support or seen any compensation.
  • BringPopcornBringPopcorn Member Posts: 9,824 ★★★★★
    edited June 9
    Nakor said:

    They are Valiant accounts. Respectfully, I will decline answering the countries played from and phones used because those are questions Kabam sometimes asks to prove account ownership. I will say that I have used both phones for months with no problems. I have also played in the same location for years. Thank you for your posts.

    Edited I made a mistake.
    Anyway nobody wants your suspended account.
  • CheeseMaster482CheeseMaster482 Member Posts: 316 ★★★
    BringPopcorn said:

    Nakor said:

    They are Valiant accounts. Respectfully, I will decline answering the countries played from and phones used because those are questions Kabam sometimes asks to prove account ownership. I will say that I have used both phones for months with no problems. I have also played in the same location for years. Thank you for your posts.

    Edited I made a mistake.
    Anyway nobody wants your suspended account.
    Did you even read the post? The literal second paragraph says he used the same two devices to play both his accounts and the subsequent paragraphs use the word devices. Instead of trying to be a smart guy you should take the time to actually read what the post says.
  • BringPopcornBringPopcorn Member Posts: 9,824 ★★★★★
    edited June 9
    CheeseMaster482 said:

    BringPopcorn said:

    Nakor said:

    They are Valiant accounts. Respectfully, I will decline answering the countries played from and phones used because those are questions Kabam sometimes asks to prove account ownership. I will say that I have used both phones for months with no problems. I have also played in the same location for years. Thank you for your posts.

    Edited I made a mistake.
    Anyway nobody wants your suspended account.
    Did you even read the post? The literal second paragraph says he used the same two devices to play both his accounts and the subsequent paragraphs use the word devices. Instead of trying to be a smart guy you should take the time to actually read what the post says.
    Did you read my edit?
    You should follow your own advice, you might look less stupid than the people you are trying to give advice to...
  • smdam38smdam38 Member Posts: 2,361 ★★★★
    DNA3000 said:

    Nakor said:

    Hello Kabam and fellow players. I have some evidence that can possibly help with people who were wrongly targeted by the recent ban wave.

    I play multiple accounts and on Friday evening, only one of them was targeted in the latest ban wave. Since I have played all my accounts on the same two devices for several years, using the same software, this clearly shows there is an issue with the anti-cheat code recently released.

    If you believe you were banned incorrectly, you should open a support ticket.

    However, while I am not at liberty to discuss the details (I have not even been given all of the specifics, because the implementation details are sensitive protected information), it is possible for a player to play two accounts and only have one of them banned in the recent ban wave. If you are thinking that either both must have been flagged or neither and this proves a malfunction, I have discussed this possibility with Kabam and this specific circumstance can occur without a malfunction.
    Why even bring it up if you have some special knowledge and can’t discuss it?

    Of course it can and has occurred without a “malfunction”.
  • JESUSCHRISTJESUSCHRIST Member Posts: 2,343 ★★★★★
    I have 1 alliance member from Africa who got 7 days ban

    He said he downloaded from official Google play store

    He din get banned on Friday

    He got banned on Monday
  • NoahSansmanNoahSansman Member Posts: 564 ★★★
    JESUSCHRIST said:

    I have 1 alliance member from Africa who got 7 days ban

    He said he downloaded from official Google play store

    He din get banned on Friday

    He got banned on Monday

    This monday? I think your alliance member is a cheater then.
  • NakorNakor Member Posts: 6 ★
    Well apparently Kabam has identified some issues with their code and decided to reverse the ban. See here:

    https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/396906/recent-banwave-update

    First of all, I want to say thank you to Kabam for investigating this issue and acknowledging the error.

    I also want to thank anyone who contributed positively to this thread. There certainly is a lot of unnecessary hostility on the internet but it is especially sad to see in the forums here.

    Finally, a bit of constructive criticism for future anti-cheat updates. Please make sure you test this more thoroughly going forward. While bugs are inevitable in any codebase, unlike other bugs, this one hit very personal. It's horrible to be falsely accused, even in a game. I would also suggest not dropping the code on a Friday to leave potential innocent folks hanging until Monday.

    Thank you Kabam. Respectfully submitted,

    Nakor
  • CheeseMaster482CheeseMaster482 Member Posts: 316 ★★★
    BringPopcorn said:

    CheeseMaster482 said:

    BringPopcorn said:

    Nakor said:

    They are Valiant accounts. Respectfully, I will decline answering the countries played from and phones used because those are questions Kabam sometimes asks to prove account ownership. I will say that I have used both phones for months with no problems. I have also played in the same location for years. Thank you for your posts.

    Edited I made a mistake.
    Anyway nobody wants your suspended account.
    Did you even read the post? The literal second paragraph says he used the same two devices to play both his accounts and the subsequent paragraphs use the word devices. Instead of trying to be a smart guy you should take the time to actually read what the post says.
    Did you read my edit?
    You should follow your own advice, you might look less stupid than the people you are trying to give advice to...
    I'm not the one that had to edit my comment for refusing to spend 10 seconds to read what the thread was about. Of course you have to include an insult in your response, truly an outstanding member of the fourms.
  • DNA3000DNA3000 Member, Guardian Posts: 21,039 Guardian
    smdam38 said:

    DNA3000 said:

    Nakor said:

    Hello Kabam and fellow players. I have some evidence that can possibly help with people who were wrongly targeted by the recent ban wave.

    I play multiple accounts and on Friday evening, only one of them was targeted in the latest ban wave. Since I have played all my accounts on the same two devices for several years, using the same software, this clearly shows there is an issue with the anti-cheat code recently released.

    If you believe you were banned incorrectly, you should open a support ticket.

    However, while I am not at liberty to discuss the details (I have not even been given all of the specifics, because the implementation details are sensitive protected information), it is possible for a player to play two accounts and only have one of them banned in the recent ban wave. If you are thinking that either both must have been flagged or neither and this proves a malfunction, I have discussed this possibility with Kabam and this specific circumstance can occur without a malfunction.
    Why even bring it up if you have some special knowledge and can’t discuss it?

    Of course it can and has occurred without a “malfunction”.
    The OP believed that reporting one out of two accounts being banned while being played on the same devices was direct evidence of a malfunction. That is a in fact a reasonable supposition. However, I was pointing out I had already discussed that possibility with the devs and been told that in fact this is a thing that can happen deliberately without any actual error. What I can't discuss is the general reason why.

    The fact they found a set of players who may have been banned incorrectly does not change this. Kabam is reversing a small subset of the bans surrounding a specific subset of players, not all of them, and for the bans that stand this would still be true. It is possible, as far as I've been told, for one account to be banned and another one not banned out of two accounts both played on the same devices.
  • smdam38smdam38 Member Posts: 2,361 ★★★★
    If it does get people that don’t have the actual proper version of the game installed.
    That’s a good thing.
  • smdam38smdam38 Member Posts: 2,361 ★★★★
    Hopefully it makes them install a proper version.
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