The email I got was
“Recent activity shows that a user on this account acquired gold through illicit means, such as gold buying, botting, or participating in other real-money transactions. As a result of this activity we have suspended this account until 2023/12/14.”
This confuses because I know for a fact I haven’t bought gold or anything like that.
The ticket I put it just got a copy paste replay.
I don’t wish to be rude or waste anyone’s time, But I legitimately think I’m innocent here.
I have traded gold from one account I own to another account I fully own. Both accounts have my credit card and are listed as being owned by the same person, and the emails are very similar. So I’m clearly not selling gold to myself. ( I can give any info that’s needed here)
I’m not buying the gold on one account and handing off to another because the gold’s origin is the same account, I used my other account and the goblin AH to trade it from Ally to Horde, which is not against the rules as far as I can tell and isn’t the reason listed in the email.
The only other things that could put me in contact with RMT gold is I’ve done 3 random (and I mean random I didn’t know a single person in any of these runs) GDKPs with pugs in the 2 months or so. None of which had much of a payout, and I’m aware that a lot of players in GDKPs buy gold… but I don’t and I have no way of knowing who is legit or not.
Honestly I’d be happy if Blizzard banned GDKPs but I don’t think I should be punished for joining a random group if they aren’t against the rules.
[EDIT] The only other sus thing I could think of is like 3 months ago a guildmate gave me gold to help with raid consumes etc. And honestly it would not shock me if that dude buys gold. But I didn’t know that at the time and I don’t think I should be punished for that.
You admit you know that some people use illicit gold to participate; and still decided it was a good idea. You most likely received illicit gold as part of the run, resulting in your ban now.
GKDP runs are extremely risky if you do not know everyone involved; and even then; you don’t really know how they got their gold.
But this is what happens when you knowingly play with cheaters.
Blizzard has been actioning accounts as of late for illicit gold transfers. A similarity in posts we have seen lately regarding those actions is GDKP runs.
One of the Blizzard Support Forum Agents made a good post the other day.
Either one of these is an option but most likely the GDKP, if you received gold. Your account penalty is a very short suspension of only around 2 weeks.
I would simply avoid doing anything that gets you unknown gold, such as those GDKP runs. Those transactions are not supported by Blizzard (although not prohibited) and they don’t accept not knowing as an excuse if an account receives illicit gold, esp more than once.
I am sure the two week suspension sucks, but at least you now know how to avoid it in the future.
I didn’t know anyone in the random GKDPs I did that buys gold. I just know people that do buy gold like to do GDKPs.
And again if Blizzard wants to ban GDKPs that’s fine with me, but they need to tell people that, you should nto be banned for loggin into the game, seeing a group form and joining it, And following a loot rule set that blizzard hasn’t said is against the rules.
And that is why it is risky on both sides of buying and running GDKPs, and why it is specifically an unsupported practice. You said it clearer than I could have. You know people buy gold specifically to pay for them, but you still ran them and received that gold - even if you can’t say for certain obviously whose illegal gold you received.
You know people are doing things illegally, and you still made the choice to participate and put yourself in that position to potentially receive the tainted gold.
That is not what anyone got suspended or banned for. That is normal gameplay.
They have explicitly said that it is NOT supported, but neither is it against the rules. Gold for services is not going to get someone in trouble alone, but it is at your own risk. If anything goes wrong, or you get in hot water, your account pays the penalty.
“But I did not know GDKP runs often use illicit gold and I would get illicit gold”, does not work on Blizzard. Receiving stolen property IRL also does not tend to get a pass.
The OP in this case only got a 2 week suspension and they will now know to avoid unknown gold sources, like GDKP runs.
You say “admit” like I’m admitting to guilt, When joining a group that’s trading guild follow loot rules isn’t against the rules.
If Blizzard wants to make it against the rules I’d honestly be happy with that. But I don’t think it’s right to ban people for happening to bump shoulders with people that do break the rules.
[EDIT] also the Killdozer post above is me, I just forgot I had changed character (Don’t use forum often)
What’s against the rules is receiving stolen gold. You think the excuse of “no one could possibly know they were using stolen gold” is a get-out-of-jail-free card, and it’s not. The excuse should be making you stop and think about what you are about to join. If you cannot explicitly trust the other players in the run, then don’t join.
If you join a GDKP, you are accepting that it’s unsupported, and you are putting yourself at risk.
Correct, but as many others have mentioned, you are taking a risk if you don’t know the people involved. I’ve found the logs for what was involved here. Not saying you had any idea it was inappropriate - but it did indeed happen.
Problem is not evwry likes earning gold like normal people and take the easy way out and theres cockroaches that exploit the lazy. Rember people real driends dont let friends buy gold.
The good thing is that they look into these things. If there is a set history and pattern of repeated transactions like that? That is a huge red flag. Doing a crafting order once and receiving the fee in tainted gold from that once? Not nearly as much of one.
It’s also that they’re coming from the unsupported GDKP that has been harped on time and time again about them being unsupported.
I hope that’s true, it seems like if this guy didn’t post in this forum then he’d still be banned. Sometimes it feels like Blizz makes it hard for people to enjoy their game
If you receive stolen property IRL, you are not punished, you simply have to give it back because it doesn’t belong to you. I would much rather Blizz take back any “bad money” than punish people who had no idea what they were accepting
Just getting illicit funds once does not so much cause an issue. They look for patterns. Does the person keep repeating the same activity, or similar, with illicit gold gains? If so it is more likely to get a suspension and gold removal.
Removing the gold alone does not tend to stop people from going down shady alley ways hoping they get away with it.
And just like RL, if they believe you received stolen property knowingly, you ARE, indeed, punished. Bliz takes the evidence and reacts accordingly. On appeal (same as in RL), it appears it was unknown, and punishments are adjusted or lifted. Only Bliz knows what % of these appear to be intentional, but it seems to be often enough they err on intentional.
I understand why many players are upset when they get caught up in a suspension or ban. Especially for those that have NO idea how risky these runs can be. I’m glad players are able to have these reviewed, and now understand they should be more cautious in the future.