My PSN account recently got hacked a week ago. Upon accessing my account after not being able to log in it, said that my account was banned due to malicious activities. I immediately contacted Sony customer support and got my issues resolved and my unauthorized payments refunded (over 400 dollars) . Customer support was top-notch from Sony.

This worried me and made me look at all the credit card transactions that I have had the same week. I saw that my paypal account was also being accessed by some unknown person. Since then, I have cancelled my previous credit card and got a new one.

During the ban-wave of Oct 21, 2020. I was suddenly kicked out of my game and received error 816. I have mailed both Sega and PSO2 team regarding this issue as they stated that they banned people committing illicit activities around the same time that my PSN account was hacked. That being said, I use the same email and personal information for all of the mentioned accounts.

Here is our interaction:

Mark ⃤

"Oct 21, 2020, 6:40 PDT

I have recently been kicked out of the game and suspended. I tried to relog in and was given an error code 816 and that I have been suspended. I have not committed anything that goes against your terms of service. However, a few of my accounts have been recently hacked starting with my Playstation network account which is connected to the same email. I have since changed my credit card information since this occurred. This issue caused a lot of grief, where my gaming accounts would get banned due to malicious activities that I have no knowledge of.

I have recently contacted Sony and they have restored my accounts. I hope that you can do the same, as I have invested a lot of time and money to support your company specifically with this game. I can forward you my conversation with Sony if it would help prove my innocence.

I wish you all the best, take care and thank you for your support.

I have sent a ticket previously with no reply its number was (64157). I wouldn't be this committed in restoring my account but I have spent hundreds if not thousands of dollars on AC scratch tickets for this. "

They responded with:

"Greetings ARKS Operative!

Thank you for reaching out to us regarding your login issues.

Upon thorough investigation into this account's actions, we had found illicit activity. Due to this, we have permanently suspended this account. Unfortunately, this account will not be released and future appeals will not be accepted.

Please review the Terms of Service https://pso2.com/terms-and-conditions for further details about this decision.

• Your PSO2 Team"

I replied with:

"Hello there,

Could you please elaborate as to what illicit activity was found? I honestly have no idea as to why I have been banned. I have read through your terms of service and have followed them. This is the first time I've been suspended by a gaming company and I was not offered any warning nor reason as to why. I have invested a lot of time and money in supporting your company, and I'm sure you have millions of players that you're making money from so losing someone like me is not a big deal. But please, have some empathy. We are all going through something right now."

They replied:

"The PSO2 Team (PSO2)

Oct 21, 2020, 18:51 PDT

Greetings ARKS Operative!

We have read and reviewed your comments and appeal. In respect to this account suspension, all conditions that every player agreed to when starting this game have not changed and can be found in our Terms of Service https://pso2.com/terms-and-conditions

• Your PSO2 Team"

They then closed my ticket. Now I have no clue if this is a generic response but their lack of elaboration and communication is frustrating. You could tell I'm very invested in this game otherwise I wouldn't be making a big deal out of this. I just find their lack of compassion extremely disturbing.

I'm sorry for the rant. TLDR: Sony rocks, sega needs to work on their HR department.

Yeah, seems like SEGA has even worse issues than the guy that designed the Expert Matching system, not that he's not a problem.

@lMarkXIl That sucks, but Sony doesn't have a free MMO where Millions(?) of other accounts are affected by these hacked accounts. I think Sony might also quarantine your account if it was adversely affecting their game's economic system. If you know your account was compromised, why are you asking Sega why they refuse release it back into the population?

Because I have invested a lot of money on AC scratches with that account. I can always change my password and things like that, but I will never be able to get the time and money i've invested back from the game.

@lMarkXIl That's valid, you invested a lot of money and time into the game. But it isn't like Sega can just brush off the compromised parts and give the remaining account back to you. Frankly, since you mentioned the money invested, this isn't what you want either. You want your time and money spent on the account separated from whatever the "hacker" did and keep all the benefits.

@FANtasyStarOnline I think you misunderstand. First of all, don't tell me what I should or should not want. I am simply saying that Sega needs a better way to handle customer 'support'. I emphasize the word 'support' because there is no support whatsoever when asking for their help. Another thing, I have taken measurements to prevent someone from hacking my financial accounts immediately after finding out that it had occurred. I still have the same PSN account and have no further issue after the incident. The fact that I was able to get my account back from Sony and I can't even get a proper response from a Sega employee is the point I am trying to make in this post. I am commending the developers for producing a great game, I just wish that their customer support can put the same effort when doing their job.