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NotANymoreeee's avatar
NotANymoreeee
2 years ago
Solved

An unexpected ban was placed on an account that had spent almost $8,000

Three days ago I received a ban on my account for playing on a computer in a public place. I would like to say that I participated in the last Final Fantasy 7 co-branded event and Apex Legends Annive...
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OldTreeCreeper's avatar
OldTreeCreeper
Hero+
2 years ago

@NotANymoreeee

Unfortunately the EA staff who work here on AHQ cannot help you directly with account-related issues, such as bans, only the TOS team can help you.

It sounds like the machine you played on in public cafe had a hardware ban on it. 

All the available information relating to your ban would have been communicated to you via the email associated with your EA account.

If you feel you have been incorrectly banned,  the only thing you can do, which I think you have already done, is to dispute any action taken against your EA account by following the steps in this article:

https://help.ea.com/en/help/account/information-about-banned-or-suspended-accounts/

There is also this EA guide on bans and suspensions :

https://help.ea.com/en/help/account/electronic-arts-account-suspension-policy/#:~:text=A%20suspension%20is%20when%20we,a%20certain%20period%20of%20time.

It is my understanding that you can appeal a ban a number of times, up to 3.

Sadly It sounds like a permanent ban. 

NotANymoreeee's avatar
NotANymoreeee
2 years ago

First of all, thank you for your reply, as you said " All the available information relating to your ban would have been communicated to you via the email associated with your EA account. EA account." It's true that I'm playing personally, but why do you have to say that I'm cheating? I've appealed the ban several times, but they've always rejected me as cheating and have given me no chance at all!

  • Asmodeus566's avatar
    Asmodeus566
    Hero+
    2 years ago

    @NotANymoreeee 

    Account security starts with you.

    I am sorry that what happend to you happened, but like I said account security starts with you. Would you use that same untrusted hardware to perform online banking, I think not, same goes for gaming. 

    Some Tips below:

    Account Safety

    How to keep your account and hardware safe 101:

    1. Use strong passwords for you game account.
    2. Use strong passwords for the associated E-mail account. Keep track of your e-mail accounts and what they are connected to.
    3. Do not share either of these passwords with others. Keep note of your passwords in a safe place.
    4. Enable two factor identification for both the game and associated E-mail accounts.
    5. Do not let others use your game account (Friends and family alike) because if they do something wrong on your account it is still your fault, nobody wants to have a sanction on their account because somebody else did or said something wrong.
    6. Do not use internet café’s to access your account and play, you do not know what software is on the hardware there, you do not know if the hardware at the cafe has a hardware ban and this can affect your account in a negative way.
    7. I would suggest only accessing your account with your own trusted hardware, gaming on another person’s hardware brings some of the same risks as above.
    8. I would also suggest not letting others use your hardware in order to play with their account, because if they get a hardware ban on your hardware while using it, it can have a negative affect on your account.
    9. Buying used hardware comes with risks as well. The hardware could have been banned and this is not an EA problem but a problem between the buyer and the seller. 
    10. Play nice with others, in other words do not de-mean, harass or bully others in Chat or over voice coms, both can be reported and that can also have a negative effect on your account.
    11. Use non-offensive user/gamer tag/club tags, if you get a warning about such change it, doing otherwise can lead to a negative effect on your account.
    12. Play fair, boosting and teaming are cheating.
    13. Play fair using cheating software or hardware is not fair and is really only cheating yourself.
    14. Re-read the Terms of Service agreement and the Terms of Sale agreement you agreed to play this game and adhere to it. https://www.ea.com/legal/user-agreement and https://www.ea.com/legal/terms-of-sale

    About points 7, 8, and 9, I do know that not everyone can afford multiple hardware setups for the entire family and there is trust that has to be there, talking about the does and don’ts on the use of shared hardware should be done so everybody can enjoy what they do on the hardware and everyone can be safe.

    If you believe you have been hacked take appropriate measures to secure your account and associated E-mail account https://help.ea.com/en-gb/help/account/secure-hacked-ea-account/

    If you believe that a sanction (Suspension/Ban) placed on your account was by mistake you should reach out to the Terms of Service team https://help.ea.com/za/help/account/information-about-locked-or-banned-or-suspended-accounts/

    Contacting EA help https://help.ea.com/help/faq/using-ea-help

    • NotANymoreeee's avatar
      NotANymoreeee
      2 years ago

      First, thank you for reply to me.
      But I'd like to say that I was going into a public cafe where I could see a portion of the crowd also playing Apex Legends, so why were they fine? And I received a ban, I don't refute that it's a problem with the game, I'm more biased towards it being a problem with the machine, so I tried to go over the details with them, and no matter how much I described my situation, it didn't have any effect. Why? Instead, they didn't stop the cheating I encountered in the game, so why is that? Again, I am not using cheats in the game, I value my account so much that I spend a lot of .
      Not everyone is necessarily able to play from their own computer. For example if you're out of town and you can't play, but this event is ending soon and right after that you don't want to miss the event, what would you choose? I'd choose to find a public cafe and play.

      • OldTreeCreeper's avatar
        OldTreeCreeper
        Hero+
        2 years ago

        @NotANymoreeee

        Public cafes are easily compromised by cheaters. It is unfortunate that it appears the computer you chose to play on had possibly been previously compromised.