the mods from vendor's are green quality and do not require authorization to use. As for receiving them by accident this has happened in the past with pvp rewards going to players that didn't earn them.
In that case BW allowed those players to keep those items instead of taking them away. This may just be a similar issue where their script they ran to ensure people got their rewards for qualifying the script accidentally sent those items to others who didn't
I haven't seen any other posts on this however I would just submit an in-game ticket to notify them just in case.
Having a script accidentally send these items to me is a possible answer. I still needed to report it.
As to your statement about the Mods.... The Mods traded for data crystals are green yes, but the Barrels and Hilts on these Vendors most definitely require Artifact Authorization if you are F2P or Preferred Player. There are reports/posts on this forum from several Players that report this same issue (Thread: Color-Crystals-Now-Require-Artifact-Equipment-Authorization). I have tested this with Mod vendors on several planets, on fleet, and in both Republic and Empire on several characters. (The Armorings, Mods, and Enhancements are green and do not require AA but it's Barrels and Hilts that determine the DPS of weapons DO require AA. The output DPS is tied directly to the Item Level of the Barrels and Hilts themselves, not the weapon. This is why this is an issue.)
If you can purchase and install these barrels and hilts as either a F2P or Preferred player and you have never purchase Artifact Authorization than count yourself as fortunate because some of us see that AA is required, and since we never purchased Artifact Authorization we can not use the barrels and hilts. Artifact Authorization was NOT required to purchase and use Barrels and Hilts from Mod Vendors prior to 4.0.
Perhaps you are a Subscriber, and if so this would explain why you don't see that AA is required, for Subscription covers the requirement.
Also... Preferred Players like myself are not allowed to submit ingame bug reports or tickets. I option is grayed out and unusable. I have attempted many times and I have never ever been able to submit reports as a Preferred player. This is why I post my bugs here on this forum. I have no where to go to do so.
