Looks like a long-standing player has had their account hacked or hijacked

Really not much we can do here - the player is himself responsible for the account access.

The player can put in a ticket reporting that the account has been hacked. The support system is separate from the game, so he should still be able to talk to support to get further instructions. Unfortunately there's not much anyone else can do.

As far as spoofing goes, I've seen accounts appear to be someone when in fact it was someone else impersonating them. In that case, the original player's account is just fine. It's like someone spoofing a phone number. Nothing happens to the person being spoofed other than maybe an odd call from a stranger. (I've had that happen in real life a few times.)

ya the impersonating of players is a problem, It appears they use Unicode for the player name.

I suppose they do this because the game has many regions but it allows for a lot of abuse and confusion

AT the very least I'd like to see a rule put in place where such actions can be reported and punished.

Otherwise it would be nice to have a developer come tell us this is intended.

Quote from Rastan

Otherwise it would be nice to have a developer come tell us this is intended.

The username is allowed to have only English letters, digits and some special symbols, otherwise feel free to report such player in the game.

Quote from Draxo

The username is allowed to have only English letters, digits and some special symbols, otherwise feel free to report such player in the game.

This doesn't get enforced, though. There are accounts that have had non-English characters for years and are just fine. I've reported several and nothing was done. They're still here.

Also, if someone is doing it on a short term basis just to impersonate someone, then changing back, it'll never get caught.

Quote from JuneBarcarolle

Also, if someone is doing it on a short term basis just to impersonate someone, then changing back, it'll never get caught.

Personally I think that's nothing so bad, sometimes even interesting - especially in case of active war.

Quote from Draxo

Personally I think that's nothing so bad, sometimes even interesting - especially in case of active war.

Out of curiosity, how many times have you had to go chasing down facts, contacting other alliances, interview other players, ask for screenshots, just to verify whether or not if something said or done by someone was actually them? It would be like if someone came here to the boards, impersonated you and posted things you would never say, and then left you to clean up the mess.

.

Town names are the worst. Try finding 愛 and other east Asian symbols during conflict...

Starman

Hi:

So instead of opening a new thread, i searched for a similar one to answer my question, and i have a question.

How can someone hack ikariam accounts by texting? And what does spoofing mean?

I have this alliance member recently texting me all of a sudden, and each messege is different from the last. A change of subject with each messege.. (I mean, is this spoofing? Fist asking how i am doing, then where i come from, then what i do for a living, then even we dont live in the same country, he asks if i can get him a job, then asking how much his account is worth, then telling me what animals i like). Btw all messeges are deleted and i stopped replying him!

Is it a way of hacking or am i wong?

Sorry if i act a bit paranoid, but i just have this weired feeling.

And how is it my fault (Just asking here, cause i dont know), if i let them hack my account.

Some recommendations:

• always keep your credentials safe and do not share them with others
• make sure the credentials are not saved if you are using a shared device
• in case of doubts about sender, click on the coordinates and verify the opened town

Thanks for the reply.

Quote from Steam Engine

How can someone hack ikariam accounts by texting? And what does spoofing mean?

There have been cases of account phishing via links that allow the sender access.

Good suggestion for Ikariam and online overall, don't open random unknown links.

Regards to the weird messages you may get, none of that should be useful. Weird, but not really account spoofing related.

Quote from Madmadic

Quote from Steam Engine

How can someone hack ikariam accounts by texting? And what does spoofing mean?

There have been cases of account phishing via links that allow the sender access.

Good suggestion for Ikariam and online overall, don't open random unknown links.

Regards to the weird messages you may get, none of that should be useful. Weird, but not really account spoofing related.

so the suggestion is to change the login data?
does your diplomat advisor in-game works?, i've been having problems lately :c

at least, in the last 12 hours or more when i click the button i got logged out from the game
regards

Quote from Donoso

does your diplomat advisor in-game works?, i've been having problems lately :c

at least, in the last 12 hours or more when i click the button i got logged out from the game

no

idem

since yesterday ...

Draxo

is taking care of it

SERVER KO

Quote from Donoso

Quote from Madmadic

Quote from Steam Engine

How can someone hack ikariam accounts by texting? And what does spoofing mean?

There have been cases of account phishing via links that allow the sender access.

Good suggestion for Ikariam and online overall, don't open random unknown links.

Regards to the weird messages you may get, none of that should be useful. Weird, but not really account spoofing related.

so the suggestion is to change the login data?
does your diplomat advisor in-game works?, i've been having problems lately :c

at least, in the last 12 hours or more when i click the button i got logged out from the game
regards

Display More

yes, already read it, in alpha US we have the same issue
hope it gets repaired soon, but who knows how dark could it look for the assigned devs :c

Quote from Madmadic

Quote from Steam Engine

How can someone hack ikariam accounts by texting? And what does spoofing mean?

There have been cases of account phishing via links that allow the sender access.

Good suggestion for Ikariam and online overall, don't open random unknown links.

Regards to the weird messages you may get, none of that should be useful. Weird, but not really account spoofing related.

Thanks very much for answer, thats a big relief. I really thought that someone could just hack you by texting you on game messeges, i mean without making you click on links

Sorry for my persecutory delusion.

But yeah i will not click on links i dont know about or give out my personal credentials.

Quote from Steam Engine

But yeah i will not click on links i dont know about or give out my personal credentials.

Yeps, you should be fine with just these two as far as Ikariam is concerned.

Some other games may provide account recoveries if you know enough details (location, past usernames etc. list goes on) so keeping that in mind in general can't be harmful.

Ikariam does not support any sort of account recovery when the account has been "gifted" away from your lobby though, so all you must limit is the access to your lobby. This being avoiding fishy links and giving out your login credentials.

Quote from Draxo

Quote from JuneBarcarolle

Also, if someone is doing it on a short term basis just to impersonate someone, then changing back, it'll never get caught.

Personally I think that's nothing so bad, sometimes even interesting - especially in case of active war.

Note to self.. impersonate Draxo ingame.. Got it thanks for the tip.

Just add the players id to the end Rastan (123456) and we solve this issue

I love it how every problem is either "not a big deal" or "not the kinda game this is" answer.. I don't think I've ever seen you admit there is a flaw in teh game mechanics besides bugs.

You're so flexible you should be a gymnast.. or maybe a politician.