How to protect your acc from hacks/scams

Here are some steps how to keep your account safe. Only knowledge and awareness can protect us all from ****/scam attempts.

Be smart with your passwords!

1. Password shouldn't be less than 10 characters in length.

2. Your password should not have any complete words in it, especially a word that is in the dictionary. English or foreign dictionaries. Many hacking programs are designed to look trough possible words.

3. Your password shouldn't be related to anyone or anything in your life that is personal to you. This includes parents, people you know, places, pets, digits from your birthday or the year you graduated etc.

Example: Your profile picture is your car and your password is the name of that car.

4. Your password should contain letters, numbers AND symbols. Not just one or the other. Additionally I recommend your password contain uppercase and lowercase characters.

5. Never share your password with anyone for any reason whatsoever. This should include your friends too. This is very important! Its not because you dont trust them, you can't know how secure their computer is.

6. You must change your password on a regular basis. I would recommend changing your password once a month, although for maximum security, passwords should be changed at random intervals.

7. Never use the same passwords or similar password for mail/forum/in game etc. This is not secure or safe in any way. For example changing one character on the end or adding a number. This is a very predictable behavior and very common as well.

8. If possible, don't write your password down where someone can just look at it. Don't write them on sticky notes and put them on your monitor or under your keyboard. You should never have a document on your computer that contains all your login information. Like a word document or a text file. This means anyone can open it and read it in case they break into your comp. If you store passwords on your computer use a password management program that can encrypt the file with your information in it and store a copy off-site at another location.

9. Never enter your username or password anywhere else except the official Perfect World website, ARC or into the game when you login.

10. Use bank password in PWI! Apply all hints above on that password too! You can set/change your bank password at any Banker in game.


Be careful with fake links (phishing sites) and files!

Phishing sites are designed to get personal information like account info, password, credit card number etc. They look same as original site which makes them pretty effective, BUT their link is different.
Other way is to get infected file with keylogger:
-small and simple programs that are very hard to detect even with a good, updated anti-viruses program, usually downloaded from 3rd party MMO related sites with ties to PWI
-they log all your keystrokes and email them back to the person who setup keylogger
-don't download files from 3rd party PWI related sites. ie. patches, .ini edits, bots and the MMO notorious "stealth ****".
-you can use a keystroke encryptor that works at driver level, not 100% reliable.

There are many ways you can get those links/files: trough e-mail (in game or private mail), in game chat or World Chat, Skype, facebook etc.

DON'T CLICK ON ANY LINK OR DOWNLOAD ANY FILE UNTIL YOU'RE 100% SURE ITS SAFE! (this includes PWI, your e-mail, skype, facebook, MSN and other similar sites)


Protect your in-game name!

In some cases scammers will try copy your name to harm your friends and faction members. Best way is to make characters on different account that will use all possible variations of your name.
Example: for my name (Deliylah) I had to cover all possible variations that use capital i - DeIiyIah, DeIiylah, DeliyIah. All 4 names would look exactly same in game, but its still possible to mix up letters because our brain reads word as whole and can't notice small mistakes unless you're very careful!


Don't trust people who sell refining service!

Don't trust ppl who sell refining services and trade them your gear or give them your login info. Everyone has same chance to refine their gear using mirages+ Tienkangs/Tishas/Dragon Orbs. Check out refining guides and you will make it on your own.


Bind your endgame gear!

Binding charms are Boutique item and they cost 50 silver each, you need 1 charm to bind one gear piece at PW Promotions Agent (532 655). Rank 9 and some endgame gear can be NPCed and only way to prevent this is to bind it. Only way to destroy bound gear is to wait 72 hours, and you can cancel this process at any point.
In case you cant spend gold for Binding Charms, you can leave your endgame gear in bank when you log off and protect it with bank password.

Warn your friends that have troubles with English!

Pretty often scam/**** victims are those who have language issues, because they dont understand all warnings. If you know which one of your friends/guild members have issues with English, take few minutes to explain them about all scam/**** attempts to keep them warned.


What to do if it already happened?

1. If you notice that someone is logged on your acc and you suspect its getting ****, force log immediately and set your Safety Lock on longer period of time. This will stop them from getting more stuff from you until you secure your account.

2. Change password on your account and e-mail!

3. Scan your computer using updated anti-virus program.

4. Send ticket to PW support and try include complete list of things you miss. Be as detailed as possible!

5. If someone sends you phishing link in game report him right away (right click on name->Report ****->select appropriate tab->Confirm), but also send a ticket using PW support.

6. In case you can't log into your account to send a ticket, make another account or ask good friend to send ticket for you. Don't forget to mention few times that victim cant log into their own account, because PW support has to read tickets very fast and can miss important details :P


Used informations from:
Foltern (Sanctuary) - http://pwi-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=504222
breeeezy87 - http://pwi-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=1314671