Documentation of my experience with a hijacked account [SOLVED]

Alpha
  • Edited

Hi all.

This post will just be a documention of my personal experience with my hijacked discord account

Thoughout this documentation, I hope to be able to inform and reassure those who have unfortunately shared a similar situation to mine.

For more information reguarding a ‘recently’ resolved case, I recommend checking out this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/discordapp/comments/17we7zu/discussion_my_current_experience_with_hacked

 

3/3/2024, GMT-8 (4/3/2024, GMT+10) - Account Hijack

It was 12 am. I was in the middle of a DnD session when I fell for the "Please help me test this game I'm working on" scam.

My discord started bugging, and instead of going to settings to reset my password, I passed it off as a simple bug, tried to restart and lost access to my account.

 

3/3/2024, 11:51 PM, GMT-8 (4/3/2024, GMT+10) - Initial Ticket Creation

Upon realising what had just happened, I immediately created a support ticket.

 

4/3/2024, 5:15 AM, GMT-8 (5/3/2024, GMT+10) - Discord Bot Response

Clyde:

Hey Apollofu15,

Thanks for reaching out. We're sorry to hear that you're having trouble with your account!

If you are still able to log in to your account or are still logged in, we recommend that you please reset your password. This will log you out of all other devices and sessions to secure your account. You can find instructions to reset your password and tips on how to protect your account below:
Reset Account Password
Four steps to a super safe account

If you are having trouble with two-factor authentication/multi-factor authentication on your account, you may remove 2FA from your account by using the backup codes that you were provided by Discord when you initially set up the two factor authentication. We recommend you re-enable 2FA and save your backup codes as soon as you can.

If you believe you have been hacked and cannot access your account after following the instructions above, please reply to this message and provide details with how and when you were hacked so that we can investigate further.

Please note this form is only for hacked accounts. If you have any other questions or concerns, please choose the appropriate support form option for your issue and submit a new ticket here.

Sincerely,
Discord Trust & Safety

As I was awake at the time, I immediately provide details of the situation, with a follow-up ticket containing information about my account (username/ID, phone number, payment methods, 2FA status)

 

4/3/2024, 9:48 PM, GMT-8 (5/3/2024, GMT+10) - Discord Bot Response

I recieve a message from another bot

Obi Wan Kenobi: 

Hello,
 
Thank you for providing the information about your account.
 
We’ve escalated your ticket for the team to look into further. Unfortunately, we are unable to give you an estimate time of our response or answer questions about your account, but our team is actively working on these requests.
 
Please note that submitting multiple reports regarding the same issue may hamper our team's investigation into your report, and slows down how quickly we can help other users.
 
Thank you for your patience and a team member will get back to you when they can.
 
Sincerely,
Discord Trust & Safety

Which I respond to shortly afterwards, thanking them for the response.

 

7/3/2024, GMT-8 (8/3/2024, GMT+10) - Ticket Bump

I bump my ticket, sympathising with the discord team and the number of tickets they have to intake, while trying to express my concern for the users in my friends list, and hoping that they'd see my position and increase my chances of resolution.

 

7/3/2024, 9:38 PM, GMT-8 (8/3/2024, GMT+10) - 2nd Ticket Bump

I update my ticket with more information regarding my account - that being name and online status change

 

7/3/2024, 9:53 PM, GMT-8 (8/3/2024, GMT+10) - Hijacker Harassment

The hijacker adds me on my backup and proceeds to spam me with 'carla who', of what meaning I know not.

 

8/3/2024, 9:17 AM, GMT-8 (9/3/2024, GMT+10) - Forum Post Creation

I create this forum post. 

I plan to avoid further interaction with the hijacker and await discord responses, hoping that it won't take months.

I will update any progress as it occurs.

 

8/3/2024, 12:45, GMT-8 (9/3/2024, GMT+10) - Twitter Bump

I Direct Message @discord_support on twitter in hopes of getting a status update of ticket.

 

9/3/2024, 2:13 AM, GMT-8 (10/3/2024, GMT+10) - Twitter Response

@discord_support: 

Hello there. Your ticket is currently still open in the correct queue, and a Trust and Safety team member will get back to you as soon as they can. The team is working through these tickets as quickly as they can. I don't have an ETA at this time, but you should receive a response soon. We genuinely appreciate your patience and understanding in the meantime, and if you need anything else please let us know.

 

11/3/2024, 9:05 AM, GMT-8 (12/3/2024, GMT+10) - Twitter Inquiry

I DM @discord_support on twitter again in hopes that they'd be able to shed some light on how my mobile 2FA was removed.

 

11/3/2024, 6:41 PM, GMT-8 (12/3/2024, GMT+10) - Twitter Response

@discord_support: 

Unfortunately, our social team doesn't have any information regarding Discord accounts being hacked. That is handled exclusively by our Trust & Safety team for security purposes. I apologize for the delay in response to your ticket. Tickets are answered in the order they are received, the team will get to your request as quickly as possible. For security and privacy reasons, we’re not able to discuss account details from here.

 

13/3/2024, 11:53 PM, GMT-8 (14/3/2024, GMT+11) - 2nd Ticket Creation

I create another ticket to cancel my ongoing nitro subscription, to remove my payment methods from my hijacked account, and to speak to a support team member

 

13/3/2024, 11:53 PM, GMT-8 (14/3/2024, GMT+11) - Discord Bot Response

@Clyde immediately responds to me:

Hey there,

We’re sorry to hear about this situation.

If you have lost access to the email address associated with the Discord account you had described, we can look into assisting with any refunds that are eligible per our Refund Policy, removing your payment information, and canceling the subscription from the associated account.

Additionally, if you haven’t already, please provide the following details as we will need them to move forward:
- Last four digits of your credit/debit card:
- Date of most recent charge:
- Amount of most recent charge:
- Billing zip or postal code:
- Screenshot of this transaction on your billing statement:

On the other hand, if this occurred in PayPal, we'll need:
- Your PayPal account's email address that is associated with the charge:
- Date of most recent charge:
- Amount of most recent charge:

(If your PayPal account is associated with a different email, please submit a new ticket from the email associated with your PayPal account. To protect our users' privacy and security, we're only able to discuss account details with the email address associated with that account.)

Thank you, and please let us know if there's anything else.

Sincerely,
Discord Trust and Safety Team

I tell them that I don't want a refund, and only wish for the cancellation of my nitro, the removal of my payment methods, and to speak to a support team member.

 

14/3/2024, 4:28 PM, GMT-8 (15/3/2024, GMT+11) - Discord Response!

I get though to a staff member! 

Though it was from a different branch that handles financial transactions.

Mary (Discord)

Mar 14, 2024, 09:28 PDT

Hey there,

Thank you for providing the requested information. Upon review, I have canceled the subscription and removed your payment information from the associated account. 
 
Please note that the charge you indicated to us on your card ending in 1989 doesn't appear to be affiliated with our platform/app. I'm afraid that we won't be able to provide support for this transaction if this charge occurred outside of our billing system.
 
For reference, all purchases made within Discord will be labeled DISCORD* ItemName within credit/debit card statements (depending on how your bank renders this) and PAYPAL* DISCORD if completed through PayPal.
 
For more information, you can check out our Billing FAQ here:
https://support.discord.com/hc/articles/360017693772
 
I recommend reaching out directly to the vendor associated with this charge for further support.

Additionally, if you are still waiting to recover your account, please wait for correspondence through your other open ticket with our Account Security Team.

We apologize for the inconvenience here, but please let us know if you have any other concerns.

Best,
Mary

I thank them for their help, and try to raise awareness towards my account recovery ticket by stating that all I want is for my account email to be reverted and for a password reset email to be sent.

 

14/3/2024, 7:02 PM, GMT-8 (15/3/2024, GMT+11) - 2nd Ticket Closure

My ticket regarding my payment methods was closed. 

I had reopened it by replying to the support agent that was assigned to me, but it seems that they've closed it again.

Hopefully my request was read and considered.

12 days has elapsed since my ticket creation, no agent has been assigned yet.

 

25/3/2024, 4:58 PM, GMT-8 (26/3/2024, GMT+11) - New Activity?

I was just browsing the forums and conducting another ticket checkup when I noticed the ticket activity changed from 22 days ago to 5 hours ago(4:58 PM GMT-8).

Hopefully this means that someone has viewed it and that I will be recieving a reply shortly?

I was on my way to create another support ticket, but will hold off for now in hopes of a reply.

 

10/4/2024, 5:49 AM, GMT-8 (11/4/2024, GMT+11) - New Ticket Creation

I decided to create and submit another ticket seeing as it has been a month already with no response

This time, I tried to include all my info within the inital ticket creation (details of event, account ownership proof, discord pw emails, etc), as well as being more thorough with the details requested by the ticket.

 

10/4/2024, 5:49 AM, GMT-8 (11/4/2024, GMT+11) - Discord Support Email response

Got a entirely different ticket confirmation response from Clyde

##- Please type your reply above this line -##

Hey there,

Thank you for reaching out! Sorry to hear that you experienced this on our app.

**While our team investigates this, please read through the following points:**

1. If you created a new Discord account with the email that was previously associated with your hacked account, you will need to change the email on the new account to something else. That way the email address is available to be moved back to the original account.
- Follow the steps here to change the email address:
https://support.discord.com/hc/articles/4423385681175

2. Any unauthorized purchases on your account will be investigated and refunded accordingly.

3. If a new Discord account has been created without your permission using your email, please let us know right away.

4. Any updates or changes made to your servers, friends list, or messages are irreversible.

5. Double check and make sure all the information provided through the support form was accurate.
- If you are unsure about any of those details, please let us know in a reply.

In the meantime, please let us know if you have any questions. Our team will respond as soon as they can; we truly appreciate your patience.

Sincerely,
Clyde - Discord Support Bot

I replied to the email with a simple acknowledgement.

 

10/4/2024 08:09 PDT - Account Recovery

Holy miracle

Hello,

Our team conducted an investigation and have reverted your account back to your original email. We apologize for the delay.

During this investigation we temporarily suspended the account. You should have received an e-mail with steps on how to reset your password. Once you have reset your password, your account will be re-enabled.

Unfortunately, we are unable to revert any changes that were made to the account, such as changes to server permissions or messages sent.

If you haven't received the email yet, you can also use our forgot password feature available from the login page here: https://discordapp.com/login! You just need to type in your email address and then click "forgot password", and then you should get an email shortly with a link you can use to reset your Password! Here's a link with more information as well: https://support.discord.com/hc/articles/218410947

We recommend you make sure to have a strong password and enable two factor authentication on your Discord account! You can check out password managers like 1Password (Mac) or Dashlane (Windows) which make creating and storing secure passwords a breeze. Additionally, you can check out how to enable 2FA onto your Discord account through this link: https://support.discord.com/hc/articles/219576828

For future reference in protecting your account, here's some important tips to keep in mind:
 

  1. Be wary of clicking unfamiliar links (If you leave Discord by clicking on a link that brings you to an external site, it's possible that the website can access your personal information)
  2. Stay away from downloading unfamiliar files from anyone you don't know personally or trust!
  3. Group servers full of new people can be a great way to meet new people, but be careful about sharing personal information!
  4. Discord employees will never ever forever never ask you for your password or other personal information on text or voice chat.
  5. On that note, you can always ask us via Twitter or email if you're not sure. Better to be safe than sorry!
  6. Remember that any public announcement we would make will be broadcast across our official accounts, not heard second-hand!


If you have any questions, just let us know here.

Sincerely,
Discord Trust & Safety

Yup, I got my account back within minutes of sending in the ticket!

Thanks everyone who has acompanied me on this journey! I wish you the best of luck in your recovery process.

I'm always open to answer any questions you may have to the best of my ability.

9

Comments

152 comments

Date Votes
  • GreenWingSpino
    • Edited

    I finally got a response from Support on Twitter via their DM's around 10:50p.m. as you mentioned being active more at night. They assured me my ticket is still open but unable to discuss anything further. I really hope they get to my ticket eventually and that I'm still waiting a month later to get it back. 

    Sent them a follow up message linking my social media accounts attached with my Discord account which hope they all pieced together it's really me. 

    0
  • Kamilamiron17

    The discord closing my ticket again. I already send another ticket and tell them the whole story of what happen. And I also send the screenshot when I chating with the scammer. Was that not enough to proven that I got scammed and got hacked? 

    My friend send their ticket on certain time and I try to do the same but still no response from the discord. 

    0
  • GreenWingSpino

    Kamilamiron17 I would suggest maybe following what Alpha told me to do. Put in all your information you have about your account alongside how you feel you got your account compromised is “shared password/ auth-token” helps as it doesn't get you a response from Clyde and an immediate ticket escalation as it all did for me was that. 

     

    0
  • Kamilamiron17
    • Edited

    I already did that before but still got the same response and then they closed my ticket. I didn’t link any social media to my discord because I also got hacked in the past but fortunately they didn’t change my email that time. What should I do next if they still closed my ticket? 
    Also, they delete my phone number that link to my discord. 

    1
  • GreenWingSpino

    Maybe try the prompt that Alpha sent in previously and put in your information all into it. Be as highly descriptive as possible as in the timeline you were locked out your account by this hacker, What did they tell you to do? What was changed on the account? What did the hacker do with your account? Anything if possible. 

    For me, I've been checking on my latest ticket but still no response in 6 days since I've made it, and it got escalated immediately with no Clyde response. Don't want to risk replying too much on it. 

    0
  • Kamilamiron17

    I wrote all of that even on my first ticket. But they’re ghosted me and closed my ticket. It’s already four times they did it. 

    0
  • GreenWingSpino

    Not sure what else to recommend. Could maybe try Twitter to try to contact Support through their DM's? 

    0
  • Kamilamiron17

    I did that on the first couple day after I got hacked. And they just told me that my first ticket was still open. And after my first ticket closed I try to dm them on twitter but they didn’t give any response until now. The discord support twitter didn’t even reply my dm. Are they only received one dm from one person on twitter? 

    0
  • GreenWingSpino
    • Edited

    I think at a time, yes? They gave me a message that they only told me that my ticket was still open. But since they were just the social media member for Support that they could not tell me more and that Support would get back to me as soon as possible, but I haven't seen any activity on my ticket the last couple of five days I decided to send my only follow up message. 

    0
  • Happyjunior80

    Hey I also got hacked from the “try my game” scam on discord last week. I was naive enough to run the exe. I have sent a support ticket and waiting for a human discord support response. I would like to ask, how’d you guys cope with the idea that your personal information has been possibly leaked? What did you guys do? I formatted my laptop and ran 2 different AV and it came out clean, am I safe? I have changed most of my passwords on a separate device. Have you guys confronted your hackers (because there doesn’t seem like there is an attempt the hacker is trying to ransom with me so far)? 

    0
  • Blaze106

    Happyjunior80 

    I changed my important passwords as soon as I calmed down and realized I should secure them, namely my emails. Was hacked at 8:00-8:20pm Feb 19th, and didn't change my email password until 1:20am Feb 20th, 5hrs later. With the help of a software developer friend, I wiped my computer 3 days after being hacked and making sure that nothing was corrupted and no keylogger was present. We did a factory reset about a month later to upgrade Windows, which would do a deeper clean than just a wipe. A week after being hacked I noticed they were logging into other accounts I had saved on google password manager . . . which confirmed they stole those and not just discord. I never saw an email for an email change, which means they accessed my email and deleted discord email evidence before I could see. Unfortunately I didn't know you could submit a ticket request to recover deleted emails for up to 30days after being deleted until 6weeks had passed from the hacking when I'd gotten my discord support ticket marked as solved. If you lack an email showing email change, try to get deleted emails recovered asap to use as evidence for your discord support ticket to help your case.

    The hacker texted my phone number about 15 minutes after the hacking saying they had my things and asking if I wanted them back, I never talked with them though. A friend of mine tried reaching out, but nothing happened. I wanted to have faith in discord being able to recover the account. But so far no luck, and without that proof of email change and without my backup codes, it's extremely unlikely I will see my account again. ;-;     If you have either, make sure to provide them, your backup codes are the best proof you'll ever have to owning an account. If I'm lucky I might find the backup codes on my old laptop, but that's a hail mary pass.

    Word of advice, use a password manager. I use KeePassXC now because of all this and keep character generation to about 25 at minimum. From there, I'd suggest keeping your backup codes in a place like that and make sure your login to that password database is only a physical password not saved anywhere virtually. 

    0
  • Happyjunior80

    Hey Blaze106

    Sorry to hear that. I noticed something in my trash on my email that was linked to discord. Apparently it was email conformation for a email change and backup code request for my discord. I was quickly able to recover those or took screenshots of them and used the screenshots as evidence on my ticket (well I wasn’t able to get backup codes but a screenshot of a request for them). I don’t think the hacker has access to my email no more other than the initial hacking. Do you have any advice as to tell for certain that files aren’t corrupted still and key loggers are removed on my computer after choosing the option in windows startup to remove all files including personal and reinstall windows on local? I am using windows 10 atm.

    0
  • GreenWingSpino
    • Edited

    I luckily have all my accounts connected to my Discord all protected and also no card information on it for Nitro, which I think is why the hacker left my account alone so easily after a while. If there was the detection of the scam instead of my usual talkative self that was on my account which led to it being disabled.

    I saw another ticket of mine has the “Closed for comments, send a follow-up” again just recently. I still have yet to gain a response on my current open ticket, if they ever do. They really need to notice me asap. 

    0
  • Blaze106
    • Edited

    Happyjunior80 

    I'm not sure why I can't comment what I want to, but everything enters a pending state q.q

    Was pending for 3days, and even shortened versions end up pending too.

    0
  • Happyjunior80

    They closed my support ticket again with an automated message. ;-;

    0
  • GreenWingSpino

    Happyjunior80 Send another one and put in on how you suspected you got hacked put in any of the 4 or 3 selections whichever how you did get hacked. And also the bottom three selections are vital.

    0
  • Happyjunior80

    I have just sent in another ticket, and this time around Clyde bot sent a different message than my previous two attempts.

    1
  • Happyjunior80

    Yay I got my account back really quick after submitting my 3rd ticket. But i plan to delete it so its nice i got it back. Said all my apologies to the ones affected and quarantined it.

    0
  • Blaze106
    • Edited

    Happyjunior80 

    I presume you kept the description of what happened short and sweet + gave proof of email change in this new ticket?

    Also, what was the new clyde msg like and was the msg for the automated closing on the previous ones saying nothing more could be done?
     

    0
  • Happyjunior80

    For my 3rd ticket I just followed Alpha’s example for the ticket, with my own spin in it. I provided images of discord confirmation req the hijacker requested in my email saying I found it in spam folder. And a bunch of images of my friends being affected. Also clyde bot’s message went from “Thanks for reaching out. We're sorry to hear that you're having trouble with your account!

    If you are still able to log in to your account or are still logged in, we recommend that you please reset your password. This will log you out of all other devices and sessions to secure your account. You can find instructions to reset your password and tips on how to protect your account below:” to “Hey there,

    Thank you for reaching out! Sorry to hear that you experienced this on our app.

    **While our team investigates this, please read through the following points:**

    1. If you created a new Discord account with the email that was previously associated with your hacked account, you will need to change the email on the new account to something else. That way the email address is available to be moved back to the original account.
    - Follow the steps here to change the email address:”. Which i assume means I am going to get help soon from actual person. I got my response from Nelly about my discord matter being investigated and it gave me my acc back. I didnt think I would get help this fast though.

    1
  • Happyjunior80

    As for the automatef message that closed my previous tickets that sounds about right. Hope you also can resolve your issue soon Blaze106

    1
  • Blaze106

    Happyjunior80 

    Thanks for letting me know that info. I also hope discord support can help me soon too q.q.

    0
  • GreenWingSpino

    Happyjunior80  Excellent news to hear you got your account back. Hoping I get lucky soon too, been considering doing a new ticket since there hasn't been a response on my current one I've made back nearly 2 weeks ago. 

    0
  • GreenWingSpino

    I found my old emails of the email changes by doing the recover emails from Gmail. Sent it already as further proof. 

    0
  • Blaze106

    GreenWingSpino 

    Nice, you have a crucial piece of evidence then! I wish I could do the same. I hope it helps you get your account back *fingers-crossed*

    0
  • GreenWingSpino

    Blaze106 I did decide to send in a new ticket and posted my evidence and guess what? I GOT IT BACK! 

    I realize I think morning hours are key when it's possible to get your account back as I've noticed with Alpha. I used his message what he sent what got his account back with some changes on it and it helped! 

    I can finally rest now…I hope everyone here gets theirs back maybe try Alpha's example and try a morning hour then alongside crucial evidence. 

    0
  • Kamilamiron17

    GreenWingSpino 

    Whaaaaaaat?! Congrats! Can you please tell me what did you input to your ticket? What did you wrote? Because I did send the evidence when I chatting with the Clint Smith but they’re still closed my ticket after the escalating it. And I thought maybe because of my broken English, they decided not to help me. T_T

    0
  • GreenWingSpino
    • Edited

    Kamilamiron17 Put in the same message that Alpha put on their ticket that got their account back with my spin on it deleting and rewriting any further details on it and sending in my old emails of the email change on my account to Support. Also selected “Did you get an email about the email changes on your account” and I put in “Yes” 

    Managed to at least recover my old emails thanks to Gmail having an option to retrieve back my emails past 30 days in the trash. 

    0
  • GreenWingSpino

    Alpha Thank you for your help, Your message what you sent to Support helped me out I finally got my account back this morning. I hope also anyone can follow your example to increase their chances of getting their accounts back. 

    0
  • Kamilamiron17
    • Edited

    GreenWingSpino 

    Also, can you tell me what picture did you send? Like, maybe the proof that you were scammed?

    0

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