Background information, I was a AR 60 Asia server player. My account name is MSWord and my UID is 814108411. I started playing this game around October 2020 but took a hiatus until late January 2021. Recently, my account is hacked by an unknown guy, and I've been fighting for it for a month, which ended in my favour. You can find more information about me in my previous posts.
Originally, today I'm planning to write another post, specifically about submitting a form about Genshin Impact account hacking. Unfortunately, a lot of things happened today that kept me busy, and I can't get my mind to write a proper, instructive post about it. But I'm still in the mood of writing a post, so here we are.
It all begins when one day a virus get into my computer. Up until today, I'm still finding out how the virus gets on my computer. I guess that it's from one of my friend's flash disks that were inserted into my computer. But anyways, this virus is malware, which sends my data to its virus maker.
One of the data that was leaked was my HoYoverse account. While the Genshin Impact account has 2FA security, the HoYoverse account doesn't. The hacker gets his hand on my account and changed the linked e-mail that was bound to my HoYoverse account to a new e-mail.
One time, I realized that I can't log in to my Genshin Impact account. It just says "Account error", which means there is a problem with my HoYoverse account. I went to HoYolab to try to log in, but I can't. At this moment I thought that my account was lost.
I wrote an e-mail to HoYo CS about the problem, and within hours they responded that my account has been bound to another e-mail. They provided the e-mail in secret (it says ***@rambler.ru). I realized that [ru] is a domain extension from Russia. This is confusing since I do not correlate with Russia (no offence, Russians). At this moment, it got to me: my account was hacked.
Meanwhile, I realized that it was not only my Genshin Impact account: all of my account stored on my computer was hacked. This includes my Instagram, Twitter, Wattpad, and even one of my e-mails. This frustrates me, and I went into a mental breakdown. Not only from the fact that all of them were hacked but also from the anxiety of what other things that was leaked that I haven't known. Thankfully, some of my online friends comforted me, thus I can calm down a bit. But this mental breakdown gave me another trouble... in the future.
The next day, I wrote an e-mail to HoYo CS regarding my account. I filled in the form they gave me, though I have to admit that the details I gave them were not the most accurate. This is mainly caused by 2 things:
- I didn't have my old computer. The first computer I used to play Genshin Impact was a very old laptop, and I sold it to my friend some years ago. This means I can't give them the correct information about the first device I logged in to Genshin Impact.
- I didn't have any payment records. Most of my top-ups were gifts from my friends, so I didn't have any. This means I can't give them the correct information about my payment records.
Nevertheless, I tried filling out the form as best as possible and explaining the inaccuracy that I may provide in the form. I submitted the form and as per they say, I have to wait ~10 days.
During these waiting days, I created this HoYolab account and tell my stories through posts. And I also saw that a lot of people had similar problems to me. Thus, after a lot of thinking, I decided to dedicate this account to discussing Genshin Impact account hacking, hoping that my posts can increase people's awareness and prevent more Genshin Impact account hacking cases in the future.
Back to the timeline. After waiting for ~10 days, HoYo CS gave me a reply e-mail. This is what it said:
"After thorough investigation, we are sorry to inform you that we are unable to confirm your ownership of the HoYoverse Account and your HoYoverse Account Issue Application Form (Case No. xxx) has been rejected."
Unfortunately, HoYo CS rejected my form. Though I'm sad, I understand their decision. After all, I didn't give them the 100% most accurate information in the form. I decided to collect more reliable information about my account, and then try to submit another form.
The first problem is my old computer. I get in contact with my friend, to whom I sell my old computer. In my previous post, I did say that I "bought" it back, but not really. Even he admits that he isn't the best with computers, so when I asked him about my old computer's specs, he didn't understand what those meant (lol). After a long, long discussion, he jokingly said that I should've bought the computer just to check the specs. Then I went Thoma-style bargain and offered him good food at a restaurant once my problems are settled. He agreed, and with that, I got my old computer back... for a week, at least.
The second problem is my in-game payment records. As I said before, most of my top-ups are from my friends. They are from giveaways or bets I made with my friends (though if they bought me Genesis Crystals, I never convert them to primogems as it made me feel like a P2W player). The reason I never make any in-game purchases myself because not only that I'm poor, I am quite proud to be a F2P player, as it makes me feel superior to those P2W players. Okay, I'm joking about that last part, but I do feel proud to be a F2P player XD.
Me and some of my friends share a Google account. We use this account to buy paid games, so whenever one of us bought a game, we all can play it too. So whenever we make in-game transactions, we usually use this account so we knew what games or in-game purchases we all make, or how much we have spent over the year.
When I asked my friend for a top-up record, she said she doesn't have any. I asked her again, how did she give me my last top-up? She said that she pays it through our Google gaming account. This is great news because that means I can go through the purchases of the account and find my payment receipt. Not long after, I finally found my payment receipt. Hooray!
Now that two of the main problems are solved, I submitted another form to HoYo CS. This time, I felt more confident since the data I submitted were more accurate. I submitted the form and waited for their response. This time, with more confidence.
But my problems didn't end there. Remember the time I mentioned I had a mental breakdown? Yeah, it finally takes me down. One day when I was going around my campus, I suddenly collapsed. I was brought to the nearest hospital, and they immediately performed a check-up on me. It was later revealed that I have a serious hypertension case. This is caused by two main factors, and one of them is my stress. I won't go far into the details, but I was bedridden in the hospital for almost a week to maintain my blood pressure.
It was around this time that I am surprised that I care so much about my Genshin Impact account. I thought it was just a game. In the past, I may think of it only as a game, but now I can see that it's more than just that. The time I spent travelling through Teyvat, thinking through the world quests and puzzles, immersing myself in the game story, and playing with my online friends... truly gave me a lot of memories and good times. It gives me more than a reason to smile and laugh every day.
Maybe, that is why I don't want my journey in Genshin Impact ends like that. At least, not this way.
Another thing I realized is how far the community has shaped Genshin Impact. This is something I realized after I started posting in HoYolab, even though most of them are about Genshin Impact account hacking cases. Whenever I went through HoYolab, it struck me that this Genshin Impact is more than just a game for some of us. It became our hobby, our interest, and even in some cases our lifestyles. And to this day, I still think that it is amazing in more than one way.
Not just that, but this experience teaches me a lot of things. About online data threats, account security, game hacking cases, etc. And I am surprised to see that there is more than what I imagined about it. That's why I still intend to share the knowledge I received through this experience. Hopefully, my posts can increase people's awareness and share more knowledge regarding this subject.
Sometime after Christmas, I received a reply e-mail from HoYo CS. This is what it said:
"We are happy to inform you that the issue(s) mentioned in your HoYoverse Account Issue Application Form (Case No. xxx) has been resolved. Your account is now successfully retrieved"
Finally. After 25 whole days of waiting, I got my account back.
Well, I guess you could say that it's the end of the story. And you're correct! Though since I'm still in the writing mood, I'll add a few paragraphs as the outro.
Though I get my account back, a lot of it was changed. One of the major changes was that my previous account holder spent all of my primogems saving (I'm sorry, Xiao) to get Wanderer. One of the characters that I don't wanna get at the moment. For the record, I saved around 24,000 primogems for Xiao. Yeah, you could imagine my pain...
But what's worse than that is the fact that my whole friend list is empty now. I'm gonna say it, IT SUCKS SO BAD. It truly fits the meme "my disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined". Fortunately, some of my friends were on my Discord, so I can re-add them back. But to my old friends? I can only hope that we will see each other again in the future.
And lastly, I would like to thank you for all the support you all gave to me. If it's not for you guys, I might actually give up on my case. Again, I will continue to dedicate this account to writing posts about Genshin Impact account hacking cases, so if you want to read some of them, please do. Hopefully, my posts can increase people's awareness and prevent more Genshin Impact account hacking cases in the future.
Oh yeah, if you wanna add me in Genshin, then feel free to do so! My UID is 814108411. Though I'm sorry if I can't add more than 60 friends at the same time. Blame HoYo for that :P
Ad Astra Abyssosque!
MSWord
