Drowy posted this thread on a friends behalf. Its quite a long thread because Ive included comments from players who immediately assumed some fraud was intended and ro show things arent always what they seem.
Story is this:

A friend bought a legacy token code. This code was already used. So he gave the code to a friend to test it. But didnt work either. After that his friend wanted to log on another char, but couldnt. He got banned.

What can he do? Wasnt their fault cause the code was already used.

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malice123 replied

j/k

sounds like a Jeremy issue

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Skylark had found a similar problem and responded with their experience in an effort to help the OP



That doesn't sound right. Back when they were selling the 7th AE tokens as a package, they emailed a separate code for each one. I took over 2 years to claim all mine, and in the process lost track of the "used" ones. When I entered a used code, it simply gave me a message "that promotional code has already been redeemed" or something like that, and then I crossed it off the list and tried the next one. I certainly never had any action taken against my accounts.

Was that the reason given or was there any reason for the account lockout provided?


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Sergul'zan_SP had also tried different codes with no banning problems.

Either it's an error, or we're not hearing all of the story. I've used already used codes plenty of times to figure out which ones I didn't use. I've never had a problem.

Definitely a Jeremy issue...

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After a few unkind posts directed at Dewy his friend decided to register and speak up also.

3604479

First up: thanks for ur comments

Enlightenment for the confusion:
I am Jeronimo/Tillandsius and I was supposed to use the code, and to point out Phellodendron and me are best mates in RL.
I do not have a credit card, but to get the legacy token, in order to get myself one of those horses, I asked Phello to buy me one. He was decent enough to do so @ www.uogamecodes.com. After he receives the email with the code, he forwards it to me. I try to use it the same way as every other code (ML code) but an msg pops up saying the code has already been used. Consequently I asked phello to try the code with his account, for the simple reason that I thought that the code was only valid for his account. He did try it, but the same msg pops up. Around 8pm, very shortly after that, I send an email to EA:

--
@ Customer service:
01/14/2008 11:31 AM
Order ID is: UOGC-080113-********.
Email Address: (Phellos RL name)@web.de
Full Name used on order: Phellos RL name

My code does not work. It says it has already been used.
thanks for your help!

--

I haven’t received an answer yet.
At 22pm Phellodendron wanted to change chars but was not allowed to do so. At login it said to check ultima-registration.com. There he got an email saying:

--
Your Ultima Online account has been suspended due to the use of fraudulently purchased registration code(s). If you feel that this is unwarranted, or if you wish to dispute the claims of this email, please submit a dispute in your response”
--

Today he sent an email to costumer service:

--
The Story is the following:

I bought with my Credit Card a UO Legacy Token at http://www.uogamecodes.com for a friend of mine, Jeronimo/Tillandsius (including My RL Name) because he hadn´t a credit card in reach. After having received the E-Mail with the code I forwarded it to him. He tryed to use it and it didn´t work. He asked me to try the code, so I did, but it didn´t work at my account too. The message was that the code has already been used. So Jeronimo/Tillandsius (Roschen Cevatli) wrote an email to ultimagamecodes.com to get a new code. That all.
I did not use this code. I only tried it for my friend. I did nothing wrong.

Please reactivate my Accoungt and send me a new (working) Legacy Token Code for Jeronimo.

Thank you,
--

Neither did he receive an answer yet.
To summon up and again to point out: Phello is a RL friend of mine. Everyone who thinks he try to scam me is out of order!! He did not try to use the code BEFOR I tried it - he used it AFTER i tried it!

We did nothing wrong. Neither ingame nor RL!

Greetz

Jeronimo

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RavenWinterhawk replied [ rather unkindly ] to say

You simply dont get banned for entering a used code. Dont even entertain it. Thats why they have codes. Once it is used it is done.


Could you imagine the chaos. Oh we dont banned the scripting guy but decided to ban anyone that uses a code (THAT CANT BE USED) but tries to use it.

Get real.

Lets hear the whole story about what happend last week when...

Give us the code here. I will type it in and see if I get banned.

Please dont panic people with stuff like this.

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Jeronimo's feelings to those accusations were apparent in his response.

Why on earth would we try to make panik! We are here to ask for advice not to be judged about what happend. we told the truth and nothing but the truth. we didnt do anything wrong. if ppl dont believe us, just leave us alone, and make room for ppl who actually do want to help us.
I understand that everyone is saying that u cant get banned for using a "used code"!that does, of course, make sense. But why did he get banned?!? its a simple question: and u all can read the facts above!

He never did anything bad ingame (GM warning, marcos etc), he just tried my code with his char. 2hrs later he was banned!


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RavenWinterhawk showing no remorse continued.

Okay,
Why would anyone know why you got banned here?
Call EA.
You dont seem to want to hear that you dont get banned for ENTERING a used code.

ENTERING a used code.


Maybe something was wrong with the code as in it was STOLEN. Im not saying you stole it. Maybe it has to do with that.

See if its a banning because of ENTERING the code, or if it turns out it was STOLEN.

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3604479 still very polite I thought.

thanks raven,
i think we posted the question here in cases someone might have had the same problem or might have an anwser we did contact EA, as u can read above, but they havent yet replied to the last email (guess time difference).

how can it be stolen? we bought it from www.ultimagamecodes.com. The msg responds of EA why he got banned:

Your Ultima Online account has been suspended due to the use of fraudulently
purchased registration code(s). If you feel that this is unwarranted, or
if you wish to dispute the claims of this email, please submit a dispute
in your response”

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Finally Jeremy posted [ and I bet the OP'er was happy for that.

The only people who can clear this up are the billing folks. Have you submitted a ticket here? If not, do that first. If you have, and don't hear anything within about 24 hours, shoot me an email and I'll follow up.

E. Jeremy Dalberg
UO Community Coordinator
EA Mythic
www.uo.com

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Hi Jeremy,

thanks alot for ur help! i submitted a ticket now. hope they can help us.

best regards,

Jeronimo

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RavenWinterhawk wasnt quite done yet though.


Well the clarity of Fraudulently purchased is important. I was just clarifying that you wont get banned for entering a used code.

Now the questions is what was fraudulent.
Options are really paying with stolen visa.

That is scary. Again not saying you stole but if they get stolen and then are resold...

It could be a mess.

You want to ask how the determined something was FRAUD.
Fraud is often in the payment method.


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Jeronimo made an effort to respond

Hi,

do you mean CC by visa? and if so, stolen visa/CC is def out of question!!

http://www.uogamecodes.com security: We take the security of your personal information very seriously. To provide a safe and secure shopping experience at the UO Game Code Store, we use SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encryption technology to encrypt and transmit your personal information including credit card numbers, your address and purchases during the ordering process. The UO Game Code Store has been certified as an authentic Thawte site and proudly displays the Thawte logo. (located on the footer section)

dont think it got anything to do with fraud or anything close to that. he bought the code and forwarded the email to me. no middleman. no thirdparty. fullstop!

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Arcus jumped into the debate

It doesn't say USED code it says fraudulently purchased. Big difference here folks. To the OP, read the email. It doesn't say used.


Also , the link he provided to UltimaGameCodes.com is invalid. I think there is more to this story. BS meter going off left and right.

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While others had no problem,but did offer a reasonable explanation of what might of happened.

The link (2nd) is working fine for me, although I see that there are two different URLs thoughout the post.

#1 ultimagamecodes (invalid)
#2 uogamecodes (valid)

Maybe just a mistake?

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Jeronimo answered

Hi acrus,

thx for pointing out the wrong website. it was uogamecodes.com.
I wanted to post a screenshot of the email we recieved with the code and all the order details, but unfortunatly i have no clue how to do that

It says: because of the use of fraudulently purchased registration code. yes we know that it doesnt say its used. but we both got the msg "this code has already been used etc" or something like that, when we tried to use the code in uo. thats why I keep saying used code, because uo said so.

Just spoke to someone in uo who read the posts and he explained why everyone thinks we are bs, cos of some script writers or scammers. I know the truth, we can prove it and i just hope here are some ppl who actually believe us, and MAYBE simply listen to what we say.


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Next the OP who first asked for help, Drowy,checked back

Wow, this is shocking and sad. So many people only thinking they did something wrong and not believing what we say, although we explained everything.

He did a mistake and wrote the wrong site where they bought the code.
Maybe i shouldnt have started the thread and let him do it, but they were new to the game and I just wanted to help. I didnt even know one of them already was registered to stratics.
And I dont know if i will ever again post on UO U.Hall again.

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Jeronimo tried to put the matter right

Hi Drowy

first of all, thanks alot for your help, however you shouldnt bother, neither do we. There are always a bunch with their non-productive and insulting comments. The fact is, we just need to explain the siuation to EA, with all the facts and the prove we got. Thats it! Do I honestley need to convince those guys to believe me? Def not.

However, thank you to those guys who are trying to help and/or listen to us!!!
best regards
jeronimo

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Eventually a mod stepped in and imo quite rightly closed the thread after this response.


For as useless as Forensic Evaluation is, we seem to have an awful lot of Grandmaster Detectives tossing around conclusions in here! Folks, please... you've been told this before - wild speculation and insulting accusations are not acceptable posting behavior. I don't know if the other things currently going on have whipped you all up in a frenzy but you all need to cool down. Knock it off... Every thread with someone asking for others' experiences when dealing with a problem is practically the same in U.Hall now:



: "Hi, i have this problem..."

: 'BAN HIM"

: "OHO THAT SOUNDS FISHY TO ME HURRRRR"

: "try solution x... or maybe y."

: "EXPLOITDUPEHACK"

:
"WTF WHY DONT UO BAN THESE SCRIPTERS?!!?"

: "No, really guys... I do have a problem. I tried solutions x, y, and even z but..."

: "LIAR U TOTALLY CHEETED"


Stop. No more
"AHA, WATSON! JUST AS I SUSPECTED FROM THE START!
HE MUST INDUBITABLY BE A HACKING AND/OR EXPLOITING LOSER, GOOD SIR!" conclusions.

No more accusations. No more unofficial investigators. Period.

Jeronimo - best of luck to you, but it really is in EA's hands now and
there's nothing more to be done here.
I'll be locking this thread, lest it draw even more speculation...
Hopefully it all gets sorted out for you and your friends.

Sounds fishy....

Hacker! [/sarcasm]

When a code is already used, it doesn't get you banned if you re-use it. It says it was already used. What does get you banned is:

Ding ding ding!

That's what I was thinking from the start of the thread.

One thing about EA, when they dont get their money, they will take action.

Geez! Now here it goes again the slinging begins on our fourm. There is always two sides to every story. We don't know for fact that these folks did anything wrong. As far as we know it was a simple billing error or heck maybe a banking error or god forbid EA screwed up. Come on folks what happened to being innocent until PROVEN guilty?

A billing or banking error can be easily fixed by having the bank contact EA and resolving the issue. Instead, the poster elected to post his or her side of the story on a forum to ellicit public sympathy to get EA to change their stance on their decison. The poster did not have to post, and could have resolved the issue with EA Customer Service.

Ok, YOU are right....They are Thieves!

They may or may not be thieves, but the simple fact is they choose to place themselves in public scrutiney by posting on a forum, instead of sending a pm to EA Staff member. Fradulent Credit Card Use is not the same as insufficient funds.

They posted on the forum ,if people read the OP to ask for advice as at the time of posting ,a reply had not been received from EA.

It was hoped a similar thing had happened to someone else and that person would be able to offer some advice .

Can I just draw everyones attention to the UOHall Moderators closing comments and ask that the same is applied here,please.
Thanks everyone.