This is an exact copy of the post written by me here. Reposted to maximize effectiveness. Specifically written with Last Chaos players in mind, but basically usable for any game.

What to do if your account is stolen

Firstly, let me get these out of the way as it should be common knowledge amongst all players;

• It is against Aeria Games Rules to share your account information, or to sell your account. *if you purchase an account do not assume we'll help you regain access if the original creator of the account reports it stolen*
  
• It is against Aeria Games Rules to purchase in game gold. With that said, it's a very bad idea to visit the gold selling websites that are advertised in game, as they may contain ‘key loggers’ to steal your password. Aeria Games does not promote or approve of the in-game advertisements and do their best to limit these actions.

Even by following the above rules you may, one day, find that your account has been stolen. This guide is to explain the process you need to go through to get your account back.

Your first step when you find out that your account has been stolen is to use the Contact Us form, to inform Aeria of your problem. Include any information that may be pertinent to your case, you should at least include the following;

• Name of the stolen Account
  
• Information about the characters on the account;
  • Class
    
  • Name
    
  • Level
    
  • Last Played
• Information about a character deleted in past;
  • Class
    
  • Name
    
  • Level
    
  • Last Played
    
  • Date Deleted
• History information;
  • Last time you logged in (As accurate as possible)
    
  • Server you logged into (Both Server and Subserver, example: Katar 4)
    
  • Last Character you logged in on
• AP Information;
  • Transaction ID’s of Purchased AP
    
  • Dates of Purchased AP
    
  • Type of Payment method
    
  • AP That was awarded to your account for a Promotion
• New e-mail address that is not used by any Aeria Games account (Gmail is a good provider that receives Aeria Mail)

You should receive an automated confirmation e-mail with a Request Tracker #, also referred to as RT/RQ#. This automated e-mail usually takes up to 1-2 hours, if you do not receive this within 24 hours, your e-mail is, most likely, not accepting mail from aeriagames.com. I suggest you resend the e-mail from another e-mail provider (again Gmail is an excellent provider that does not have issues with mail from aeriagames.com).

Your e-mail should be responded to within 48 hours. If it takes longer to receive a reply, contact a Game Sage/Moderator/Game Master through the shoutbox or in-game and give them your RT/RQ# to be looked at.
To verify the ownership of the account, you may get a response requesting more information. Please provide the requested information so Aeria can reinstate access to your account.

Q&A

• Q: I can't provide the info you specified, but I can send screenshots, tell them names on my friends list and give a list of items in my inventory and storage. Will this help?
  • A: No, the GMs will not access your account to verify your information until they have made sure that you are in fact the owner of the account. They need information they can verify outside of game to do so. If you think you can not provide any of the information specified above, then ask them in your email what they can use to verify it.
  
  
• Q: I got my account back, but all my stuff has been stolen. Will the GMs give it back to me?
  • A: No, they will not. They have to follow procedures and policies made by their bosses and even though it may seem to us as a small effort to look at transactions made by the account whilst being in the hands of the person who stole it, there are issues beyond our knowledge involved that make it impossible for them to give your stuff back.
  
  
• Q: My character has been deleted. Can the GMs restore it for me?
  • A: The same answer applies as above. They have to follow procedures and policies made by their bosses and even though it may seem to us as a small effort to undo the deletion of the character, there are issues beyond our knowledge involved that make it impossible for them to do so.

example email wrote:

Dear Aeria, On 5/4/2008 I tried to log into my account and found myself unable to do so. I believe someone has stolen my account or has hacked into it. I would like you to help me get it back and will provide you with the info needed to do so, specified below: - Name of the account: LC_Genericaccount1234 - Names of the characters on the account: LCGenericname4567 (lvl42 sorcerer), LCGenericname8910 (lvl69 rogue) - Login information: last logged on with LCGenericname8910 on Katar-5 between ~ 8pm - 10pm PST - Billing information: Transaction ID 1234567 on 12/3/2007 with paypal ($10), Transaction ID 2345678 on 1/2/2008 with paybycash ($20) - Information on ap that has been won through contests/competitions: I have won 50 ap on 2/3/2008 by filling in the poll on the LC homepage - A new email address to be used for the account: generic_email@gmail.com I hope this is the info you need to investigate my claim to the account and look forward to your reply. Sincerely, John Doe (LC_Genericaccount1234)

Important links:

• 8 Things You Can Do To Help Prevent Being Hacked, guide written by xColdBloodedx.
  
• How to identify and remove keyloggers, guide written by runner724.
  
• Key-Loggers, Computer Security, and You, guide written by ViSiOn.
  
• Help! I got hacked!, guide used to complete the information in this guide, written by Rarez.
  
• Aeria's information on how to deal with issues with hacked accounts.