Stolen Account

[GRUNT82]

Hello,
My account was stolen from me.
I have e-mailed Brightshare, and it was confirmed that I originally signed up.
The forum owner I was working for, stole my account, and changed the e-mail,password, personal details, and payment details.
I have been told I was out of luck, but that is not acceptable.
1st of all, my information was changed without my permission.
And now, even though it can be proven that it is my account, they refuse to help me, and let the thief take my earnings.
Can someone please help me?
Thanks..

[universal4]

Exactly how was the account stolen?

How did the person who stole the account get the login details?

Did you provde the details to the person?
Was this person an employee or partner perhaps?
Was this done through the use of a keylogger or other malware?

Rick
Universal4

[Betpartners]

Yes more info required

I have known website owners to allow employees to open an affiliate account and place their affiliate links on the website whilever they worked for them, but as soon as the employment is over the affiliate account reverts to the website owner.

basically the account belongs to the employee whilever he is employed, when that comes to an end it becomes the website owners account.

Also Rick asks some very good questiosn, how did he get your details

[mojo]

Yes more info required

I have known website owners to allow employees to open an affiliate account and place their affiliate links on the website whilever they worked for them, but as soon as the employment is over the affiliate account reverts to the website owner.

basically the account belongs to the employee whilever he is employed, when that comes to an end it becomes the website owners account.

Hmm. I have not heard of that. I have worked on various forums in the past and always kept my affiliate account. Once the employee leaves, the links/banners are removed and the traffic stops but the aff account remains with the (ex)employee as far as I know.

[GRUNT82]

I signed up for Brightshare a few years ago, it was my account.
When I worked at a forum, we shared affiliate accounts, and I shared the Brightshare one as well.
All the Staff had access to everyone's account, to keep tabs on them, and to verify how much would be shared and split between Staff.
At no time, did I authorize my account details to be changed.
My personal details, payment details and account e-mail was changed manually by the Brightshare Staff.
I have e-mails from Brightshare admitting that it shouldn't have been allowed to change to someone else, but they refuse to change it back to me.
That is my account I had for a couple years before the thief stole it from me.
Brightshare is wrong not giving it back to me, when they fully admitted I signed up for it, well before I joined the crappy, thieving forum.
The forum owner was paid my money.

Thank you for attention on this matter.

[universal4]

That is interesting.

On the one hand, this is a matter between partners, but on the other hand you said you have emails showing Brightshare knowingly did this without your permission AND that they admitted they should not have?

Be sure to copy those emails, you may need them in the future.

When did the account details change?

At this point, I suggest not divulging too much personal info, but you may be requested to do that to anyone that could help in this manner at a later time.

Rick
Universal4

[Chalkie]

Surely if BS have emailed saying that the account should not have been taken from you then the should return it to you!

What reasons are they giving not to do so?

[GRUNT82]

I have the e-mails.
they said that it against their policy to change account details, they aren't sure why they did in the first place, but they are refusing to switch it back.

[mojo]

I have the e-mails.
they said that it against their policy to change account details, they aren't sure why they did in the first place, but they are refusing to switch it back.

Sounds like a sticky situation. Good thing you have those emails. I would be quite upset too. I'm sure Marcia or Lloyd will be along to help.

Good luck!

[Marcia]

Hi guys,

Just saw this thread now (I've been home sick).

I'll check into it first thing Sunday morning.

But, please, in the meantime, email me your affiliate tag: marciaa@brightshare.com

Marcia

[universal4]

Thanks Marcia,

Understandibly, we wouldn't want any private info posted here, but please keep us updated on getting this worked out for Grunt.

Rick
Universal4

[liyu]

Hi GRUNT82,

Please email me your banner tag/ user login - liyul@brightshare.com, we will investigate this immediately. You are correct, we need to be given written instructions by the existing affiliate to change account details to a new affiliate. And if another person has access to an affiliates login they can’t change user or account name themselves. Only email requests from the original account holder can result in an account name and login being updated.

In cases where the password is forgotten, the site can generate a temporary password which the affiliate can then change. This said, affiliates do email us for passwords and for updating account details – in these cases we only give info or update info if the request comes from the SAME email address as the one the affiliate registered with.

We strictly implement these rules to protect our affiliate partners.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Liyu
BrightShare Support

[GamTrak]

Thanks for posting Liyu. This is a subject of interest to me since I share some accounts with others and want to be assured that my future income is protected.

Good luck GRUNT82. I hope it works out for you.

[GRUNT82]

I am not getting anywhere.
This was a response a few months ago on this issue:

"Have the tried sorting this out on the boards- CAP or GPWA?"


So here I am, trying to sort it out, going around in circles.
Thank you Liyu for trying to help me out.
But like we tried months ago, we are just going around in circles.

Brightshare's position, according to what they told me, is that you can change affiliate details on the website, account name, e-mail etc..
This was stolen from me BEFORE they switched to the new website, and it had to be MANUALLY changed by Brightshare.
This was done without my permission.
Now, Brightshare is trying to contact the person who stole my account, and ask permission to give it back to me.

Why didn't they ask me permission, to change it to his details, and I am the original account holder.

Unethical, and unfair!

Thanks for listening.

grunt

[GRUNT82]

Liyu,
You are contradicting yourself here.

Hi GRUNT82,

Please email me your banner tag/ user login - liyul@brightshare.com, we will investigate this immediately. You are correct, we need to be given written instructions by the existing affiliate to change account details to a new affiliate. And if another person has access to an affiliates login they can’t change user or account name themselves. Only email requests from the original account holder can result in an account name and login being updated.

In cases where the password is forgotten, the site can generate a temporary password which the affiliate can then change. This said, affiliates do email us for passwords and for updating account details – in these cases we only give info or update info if the request comes from the SAME email address as the one the affiliate registered with.

We strictly implement these rules to protect our affiliate partners.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Liyu
BrightShare Support

And then said this in my e-mail:

"Affiliate indeed can change their account holder name and email by themselves if they have the password."

You (Brightshare) changed my details.
Put them back please.
You didn't get my written permisson.


Thank you

[GRUNT82]

Thanks for posting Liyu. This is a subject of interest to me since I share some accounts with others and want to be assured that my future income is protected.

Good luck GRUNT82. I hope it works out for you.

According to Brightshare, anyone who has access to the affiliate account, can change the name and e-mail, thus you can lose all of your players and future earnings.

I wouldn't allow ANYONE else have you login details, or what happened to me can happen to you.

[GamTrak]

According to Brightshare, anyone who has access to the affiliate account, can change the name and e-mail, thus you can lose all of your players and future earnings.

I wouldn't allow ANYONE else have you login details, or what happened to me can happen to you.

I have my staff sign a confidentialty contract that set out the rules for this type of stuff so if that happens then I'm covered. It will be a legal hassle, but I'm covered just the same. I've learned from a past so called partner years ago that needed to be terminated.

This is an issue that should be addressed for future situations as no one can do this job alone and need to trust others so the programs need to get this right or pay for thier mistakes and actions.

[Lloyd]

A few points:

1. We are looking into the option of enabling affiliates to have both an admin and marketing logins, so that they can protect their account details. This is very important as most of our affiliates, like Gamtrak mentioned, work with teams of people and need to be able to give them access to www.brightshare.com without taking any risks. This will take time but has been requested.

2. GRUNT82 - please note that the account in question is inactive. However, regardless, we are going through the process of returning the account to you unless we can get confirmation that permission was given to transfer it.

3. Please give Liyu a few days to sort this out for you.

Thanks,

Lloyd

[liyu]

Hi,

First of all I'd like to correct myself and confirm that :

If another person has access to an affiliates login they can not change the user name, BUT can absolutely change the account holder name and email address by themselves. This applies to our old version brightshare site and the new brightshare site. I just tested on both.

GRUNT82,

For your account, we do see it was under your name in 2008, but somehow changed to another in 2009. We are investigating and requiring the current user to send us records to show that he had permission to transfer the account. If he won't be able to provide such records, the account will be returned to you. (FYI, the account is inactive)

Please give us sometime to sort this out.

Finally, I would like to remind all of you again: never give out your password and change your password once a while. We are also developing now password control tool that will enforce affiliates update their password often.

Best Regards,
Liyu
BrightShare Support

[liyu]

Hi GRUNT82,

We just received a reply from the current holder of the account - he confirmed that this account was opened with your name originally and agreed that we return it to you.

I am sending you confirmation of this with the login details to the account through email.

Liyu
BrightShare Support