Is it Illegal to Take Back a Game Account That You Have Sold

My question involves criminal law for the state of: New Jersey or PA?

Hi,

I play a virtual game called world of Warcraft. I have played for 12 years and have multiple accounts. Occasionally I sell some of the accounts if I am not going to play them anymore. In 2014 I sold an account for $165*and stopped playing the game. about 4 months later I returned to the game and had trouble getting into one of my accounts and thought maybe it was hacked so I contacted the company who makes the game and they gave me back my account. I did not realize because I had many accounts at the time I was taking back the account I sold. HOWEVER the company who bought my account never emailed me or said anything to me to mention that I took back an account I sold to them. So I even more so did not think I took back access to the account I sold. A few days ago I was planning to sell another one of my accounts and without knowing it I tried to sell it to the same company as 2014. The company owner flipped out on me and said I scammed him and committed fraud in 2014. I told him I did no such thing and if I took back the wrong account I did not realize it and would gladly if he provided proof such as a recipe that shows the transaction I would make it right as it was an honest mistake. This gentlemen though is hell bent on making an example of me he says he even ran a background check on me and said he does not want the money he wants to prosecute me to the best of his abilities. Can he really do this*? I saved all emails I sent about 3 to 4 offering to make it right if he provides me a recipe and a formal letter of an agreement. He seems to want me to pay. He sees 20 years ago I had something on my record and wants me In jail. What can he do about this in all reality? And for the sake of this post his company is in North Carolina, I live in PA but in 2014 I lived in NJ

Thanks

He can contact the FBI or a Federal prosecutor and file a complaint against you for wire fraud.

Realistically, there is very little chance that anybody is going to pick up a case from 2014 over a World of Warcraft Account. But, yes, very obviously, taking somebody's money for something you are selling, then taking it away from them, is an act that can get you charged with a crime.

First, as you likely know, selling accounts as you do violates the terms of service of your accounts with Blizzard Entertainment, publisher of World of Warcraft (WoW):

Blizzard does not recognize the transfer of World of Warcraft Accounts or BNET Accounts (each an “Account”). You may not purchase, sell, gift or trade any Account, or offer to purchase, sell, gift or trade any Account, and any such attempt shall be null and void. Blizzard owns, has licensed, or otherwise has rights to all of the content that appears in the Game. You agree that you have no right or title in or to any such content, including without limitation the virtual goods or currency appearing or originating in the Game, or any other attributes associated with any Account. Blizzard does not recognize any purported transfers of virtual property executed outside of the Game, or the purported sale, gift or trade in the “real world” of anything that appears or originates in the Game. Accordingly, you may not sell in-game items or currency for “real” money, or exchange those items or currency for value outside of the Game.

You sold an account to someone else that, per the terms of service agreement above, you do not even own and have no rights to transfer. Taking money purporting to sell something you do not own and have no right to transfer is indeed fraud. That you took back the account and deprived the buyer of it later would amount to theft or fraud even if you did own it and had the right to transfer it. While it may be true, as Mr. Knowitall points out, that most prosecutors would not likely be interested in prosecuting this, it is nevertheless a possibility. And if the guy makes a stink about this with Blizzard you might have Blizzard’s legal team coming after you for this. Selling multiple accounts is one of things that would certainly get its attention once it found out about it.

At the very least, if you are going to do this, you ought to do a much better job at recordkeeping to track what accounts are yours and which you have sold. If you continue to be sloppy that will increase the chances of legal problems for you.

Well just to add this I have given up the game now over this. But two things I want to point out and get your opinion on. First realize I was unaware you could not sell your account. BUT the guy I sold it to runs a site that buys and sells world of Warcraft accounts. So would it be smart for him to try and go to blizzard when he is actually doing it on a huge scale for a living? And second he committed a obvious crime in this process. He used a copy of my drivers license he had from the first sale to try and get access to my account by sending it to Blizzard and saying he was me. And they know about it and have confirmed. Isnt that a big no no?

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Quoting Mr. Knowitall

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Realistically, there is very little chance that anybody is going to pick up a case from 2014 over a World of Warcraft Account. But, yes, very obviously, taking somebody's money for something you are selling, then taking it away from them, is an act that can get you charged with a crime.

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Also I did not do it intentionally. In fact I told him if he can show me some proof I received money from him (Dated Check, Transfer, Etc) I would gladly give him back the money if I made a mistake. He said he does not want the money wants to go after me. So I saved all the emails stating if he can prove to me I did get money from him I would make it right. I need to see proof as I do not remember the transaction it as almost 3 years ago

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Quoting jlabruno

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Well just to add this I have given up the game now over this. But two things I want to point out and get your opinion on. First realize I was unaware you could not sell your account. BUT the guy I sold it to runs a site that buys and sells world of Warcraft accounts. So would it be smart for him to try and go to blizzard when he is actually doing it on a huge scale for a living? And second he committed a obvious crime in this process. He used a copy of my drivers license he had from the first sale to try and get access to my account by sending it to Blizzard and saying he was me. And they know about it and have confirmed. Isnt that a big no no?



Also I did not do it intentionally. In fact I told him if he can show me some proof I received money from him (Dated Check, Transfer, Etc) I would gladly give him back the money if I made a mistake. He said he does not want the money wants to go after me. So I saved all the emails stating if he can prove to me I did get money from him I would make it right. I need to see proof as I do not remember the transaction it as almost 3 years ago

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You're not helping yourself here, dude. Stop typing, and stop acknowledging his attempts to contact you.

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Quoting jlabruno

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Well just to add this I have given up the game now over this. But two things I want to point out and get your opinion on. First realize I was unaware you could not sell your account. BUT the guy I sold it to runs a site that buys and sells world of Warcraft accounts. So would it be smart for him to try and go to blizzard when he is actually doing it on a huge scale for a living? And second he committed a obvious crime in this process. He used a copy of my drivers license he had from the first sale to try and get access to my account by sending it to Blizzard and saying he was me. And they know about it and have confirmed. Isnt that a big no no?

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You know the old saying that two wrongs do not make a right? That applies here. Whatever his sins may be, it does not absolve you of whatever offenses you may have committed in this. Sure, maybe he’d do best to keep his mouth shut here, but lots of people do not do the smart thing. It’s one of the reasons why our jails and prisons are as full as they are. He may be so focused on revenge against you that he doesn’t think about the rest. That happens when people get upset.

It seems a bit incredible to me that someone who evidently plays the game a lot (enough to level up characters sufficiently to make the accounts worth selling) didn’t know that it was against the Blizzard Terms of Service (TOS). You’re supposed to read the TOS when you sign up for the account, and even if you didn’t read it then, the smart thing would have been to read it before you started doing something like selling accounts. As often as it is discussed in trade and general chat in the game that it is against TOS to buy or sell gold (other than using the official WoW token) and to buy and sell accounts, I’d have thought you’d have seen mention of that at some point during your WoW play and that should have prompted you to look at the TOS to see what the deal was. Because of all that, I think you’ll find any prosecutor looking at this to be skeptical of your claim you didn’t know what the deal was.

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Quoting jlabruno

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Also I did not do it intentionally. In fact I told him if he can show me some proof I received money from him (Dated Check, Transfer, Etc) I would gladly give him back the money if I made a mistake. He said he does not want the money wants to go after me. So I saved all the emails stating if he can prove to me I did get money from him I would make it right. I need to see proof as I do not remember the transaction it as almost 3 years ago

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You can try to make the argument if you are charged with a crime that your record keeping was so terrible that you really thought you hadn’t sold the account and thus there was a mistake of fact. Whether a prosecutor or jury would believe that, though, it is impossible to say. Your own testimony on that would be self-serving and thus not likely given a whole lot of weight. If you ever want to be in any kind of business and be successful, you really need to be much better at keeping records than you did here if it is true you had no clue what accounts you have sold and what accounts you didn’t. It’s not rocket science or even all that hard to keep track of that sort of thing. It just takes some organization and attention to detail.

So what would you suggest I do here going forward? I did ask an attorney but he wants my money. He told me if I hired him he can almost guarantee that for $165 the courts would rather I reach a deal to pay the guy then waste the courts time on an amount that he says is a misdemeanor. But I say why hire one if I do not know if I will ever be asked about it at all?

Also BTW since we both live in different states how does it work? He fills out a police report then they investigate to decide if its worth their time? If they decide it is how do I get notified?

What you do is to stop worrying about it until (and if) you are contacted by the police.

In the mean time it would also be smart to stop breaking the law and violating the vendor's terms of service.

Yeah, I can imagine the officer that got THIS call.

The slack-jawed, blank stare that says, "You've got to be kidding me," would be priceless. It would be one of those many calls he'd relate to his peers under the heading, "You can't make this stuff up!"

I cannot imagine any police department - much less the feds - spending any time on the buyer's report of your fraud. While possible, I just don't see it as at all likely. So, as Highwaymen suggested, don't worry about it unless you are contacted by some law enforcement agency ... or an attorney for Blizzard.