How can I obtain humanized support from NIANTIC? for ticket [28581470]
oberdangomes-PGO
Posts: 13 ✭✭
Hello,
Yesterday I opened an Appeal with support, asking the reason and for them to tell me the reason for the punishment, which I received after sending Graphite from an Ice Cream Shop to evaluate a point of interest in the game, since the place has a history 12 years of tradition in a Praia, being the first to supply products based on Açaí (a native Brazilian plant).
All responses to the Appeal were robotic, apparently automatic copy/paste messages, without any information about who or what was responding to the messages
Below is the entire history of the conversation I had with a Machine that uses uncalibrated AI to provide accurate information.
Files attached to the appeal
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Appeal:
February 05, 2024, 21:36 -0300
Hello,
On 01/30/2024 I felt a Point of Interest on Pokemon Go, using my account (oberdangomes), on 02/04/2024 I received an email informing me that my proposal was rejected and I received a suspension alert from my account for 30 days, this is the first time I have received this type of warning on my account, I have never had any other problem when sending Locations to create Points of Interest in the game.
I noticed the message when trying to enter the game and resend it, as I was still there on vacation, I don't understand what I did wrong, the place is a famous Ice Cream Parlor, there is a whole story to the place because it was the first in the commercialization of Açai (a type of ice cream made with a fruit native to Brazil)
As stated, the place (an Ice Cream Parlor) exists, even mapped on Google and Streetview and has a history of at least 12 years, and during the Brazilian summer it receives many visitors.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/MKqq4EMWrupbUeKX6
Regards
Oberdan Gomes
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Niantic Support
February 05, 2024, 21:36 -0300
Hello,
We have received your request and will share an update with you after your appeal has been reviewed.
Regards,
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Niantic Support
February 05, 2024, 21:46 -0300
Hello,
Thank you for contacting us regarding your access issues.
If you notice a warning screen or a “Your account has been suspended/terminated for violating the Terms of Service” message when logging in to Pokémon GO, your account has been identified as violating our Terms of Service (https://nianticlabs.com/terms) or Player Guidelines (https://nianticlabs.com/guidelines).
Players who violate the Niantic Terms of Service (including by unauthorized access to our services using modified and other unapproved methods of gameplay) may have their gameplay affected. As part of that commitment, we enforce a three-strike policy against cheating. This policy may provide offenders with a series of disciplinary actions that gradually increase in severity and provide multiple opportunities to change their behavior. For more information on our three strikes policy, please go to this link (https://niantic.helpshift.com/hc/en/6-pokemon-go/faq/39-three-strike-discipline-policy/).
If you do not see a warning or suspension message when you log in to Pokémon GO, you could be experiencing temporary access issues. For help logging back into your account, please follow the troubleshooting steps in our Help Center (https://niantic.support/2EjD6j8).
Best,
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February 06, 2024, 09:35 -0300
Hello
I'm sorry for asking and maybe it seems offensive, but did you read my message or just copy/paste a standard message to respond to my request?
If you haven't read it yet, what I'm questioning is: As I was suspended for 30 days after being denied a Wayspot on Wayferer, I honestly don't mind spending a few days without being able to play, I'm just questioning what the problem with this Submission is, which made me receive such punishment.
Regards
Oberdan Gomes
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Niantic Support
February 06, 2024, 09:45 -0300
Hello,
We have reviewed your appeal and have concluded that your account has violated our Terms of Service (https://nianticlabs.com/terms/) and the Player Guidelines (https://nianticlabs.com/guidelines/), specifically for unauthorized access to our services using modified and/or other unapproved methods of gameplay.
We uphold our Three Strikes Policy (https://niantic.helpshift.com/hc/en/6-pokemon-go/faq/39-three-strike-discipline-policy/). against cheating in an effort to keep gameplay fair. If you’ve received a warning or suspension screen, your punishment will expire after the required number of days have passed. If your account has been banned, please note this is a permanent action that cannot be reversed. Any new accounts you attempt to create will also be banned.
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Here the robot informs me that if I create a new account it will be banned permanently, WHY? Why question the reason for protection?
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February 06, 2024, 10:15 -0300
You didn't read what I wrote, maybe it's an AI-automated robot that hasn't been trained enough to identify complex questions and that's why it just sends automatic messages.
Is there a way to contact a real Human person or is Company Support only carried out by robots programmed to send ready-made messages (Copy/Paste)?
If you take a minute, and read the message I sent in the appeal, you will notice that this is the FIRST time I have seen this type of message on my account, and STRANGELY it came after receiving an email that a public place sent to the review of Wayspots was denied.
MY QUESTION IS: What is WRONG with this submission?
Furthermore, dear robot, if the 3 strikes policy that you inform yourself worked, I should have received a 7-day Alert, as this is the first time I have received this type of message in the game.
Regards
Oberdan Gomes
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Niantic Support
February 06, 2024, 10:25 -0300
Hello,
Your appeal is closed. We’ve previously conducted a full review of your account and we informed you of our decision, which is final. Any further inquiries into this case will be ignored.
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The ticket was closed by the robot, without an adequate response to the question.
Why did my account receive a penalty for submitting a point of interest to the game?
Regards
Oberdan Gomes
Comments
Have you tried emailing them? Another option is go on twitter and look for any post from them and reply and reply and reply they will get back to you eventually
Apologirs for not being able to read Portuguese but does it specifically say anywhere that you have been banned for submitting the poi?
This sounds like your suspension is for spoofing.
One message states "specifically for unauthorized access to our services using modified and/or other unapproved methods of gameplay." so your penalty is not related to your submissions to wayfarer.
@oberdangomes-PGO The reason supplied was: "specifically for unauthorized access to our services using modified and/or other unapproved methods of gameplay."
I think you have to look for other reasons why you have been temporarily banned. Did you use third party software to access the Niantic map (or the game, for that matter)? Do you review Wayspots, and if so: are you using unmodified means (just a browser) to access the Wayfarer site? Is your phone unmodified (i.e. factory supported firmware, not jailbroken, etc)? Did you use location spoofing methods to be 'near enough' that spot to add it to the map?
Other than that, I can tell you that Niantic is never 100% specific about reasons for warnings/bans. They use general statements, like the one I quoted above. I'm afraid you have to make do with that, and wait 30 days.
Hello @oberdangomes-PGO
This sounds a bit mixed up.
You received the rejection email.
Then soon after you received that you switched on Pokémon Go and the suspension notice appeared.
Did the rejection email indicate anything about violating Wayfarer guidelines? Was there another email saying anything about being found to have broken wayfarer guidelines?
if there is nothing in an email saying you have found to broken Wayfarer rules then the suspension does not relate to wayfarer, and the nomination is not the trigger.
All these messages were by email and when I persisted in the question they closed the Ticket, in addition to the clear probability of the Banned if I ever tried to create a new account
No, nowhere does it say that, all the messages sent to me by email are a copy/paste of standard support responses, meaning no response at all.
The message in the app appeared immediately after receiving the POI denial email, and as I said, I'm on vacation here, and I requested the POI, and was given a 30-day suspension and a threat from support to be permanently banned.
The last modification on my device was the iOS 17.3 update, and I don't use a jailbreak.
On my laptop I use the Opera browser in its latest stable version, with the native ad blocker activated.
If something unusual was detected, it was done by the application downloaded from the store.
But as you said, they are never clear with the methods they use to punish legitimate accounts, while the real cheaters continue playing (going live on TikTok and monetizing channels on YouTube)
If that's why it's even more absurd, look at these this image I took just now (Brazil time / GMT-3)
the location is literally in front of the house I'm staying at.
Exactly this, I received the email, it said that it was not accepted and there was no explicit reason in this email, but it said that if I wanted I could resend the request stating why I believe this POI is historically relevant.
When I opened the game I immediately received the Suspension Alert. (which according to the company's own 3 Strikes policies, should be a 7 day notice).
As for using modified applications, I rule out this hypothesis, as I only use the official Apple store to install on my device, and I certainly wouldn't need to fake my location to literally cross an avenue. (see the photo taken a few moments ago).
The zip file is the .heic Original Photo, extracted directly by the iPhone
I don't think you can explicitly say your ban was for submitting something then.
You probably need some official clarification.
@NianticAaron @NianticTintino-ING
You might get a no it wasn't for your submission but I'm not sure that you'll be told what it was actually for.
@NianticOren is it possible please to clarify if this is a wayfarer triggered suspension or solely in game.
@oberdangomes-PGO
have you checked any other email accounts that may have been linked to Pokémon Go/wayfarer or your sign in method.
The wayfarer abuse ladder for sanctions is not necessarily a sequential one. If the offence is deemed serious enough you can go straight to a higher level. So totally different from the Pokémon Go 3 strikes.
Apart from this recent rejection have you been active in submitting/ reviewing. If it is wayfarer related (which doesn’t sound likely) it can be for activity up to a year old. You said you are on vacation, Where is your normal play area?
This is a problem.
To use an analogy: Your ISP won't tell you that you failed to re-anonymize your phone's ID for your VPN before you streamed a movie you didn't pay for. But they will cite the title, time and date involved in your transgression. (I'm inventing these details, so don't take them literally.)
No antics wants cheaters to refrain from using any and all cheats/mods/unauthorized programs to access any aspect of their services or platforms. However, they don't tell their customers anything about what they think was wrong.
This works out great against casual cheaters who value their accounts and their relationship with No antics, and might help thwart hackers who would try to recognize commonality between different banned tools.
But it is horrible for anyone who hasn't intentionally done wrong and doesn't know any better. They get hit with "We know what you did wrong, so stop it. Here's a 30-day ban! We have our fingers in our ears, so we're not LISTENING! La La La...."
If they're lucky, they just get a threatening warning because they guessed differently than somebody else about a nomination or edit.
If you're genuinely on vacation, maybe you've done something that the system has incorrectly detected as spoofing. Did you leave your account logged in at your home location whilst you've also been trying to use it there?
Either way, the message you got appears to indicate you were suspended for cheating/violating the rules in Pokémon Go, and that it isn't anything wayfarer related.
Please be honest.
Actually if the ban is caused by Wayfarer, I think the email would state which Wayspot/nomination that would trigger the ban.
Yes, I'm on vacation until after the Carnival holiday (in Brazil), the house I'm staying in during this period is about 50km from where I live, approximately 1 hour by car.
I don't think I left the account logged in at home, as I only use one device, an iPhone, but @Eneeoh-PGO's response provided something (perhaps unintentionally) that could clarify what happened.
@Eneeoh-PGO, Dear friend, perhaps you have solved the mystery, this house is, as I said above, about 50 km away from my "regular" house, but one detail could be the cause of the punishment.
Both houses have internet access from the same Provider (ISP), when you sent this answer I asked my brother to go to a website (https://meuip.com) and send me the result, this website shows the external IP of the Internet connection.
It turns out that the ISP uses the same outgoing IP address for my two access points, the two houses are on the same Network and have the same public IP address, the houses are in different locations, but an ns-lookup on my IP shows that my location is in the city 50 km away.
Well, now knowing this, I believe that the Game Protection System has compared the location of my public IP, and the real location of my cell phone, I am physically in one location, but my connection shows that I am in another.
This would be the only explanation for a suspension, theoretically I made a Spoofer while being physically on site. Bizarre!
Dear friend, perhaps you have solved the mystery, this house is about 50 km away from my "regular" house, but one detail could be the cause of the punishment.
Both houses have internet access from the same Provider (ISP), when you sent this answer I asked my brother to go to a website (meuip dot com) and send me the result, this website shows the external IP of the Internet connection.
It turns out that the ISP uses the same outgoing IP address for my two access points, the two houses are on the same Network and have the same public IP address, the houses are in different locations, but an ns-lookup on my IP shows that my location is in the city 50 km away.
Well, now knowing this, I believe that the Game Protection System has compared the location of my public IP, and the real location of my cell phone, I am physically in one location, but my connection shows that I am in another.
This would be the only explanation for a suspension, theoretically I made a Spoofer while being physically on site. Bizarre!
At this point you have to ask any tech experts i.e. Stack Overflow forum to fix your situation since this is out of scope of Niantic. Try appealing your ban to Niantic again after your problem is resolved.
There's no need to ask any expert. The problem is only Niantic.
I see that you had used the Pokémon GO Ban appeal channel to appeal your suspension. For Wayfarer related bans, you can refer to this link for more information and also to appeal the suspension:
https://niantic.helpshift.com/hc/en/21-wayfarer/faq/4275-wayfarer-abuse-enforcement-ladder-policy/
Coming to the suspension, I can see that it was handed out for violations in Wayfarer and after carefully reviewing the case, I can confirm that we stand by our decision. I will not be able to share any further details publicly.
Thanks,
Thank you for confirming it was a wayfarer instigated sanction.
Honestly, these standardized copy/paste responses do not answer the question: Why was my account suspended for sending a historically recognized POI, in its exact location?
You do not need to provide the data publicly, you have access to my email and can forward the results of the analysis directly to it, or you can just ignore it and do the same as the Robotic Attendant of the appeal, who in addition to not responding to a question from a Customer, and even making threatened to permanently ban my account, if I persisted in questioning.
To conclude, I would like to know what is hateful/forbidden/wrong in a Graffiti with the name of an Ice Cream Parlor recognized as a pioneer in the commercialization of a product native to a country, and which has an appeal for natural conservation of forests, and which generates a lot of jobs for families.
Regards
OG
Sorry about the confusion. I checked another account that had punishments originating from Wayfarer. In your case, the punishments originated from Pokémon GO. I offer my sincere apologies for the mis-communication.
You can reach out to Pokémon GO support for further assistance.
Thanks for your understanding.
I've already done this, and do you know the answer? There was no response!
Because as you can see in the from last Support e-mail in the initial topic, he made it very clear:
"Niantic Support on February 06, 2024, 10:25 -0300
Hello,
Your appeal is closed. We’ve previously conducted a full review of your account and we informed you of our decision, which is final. Any further inquiries into this case will be ignored."
And I don't even know if this was an automatic message or a real person, as they don't identify themselves.
All that remains is to wait 30 days to receive a new notice informing you that my account has been definitively closed!
Why?
Reason: You requested help to Pokemon Go / Wayfarer /Niantic Support
As it’s been stated the punishments originated from actions taken in Pokémon GO, the staff here wouldn’t be able to assist further unfortunately, as it’s not a Wayfarer matter.
We do not have the information required to assist you with this as this is not Wayfarer related. Please reach out to the dedicated support team for Pokémon GO and they will assist you accordingly.
Is there a good way to contact the Pokémon Go support team?
I tried in-app Monday due to a strange problem: I was unable to enter remote raids (though I can enter raids in person). When I asked the in-app Support Team about it, I got a response stating “our records show that you have successfully completed the Raid mentioned or you have already been reimbursed for this Raid issue.” This was described as “This is an automated response,” further stating “If you need further assistance please submit another support ticket as responses will not be monitored.”
It does beg the question: if asking a question to the support team in-app results in an automated response that doesn’t address the question being asked, how do we get in touch with the Support Team?