Dark age transfer of account to third parties. Trading accounts in games and social networks: how the law looks at it. How accounts are sold in games, networks and auctions

Gamers treat their accounts as a very valuable asset. Which is logical: after all, hundreds of man-hours are invested in creating a character of precisely this level, with precisely such skills (or even fame). There are often cases when account theft is considered a full-fledged criminal offense: last year in Belarus, a World of Tanks account with a tank was stolen, the owner of which spent about 1,000 UAH to upgrade.

The same can be said about the owners of popular accounts on social networks or on online auction sites: during the May elections, the public “Typical Kyiv” was sold for $1 million. But despite the fact that such accounts are quite a valuable intangible asset, in Ukraine they are purchased Direct sales are not regulated by law.

That is why the editors asked senior lawyer and head of intellectual property practice at AstapovLawyers Illarion Tomarov to explain to users what happens from the point of view of Ukrainian law when you try to buy or sell an account in a computer game, social network or online auction. And also what legal consequences and liability may arise for you (illustrations selected by the editors).

How accounts are sold in games, networks and auctions

If you search the Internet for the words “selling account,” you will be offered to buy an endless number of player accounts in computer games (most often WoT). The price of some “upgraded” accounts reaches tens of thousands of hryvnia. There are websites and forums that specialize in buying and selling accounts, mediation and guarantees in such transactions.

On the Internet you can buy accounts on the social networks VKontakte, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Most often they are sold in packages, and given the information war at the moment, this is a very good product - the sellers themselves write that demand and prices have recently increased. It is much less common to buy one separate account, which, for example, has several tens of thousands of active readers.

Each buyer of such a product has his own goal: either instantly get the opportunity to fight with rivals in a computer game, or get a certain audience to offer his goods/services/ideas, or get the opportunity to deceive users of online auctions by offering a good item at a low price, and after receiving the money disappear without a trace.

In World of Warcraft, a similar character with unique swords was sold in 2007 for approximately 7,000 euros. True, according to rumors, Blizzard banned the account, since the company prohibits the purchase and sale of accounts

The value of an account is determined by different criteria, depending on the system in which it exists. If this is a computer game, then the more rating, weapons or skills the hero has, the more expensive the player’s account. If we are talking about an online auction seller’s account, the price depends on the person’s reputation, that is, the history of successfully completed transactions and positive customer reviews.

What does buying or selling an account mean legally?

From a domestic point of view, purchasing an account means transferring (messaging) a login and password(or other information by which the account owner is identified in a particular system) from the seller to the buyer, so that the buyer can fully manage the account, including changing the login and password.

From a legal point of view, everything is more complicated. First, let's try to apply the rules on the purchase/sale of goods to transactions with an account. Obviously, the login and password are information, a set of characters, and not a thing, so property rights remain as the subject of the contract. But this approach will not help us, because the norms of the Civil Code of Ukraine (hereinafter referred to as the Civil Code) on purchase and sale relate specifically to things as objects of the material world.

Let's see in what legal relations the account arises. Obviously, when registering on a social network, forum, computer game or auction, you, as a user, enter into an agreement with a company that provides services within the framework of a particular service. Actually, an account is a condition for access to the service itself: communication, playing, or placing offers to purchase goods. An account arises within the framework of an obligatory legal relationship with a service provider.

Tier 9 tank IS-8 - this one, along with his account, was stolen from a Belarusian gamer in February last year

Let us emphasize an important fact - a company that provides services online identifies users using a login, and not the person’s real name, which is indicated in the passport. Ukrainian courts have repeatedly confirmed that any person under any name can register on social networks, so any person can create and maintain a person’s page on social networks, including by posting information and photos.

Another way to explain the nature of account sales is replacement of a party to a contractual relationship by assignment of the right of claim. This means that the person who created the account has the right of claim against the person who provides the service. Then, by transferring (messaging) the login and password to another person, refusing to further use the service under this account, he cedes this right to the buyer.

The latter actually becomes a new user, although for the party that provides the service (service), the user has not formally changed as long as the same login—account name—is in effect.

This explanation has a right to exist, if not for one circumstance - most of the services in the “Rules of Use” section, which are an integral part of the agreement with the user, expressly prohibit sharing your account login and password with others. Under this condition, the purchase and sale agreement is generally invalid, because the parties agreed on the prohibition of assignment of the right of claim under the agreement.

Actually, you can fantasize and offer a few more ideas that would explain the nature of such a transaction: leasing the right to use an account and all its capabilities (formally, the Civil Code allows this - Part 2, Article 760); a service for providing temporary access to someone else’s account.

Is it possible to dispose of the right to use the account or is it not transferable to third parties? In our opinion, the answer to this question matters in two situations:

Who will be responsible for actions carried out from the account - the new owner or the old one?
Can a person who paid for someone else’s account, but did not receive a login and password for access, go to court to recover damages from the seller or force him to fulfill the obligation in kind. Is this right subject to judicial protection?

In our opinion, the criterion for the recognition of such a right and its protection should be the compliance of the parties’ behavior with the general requirements for the exercise of subjective civil rights and the validity of transactions. For example, if an account is purchased for the purpose of using someone else’s reputation and exploiting consumer trust in a particular seller, then this is an abuse of right. If we are talking about an account in a computer game, abuse is unlikely.

What will be the legal consequences if the account was purchased with the intention of breaking the law?

If someone else's account is used to cause harm to a third party - publication of false information, etc., then if the court refuses to recognize the new owner of the account (from which the actions that caused losses were carried out), this should not become a basis for releasing the offender from responsibility.

The court must award compensation for damage to the person who caused the damage.(Article 1166 of the Civil Code), while the primary owner of the account (the person who originally registered it), at least, is not directly involved in posting false information, that is, he did not commit actions that caused harm. This is correct until the use of the account is classified as a source of increased danger, when the owner of such a source is responsible for the damage.

When the buyer of an account is accused of causing harm, he, in order to avoid liability, will obviously refuse the purchase and will indicate that the account belongs to the primary owner, who should be responsible for the information disseminated from this account.

Is the right of a person to force the account seller to fulfill an obligation in kind - to transfer the login and password to the account - subject to judicial protection? We believe that, provided that adequate evidence of the conclusion of such a transaction is provided, the court should not refuse to protect the person. Of course, if the terms of use of the service prohibit the transfer of your account login and password to third parties, the court may declare such a transaction invalid.

Often the purpose of purchasing a login and password for someone else’s account is to commit criminal acts.

In April 2014, in a criminal case, the court found that a person operating through an account on the website of a well-known online auction posted advertisements for the sale of goods at a clearly reduced price. After receiving advance payment from buyers, the scammer did not ship the goods and did not return the money. After complaints from defrauded buyers to the online auction security service, the criminal’s account was blocked, but he bought online logins and passwords for several more accounts that belong to third parties.

This transaction would not be legal because they were sold not by the owners of the accounts, but by another person without their consent. The criminal then repeated his scheme, posting ads on behalf of people whose accounts he had purchased access to. The security service could not quickly block it, because formally the product was sold by a user whose account had a good reputation and a reliable history.

In addition to purchasing someone else's account, transactions such as transferring the account for use are possible. Thus, in the case of protection of honor, dignity and business reputation, it turned out that information about the plaintiff was distributed as follows: the first person provided the second with his account - a personal page on the forum, and the second person, logging in under the first’s account on the forum, distributed certain information about the plaintiff.

The account market exists in the absence of civil law regulation and has not currently gained such momentum in Ukraine that would influence the emergence of law enforcement practice.

Illarion Tomarov, senior lawyer, head of intellectual property practice at AstapovLawyers

TERMS USED IN THIS AGREEMENT
- Agreement - This document "User Agreement" is located and accessible on the Internet at https://site/agreement
- Website\Store\Site\Service\Resource - Entertainment resource located at https://site
- Buyer\User\Player - A person who uses the Site solely for entertainment purposes to satisfy their purchasing needs.
- Product\Bonus code - a randomly generated code purchased or received in a lottery, which is a random set of symbols that hypothetically provides certain intangible values in the online game World of Tanks.
- Account\Account - Buyer’s account on the Site obtained upon authorization using a Wargaming account or any other social network.
- Support\Operator\Actor\Administration - A person or neural network that answers Players’ questions in text or voice format for the purpose of voluntary involvement in the Service.
- Return - An actor's term meaning the destruction of goods on the Resource servers.

1. GENERAL PROVISIONS
1.1.. Below are the rules and conditions for using the Service. Please read them carefully; if you do not agree with any clause of this Agreement, you must immediately stop using the Platform and leave the Site.
1.2. The site can only be used by persons who have achieved civil capacity under the laws of the country of their residence. All consequences of failure to comply with this condition are borne by the User.
1.3. The Site is an entertaining imitation of an online store based on the game World of Tanks, in which the User can purchase or receive Products.
1.4. Using the site, the player agrees and understands that all in-game assets can only be purchased in the official World of Tanks store located at https://ru.wargaming.net/shop/ and all money spent on the Resource is transferred to the further development of the online store imitation in for entertainment purposes, is aware of all of the above, is aware of his actions and is of sound mind and sober memory.
1.4.1 Funds are subject to reimbursement to the Buyer only after his personal request in compliance with the procedure provided for by the Service in clause 9 of this Agreement.
1.5. Delivery of the Goods occurs to the E-mail address specified by the Buyer. If the goods have not been received by the Buyer within 24 hours, the Buyer has the right to contact the Operator to resend the paid Goods to a new E-mail address.
1.5.1 The delivered Goods to the Buyer’s mail, the letter with which the Buyer opened, is a completed transaction. The site does not claim the functionality of the product on the Wargaming online games website, and does not guarantee the receipt of intangible assets in the World of Tanks online game after activating the received Bonus Code.

2. ACCOUNT, SECURITY
To open an Account, the User must log in through a Wargaming OpenID account or any other available social network through which the Service provides similar functionality. The User bears full responsibility for storing confidential information and for loss of access to his Account. In addition, the User bears full responsibility for any actions performed by him. The site is not responsible for actions committed by the User in relation to third parties. The User undertakes to inform the Store of any unauthorized use of his Account.

3. PRIVACY
The Site undertakes not to disclose any confidential information provided by the User to the Service. The Platform also undertakes to store all Confidential User Information in encrypted form. Personal data (Link to profiles, among other things) can be provided to third parties only with the consent of the User.
Confidential and Personal Information may be disclosed to third parties only if required by international law and/or government authorities in compliance with legal procedures. The Platform also has the right to transfer Personal and confidential information to third parties if information is transferred as part of a sale or other transfer of business (in whole or in part), and all obligations to comply with this Agreement are transferred to the new owner of the Service.

4. USER
4.1 The Service reserves the right to unilaterally refuse service to the User at any time, including due to violation of the rules for using the Service or international law. Attempts of unauthorized access or attempts to harm the Service are unacceptable. When adding any information to the site, insults, extortion, slander, bluff, messages containing harmful information (including viruses, Trojans, worms, etc.), as well as information that can harm third parties or business reputation of the Service.
4.2 If the User considers the received Product to be “Incorrect”, “Invalid”, “Overdue”, “Not working”, etc. solely based on his subjective views, then he can turn to the Actors, where he may be offered to purchase the product again. A repurchase offer may include Acting designed solely for the Buyer's entertainment. The Player may be offered a Refund, after which all information about the sold Bonus Code may be removed from the Service at the discretion of the Site.

5. PROHIBITED
5.1 It is prohibited to publish falsified data
5.2 It is prohibited to transmit any materials that may infringe the intellectual property of third parties
5.3 False publication of information for the purpose of obtaining unauthorized access to information or data of third parties is prohibited
5.4 Publication of information of a religious and political nature is prohibited
5.5 It is prohibited to transfer data to access your Account to third parties
5.6 It is prohibited to publish information that may negatively affect the business reputation of the Service, even if such information, in the subjective opinion of the User, is reliable; for this purpose, the Site pre-moderates all written messages in the Reviews section and such information can be changed by the Service at its discretion.
5.7 It is prohibited to insult, call names, or question the professional qualifications and integrity of individuals and legal entities, including Users of the Service and the Administration of the Service.

6. RESPONSIBILITY OF THE PARTIES
6.1 By paying for the Goods using any payment systems, you take full responsibility for your actions. The site does not force or insist on doing any actions.
6.2. The site is not responsible for the malfunction of the site software or Web server. The player uses the software on an “AS IS” basis. If the Site determines that when using the Site, a failure (error) occurred in the operation of the Site, then the results that occurred during the incorrect operation of the software may be canceled or adjusted at the discretion of the Site. The User agrees not to appeal regarding the quality, quantity, order and timing of the Goods provided to him.
6.3 The Service in no way obliges or forces you to perform certain actions. All actions taken by you on the Site are carried out solely at your own risk.
6.. The Site may unilaterally update/supplement/edit this Agreement without mandatory notification to Users. Players are required to independently monitor changes to this agreement; the last date for editing this Agreement is always indicated at the bottom of this page.

7. ACCEPTANCE (EMPLOYMENT) OF THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THE AGREEMENT
7.1 By clicking the BUY button in the pop-up window on the site pages, you agree to accept and comply with the terms of this Agreement and you accordingly
a) agree to use electronic communication tools to enter into contracts;
b) You also waive any applicable rights or requirements that require a handwritten signature to the extent permitted by any applicable law;
7.2 If you do not agree to accept and continue to follow the terms of this Agreement, please do not register an Account and/or stop using the Resource. Continued use of the Service will be deemed to be your acceptance of the terms and conditions of this Agreement, which we have notified you as may be applicable from time to time.

8. RIGHTS
8.1. The exclusive right to the Service belongs to the Service
8.2. Trademarks, brand names and illustrations are the property of their respective owners.
8.3. The site is not a public offer; accordingly, any information posted on the site (including any details of individuals/legal entities, addresses, telephone numbers, photographs) cannot be regarded as reliable. The only legally relevant information is available only on the Agreement page.
8.4. https://site is not part of Wargaming Group Limited, is not a partner and does not claim any relationship between the Service and Wargaming Group Limited.

9. PROCEDURE FOR RESOLUTION OF DISPUTES AND SETTLEMENT OF CLAIMS
In the event of any disputes arising between the User and the Service regarding the execution of this Agreement, the parties will take all measures to resolve them through negotiations between themselves. The claim procedure for resolving disputes is mandatory.
Claims are accepted and considered by the Service only in writing to an email address and in the manner prescribed by this Agreement and the current legislation of the Russian Federation.

To resolve disputes arising between the User and the Service, the following claim procedure is applied:
- A user who believes that his rights have been violated by the Service has the right to send the latter a claim containing the essence of the demand, the rationale for its presentation, as well as his contact information.
- The service considers the received claim within 10 (Ten) business days from the date of receipt of the claim and sends its response to the email address or postal address specified in the claim;
- If the dispute is not resolved through the claim procedure, the dispute is subject to consideration in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation and the rules on jurisdiction in the court at the location of the Service.
The Service does not consider anonymous claims or claims that do not allow the User to be identified based on the contact information provided by him, or claims that do not contain the data specified in this paragraph of this Agreement.

ANNEX 1
If the Buyer considers the transaction invalid, he has the right to a refund of the amount paid for the Goods; to do this, he must contact the Service to resolve the claim in accordance with clause 9 of this agreement. To receive a refund, you must contact the following address by email and prepare the following list of documents:
1. Attach an identification document, which shows the Buyer’s full name and date of birth (The rest of the data can be blurred out).
2. Attach a selfie photo with a document to identify the Buyer to the sent document. 3. Attach proof of payment, as well as the details from which payment for the Goods was made.
3. Attach a photo or scanned copy of a free-form application describing the reason for the return (MUST INDICATING - Article from the Civil Code of the Russian Federation §2 Invalidity of transactions or article of the Russian Federation Law on the basis of which compensation is requested) with a detailed explanation.
4. Attach details for reimbursement.

Refunds will be processed within 3 (Three) business days. If the Service has additional questions, the Buyer must answer them; if the answer is not received within 3 (Three) business days, the refund application is closed. If the refund is satisfied, it is sent within 7 (Seven) business days minus the commission for servicing acquiring systems both when making a Purchase and when making a refund.

Last week I was puzzled by the purchase of World of Tanks souvenirs for one fan of the game. There used to be a cool souvenir shop on the World of Tanks website, but then it was closed for renovations, and, as I understand it, it still hasn’t opened. Well, that’s okay: there’s eBay, where you can buy just about anything. Including souvenir products that have long been out of stock in stores.

I went in, looked, and with some surprise discovered that there were a lot of souvenirs of all kinds, but the main goods on eBay were not rugs, watches or flash drives, but the accounts themselves. For an amount from 500 to 60,000 rubles you can buy an account with tanks of different levels. Of course, the more expensive, the better the set of tanks.

Not a bad business! Well, it turns out that you can get into tanks for a couple of months for your own pleasure, level up thoroughly, and then sell everything to someone and start again. Yes, it’s unlikely that you will get to the tenth level in a couple of months, and you won’t earn the coveted sixty thousand. But even 10-15 thousand is a good increase to the budget in the Russian provinces.

I just had a feeling that there was some kind of flaw in such a business. And to find out for sure, I asked Ivan Zhivitsa from Wargaming to advise whom to ask leading questions. And this is what we found out following a conversation with Dmitry Andronchik, head of Wargaming user support.

It’s no secret that on social networks and on eBay there are a lot of offers for selling a Wargaming account with this or that technique, experience, etc. For many, pumping up accounts has become a kind of business. Which clauses of the user agreement does this violate?

Selling World of Tanks accounts is one of those problems that we have been facing for several years now. Obviously, such a number of people who want to sell or buy an account in “Tanks” is directly related to the success of the game and the large community. However, no matter how pleased we are to realize the popularity of the project, the purchase and sale of accounts is prohibited under the current User Agreement, and in some cases (thank God, there are not many of them) it looks like fraud.

A player who sells a game account violates clause 4.3.5 of the agreement:

« The user has no right transfer rights in relation to the Game, including its Additional Features, for commercial or non-commercial purposes to third parties, including by transferring an Account, concluding an agreement or otherwise».

The actions of the player who purchases an account violate clauses 4.3.6 and 4.3.7:

« The User has no right to use the Account of another User».

« The User has no right to alienate or otherwise transfer the Account or acquire the Account of another User, including by exchanging or receiving as a gift».

Sounds scary. Well, I contacted the seller on eBay and bought an account from him along with the email address to which it was registered. I'm starting to enjoy life. What happens if you notice?

You won't envy the violators. The account is blocked once and forever without the right to appeal. It does not matter whether the player deliberately bypassed the rules or not. It is only a matter of time before sanctions are applied to game accounts currently put up for sale. No attacker has yet managed to get away with it.

We have a wide range of tools that allow us to clearly, quickly and accurately identify such cases. It happens that players try to cheat by passing off the sale of an account as an attempt at unauthorized access, etc. You hear so many stories. Here is a recent example from practice (original spelling and punctuation preserved):

“I will try to clarify the situation for you and I really hope that you will understand me because I invested a part of myself into this account and now this loss is greatly affecting my health. I work as a system administrator in an agricultural enterprise (I can provide documents), we have many neighboring competitors, both geographically and in business directly. Last August, I refused to hand over recordings from our video cameras to a deputy of a competing company in which his employees agreed on the illegal transportation of products with our drivers. Since then they have constantly put a spoke in my wheels. That evening I did server maintenance and played tanks along the way, and we had a small celebration at our company where the livestock specialist of that ill-fated enterprise was invited along with friends. I don’t think I need to explain that once again they decided to mock me. They came up and asked to play. Naturally I refused. Well, they immediately started blackmailing me, including threatening me, and took away my car keys and documents that were lying on the table. They started demanding that I give up my account since I don’t want to let me play. I felt bad, I have heart problems (again, I can provide documents) and I gave everything... I didn’t give my mail by accident since it was tied to my old phone number, which has been gone for a long time... I have nothing more to add, I just sincerely hope that You will understand me, because all this time I have been living in a state of stress...”

No matter how heartfelt and true the story may seem, we continue to repeat: “Please do not try to mislead the Project Administration.”

Given the huge baseWargaming IDHow technically is it possible to track the transfer of individual accounts?

Transferring an account to another player is prohibited, and a user who transfers registration data to another will be subject to sanctions.

We can not only promptly identify facts of such fraud, but also differentiate them quite clearly. The more serious the violation, the more severe the punishment will be. Despite the fact that many of our processes are automated, we try to practice an individual approach in cases related to the transfer of an account. Sometimes players themselves admit that they did not register the account they are using.

And now you see and catch everyone right away?

It's difficult to hide anything from us. You can immediately see when words diverge from reality. How exactly we distinguish lies from truth, I would like to keep secret :)

The account is transferred quite often. Unfortunately, violators do not realize the seriousness of their actions, and do not think about the consequences at all: transferring registration data negatively affects the security of the account. Access to accounts is not always provided by players deliberately. In some cases, particularly gullible users fall for scammers (for example, through “Upgrade Services”, etc.).

We put a lot of effort into instilling a sense of vigilance in players and try to always keep them informed about the most common fraudulent services and schemes.

The tank portal has a special section dedicated to account security. There are various articles with recommendations for protecting your accounts. From time to time we hold promotions that encourage players to change their passwords in the game more often, link mobile phones to their accounts, etc. Now, for example, we are running a promotion in which users can change their email and receive a nice bonus. We sincerely hope that our efforts will not be in vain and gamers will begin to take a more responsible approach to the issue of protecting their accounts. And there will be fewer such requests (the user’s spelling and punctuation are preserved):

« I changed the password again to the one that was before (before the hack) (quite secure) - is this not a vulnerability?»