Important Updates for the Community

We want to be transparent about our current account recovery process and how we’re working to keep your accounts safe. Over the past months, we’ve seen lots of discussion in the community about how tricky it can be to regain access to an account, from concerns about hijackers and delays in support tickets, to frustration and uncertainty when access to your accounts isn’t possible. We want to clear up some confusion, address your concerns directly and share what’s being done to improve account safety for everyone.

What’s Been Happening

Before World of Neopia took over Neopets, an old database leak exposed player information. Sadly, this data is still out there and is being used by some to try to access accounts that aren’t theirs. Sometimes these attempts are direct, and other times people try to manipulate our Support team to appear as the original owner. One of our biggest challenges is protecting accounts from becoming compromised, while also ensuring only genuine owners regain access. This hasn’t been a perfect process, but our goal is always to help real owners claim their accounts and have a fun, safe experience on Neopets. 

There has also been an increase in targeted hijacking of valuable accounts, especially those with rare items, impressive galleries, or well-named pets. To make sure accounts return to their real owners and not someone using stolen information, we’ve had to make our recovery process stricter, and strike a balance between safety and accessibility. 

Here’s what we’re dealing with:

• Thousands of ‘password reset’ attempts every day, many of them fraudulent, sometimes even involving hijacked email addresses.
• Hundreds of tickets each month from hackers pretending to be genuine players, using leaked details.
• Hackers are constantly finding new ways to try and trick our older security systems using bots and automation.
• Bad actors sometimes claim online that they’re being unfairly blocked from getting accounts or pets back, but in many of these cases, they were never the rightful owners to begin with. We have data and backend evidence to support this, but we cannot share it publicly. This means a lot of hackers return to community spaces to gather sympathy but sometimes the whole story is not disclosed. 

Many of these problems stem from issues in the past, like the database leak, which was beyond our control but still affects us today. We also know a lot of genuine players return after a long break, and information like emails or passwords are lost to time, making it hard to recover old accounts. 

We know legitimate players just want to enjoy Neopets as soon as possible. While we can’t undo the past, we are committed to moving forward and protecting the community as best we can.

How We Establish True Ownership

Before we can return an account or grant access, it’s our job to confirm who the true owner is.

Here’s what true ownership means:

• The real owner is always the person who created the account.
• Ownership can’t be transferred by selling, trading, gifting, or sharing login details, even if someone else has used or looked after the account for years.

You are not the rightful owner if you:

• Use leaked info from the database to log in. That’s account hijacking.
• Access or play on an account you didn’t create, even if you’ve been on it for months or years.
• Attach a payment method or buy NeoCash or Premium after taking someone else’s account. This doesn’t make it yours.
• Show screenshots, NC purchase logs, or Neofriend lists from your time on a compromised account.
• Buy accounts or pets from offsite sellers. This fuels hacking and illegal activity.

If you didn’t create the account, it’s not yours.

Providing Proof of Ownership

Because of the old database leak, both hackers and genuine players may have access to the same account details, including old email addresses. Hackers sometimes submit tickets from compromised emails, so we can’t rely on those details alone.

Here’s what we need to see instead:

• Rare item code redemptions. Any details you remember, such as the code, estimated date or year, what you bought to get it, and the prizes you received.
• NC and Premium receipts. Receipts from payment providers which include transaction ID, date, amount, merchant/seller, item details from when you were first actively using your account. Screenshots of the NC Transaction Log will not be accepted as bad actors are known to obtain that after they illegitimately gain access into an account.
• All email addresses linked since creation. You might be asked to submit a ticket from these emails, depending on what our team needs. This is because people sometimes submit multiple claims from different emails.
• Other information. Names of several Neofriends, details of NC trades with other players, or any additional details requested by the team, as determined on a case-by-case basis.

We don’t accept identification documents or gameplay screenshots. ID isn’t reliable, as most accounts weren’t created with real details, and screenshots can easily be taken by someone on a stolen account. 

If you’re the real account owner, keep your NC and Premium receipts, redeemed item code info, and some NC/NP trade data—these can help verify that the account is yours. Just keep in mind that sharing this info doesn’t guarantee account recovery and is not valid if it was gathered while the account was already compromised.

Also, make sure your linked email address is up to date and matches the one used for your side accounts. Each player can only use one email address for one main account and up to four side accounts. Using different emails for different accounts makes them look like they belong to separate people, which isn’t allowed. Please avoid creating multiple Neopets or NeoPass accounts with different email addresses. If you do have accounts linked with different email addresses, you are advised to deactivate them.

For sensitive or valuable accounts, we’ll ask for stronger proof before restoring access. We need to be absolutely certain an account is going back to its rightful owner. If only partial details are provided, we can’t confirm ownership, and the account can’t be returned. We know this might feel strict or unfair, but it’s there to protect everyone, especially accounts with rare items, valuable pets, and perks. 

By keeping these standards high, we’re protecting not just your account, but the whole Neopian community from fraud and hijacking.

Being Transparent With You

We’ve seen the rumours, like claims that we’re making it harder to recover accounts on purpose or that Premium users get special treatment. Let’s be very clear.

• Every player is treated equally in the recovery process.
• Our goal isn’t to block recovery. It’s to make sure the right person gets their account back.
• These changes are about protecting accounts and information.

Cheaters are always changing tactics, so we need to adapt as well. By sharing these challenges openly, we want you to understand why these changes are necessary and how they help us better protect accounts in the long run.

Why Support Can Be Delayed

We want to be honest about why you might experience delays when you contact Support. Every month, we receive between 6,000 and 7,000 tickets, which is a huge workload for our small team. This can lead to a backlog, and while we try to reply quickly, sometimes it just takes longer than we’d like.

Here’s what we’re doing:

• Cutting down on fraudulent tickets. By filtering out hacker submissions, we can focus on genuine players who need real help.
• Prioritising high-urgency cases. We focus our resources on players with serious account or gameplay problems.
• Avoiding duplicate tickets. Please only submit one ticket per issue, as sending more slows everything down for everyone.
• Improving our tools and processes. We’re always working on our internal systems to handle tickets faster.
• Requiring complete information. Recovery forms need to be filled out fully with all requested details. Tickets that are missing information can’t be verified and will be moved down the queue.

Some good news

• In February 2024, the average ticket time was 163.5 hours. By February 2025, it had dropped to 34.5 hours.
• In January, it went from 41.5 hours in 2024 to just 17.3 hours in 2025.

This is real progress, but we know things aren’t perfect. In May, handling times rose to 54.4 hours, and in July, up to 71.2 hours, due to having fewer agents and extra urgent issues across the site.

Certain months, especially during big events or new launches, bring in 20 to 30 percent more tickets than usual, sometimes more. These surges can temporarily increase wait times, even as we work to streamline our systems.  We see this as a short-term challenge and are actively working on long-term solutions to continue improving our service for everyone.

We know waiting can be frustrating, but please know that we’re working hard to bring response times back down. Your patience and understanding mean the world as we keep working to protect Neopia and its players.