Locked Out of Own Store for 3 days due to Shopify deemed suspicious activty and WONT let me in?

[Shatify]

Hi everyone,

Is this normal or am I being scammed here? I had a Shopify store that was compromised. Someone or people managed to break into my shopify store, along with eBay , pay pal, and a long list of other online accounts. Its been a nightmare considering the initial point of contacts I called with tee belief that they were indeed representatives from eBay, Shopify, Chase were not. Not to mention the screen I was looking at on my phone was actually remotely configured and in reality on someone else phone, but I wont get into the details.

Currently, I managed to pay the bill I owed and secured (so i thought) and reopened my account only to find a day later that I was locked out due to suspicious activity. There is no phone number to call and the rep told me that the "account " team was not in adn to wait a day. Then the next day the guy said they were not replying and they would email me. Then now they are asking me for some documentation. Meanwhile my site is live and customers are able to make purchases? I feel like they might just be stringing me along and may be up to something else...who knows, but do you guys think this is normal and what would you do. Mind you i am all paid off and perfectly in the clear so there is non reason to lock me out besides what they have said was due to suspicious behavior which i don't agree is right as I never agreed to allow them to shut my store down without my agreeing to it at least and it should be a good reason. most of all not on the rightful owner?

They failed to keep out the bad guys and now are locking out the owner? Any suggestions would be appreciated...

Thank you for your time your guys,

Anthony N

edited

Somegreatlustercoinco.com

[Trevor]

Hey, @Shatify. 

I'm sorry to hear that your accounts were compromised which led to your Shopify store being locked. I can't imagine how difficult it must be to be getting everything back on track; however, I do hope that my answer helps provide some insight into the Shopify side of things. If Shopify detects a suspicious login, if there is an ownership dispute, or if the account is considered "compromised" then account can be "locked" which means all admin access is revoked while still keeping the store online and operational. Only our Account team can help handle situations such as yours as they have the tools and training to help protect your sensitive information. 

Escalations to our Accounts team vary depending on the issue, and current ticket load; however, they will action them as quickly as possible. In order for them to complete the escalation, they must verify your business to ensure they are unlocking the admin to the proper owner. If the documents are not provided, then our teams are unable to continue with the escalation and will not be able to unlock the admin. I understand that given that a number of your accounts were hacked you are likely cautious of what information you're giving out; however, I can assure you that the information provided by our support was correct, and the information requested by our Accounts team via email (from a @shopify.com email) is secure. The sooner they can get the information from you the sooner we can work to get this resolved. 

That all said, compromised Shopify stores typically start with the individual's email being compromised. If you haven't already, I would recommend changing your email password, then adding two-step authentication (2fa) if your email provider offers the feature. In addition to this, you'll want to update your password, and add 2fa to your Shopify store once it has been unlocked. The same would go for all other providers that were compromised.

I would strongly recommend not sending us any sensitive information until you are certain your email is secure. In addition, I have removed your email from your reply for security reasons. 

[melissam]

Hi Trevor - Article was great, but you missed how to actually escalate the situation to the accounts team. We are running two sites concurrently and the dev site has been locked out. Our Dev team is Synergy Tech (Raj). 

[Trevor]

@melissam 

You will need to contact Shopify Support to being the process. The advisor you connect with will be able to escalate the issue from there. You can contact support by logging into your store through the help center, searching your question/issue, then selecting "continue" at the bottom of the page that displays the search results.