It's something we've seen people post all too often; they're playing/inactive, and out of nowhere, their account is banned for something they have not done. They get mad, and post screenshots and bemoan about "abusive admins" all over the Internet. While it's understandable how frustrating and confusing this can be, there is actually a very simple and logical explanation behind why this happens.

Let's start with basic procedure behind account bans. When an account is banned for an offence, the system automatically checks for any other accounts linked to the offender, and then applies the same ban(s) to the connected accounts (I won't elaborate on how the mechanism behind this checking system precisely works, but you get the idea). This is to make sure offending players don't log on to their alternate accounts so they can continue their offending behaviour/actions in-game and cause problems for other players (also called "ban-evasion").

So, how does this relate back to random unexpected bans? Well imagine if you let a friend use your account on their device; account sharing. Even if they log in to your account for just one second, your account will be immediately linked to their account, and the system would recognise both accounts as being under the same owner. Now after this is done and your friend logs out, any time they do something wrong in-game and get banned, this ban will also be carried over to your account as well. This also explains why some players seem to get the same bans as their friends at the exact same time. This is why you should never share your account with others; accounts are intended to be used by their original owner only.

The way to fix this is actually fairly simple; if you have ever shared your account with anyone, you must ask all of them to use the "revoke access" feature in their account settings, then re-login only using their own accounts.  

So hows that pm system working out?