Paid Powerleveling is a service where a person (usually from China) is paid to level up a virtual character in games like World of Warcraft. The customer gives the business or individual the account username and password, and after a period of time, the account is returned to the customer when the level is reached.

Powerleveling has been viewed with some controversy in the past, with some claiming it’s almost as bad as gold farming. Angry players have claimed that powerleveling attracts “newbies” with high level characters who were ineffective and unable to play their characters well.

Regardless, the industry has been growing, with more and more providers offering these paid powerleveling services. Many powerleveling services operate out of China, where the cost of labor is extremely low.

Blizzard Entertainment, developer of the acclaimed World of Warcraft MMORPG that has more than 8 million subscribers, banned 100,000 accounts suspected of in-game leveling. This number also includes suspected gold growers. Blizzard can easily track this type of activity by looking at the IP, since most powerleveling companies are Chinese.

One website, powerlevelingsucks.com, has a forum where users can discuss and share their stories about websites that have tricked them or gotten their accounts banned.

Most of these power leveling companies are either unscrupulous or unwilling to resolve complaints after an account is banned. They also do a good job of projecting a much bigger online identity than they actually are; when in reality they are quite small.

This is easily accomplished with a sophisticated website and exclusive use of chat-based customer service. Using multiple identities allows some employees to appear like a large paid staff, adding to the illusion of legitimacy.

Recently, the number of accounts banned due to powerleveling has hit an all-time high. With relatively accurate methods of tracking users, Blizzard bans these accounts almost daily, even if they don’t advertise it on their website. A large powerleveling company received almost 500 complaints when their accounts were blocked.

When fraud occurs, the customer has little recourse to recover their money or their account. Since they have already paid, there is little they can do. Even if the account is returned to them, it is usually banned or stripped of items by then. And since most are in China, there’s nothing most people can do about it. Appealing to the game creators is even worse, as they clearly state that they do not condone this type of activity.