Banned or Penalized After a Boost? What to Do Next

What should you do first after a ban or suspension?

Lock down the account before anything else, because a booster who had your login may still have access. A suspension stops you playing, but it doesn't stop someone changing the account's email.

1. Change the account password, and the password of the linked email address if you reused it anywhere.
2. Turn on multi-factor authentication. On a Riot account it's done from the account page, with codes by email, the Riot Mobile app or an authenticator app such as Google or Microsoft Authenticator.
3. Sign out of all other sessions if the account settings offer it.
4. Check that the email address, phone number and region on the account are still yours. If anything changed, start the publisher's account recovery process now.
5. Remove saved payment methods and check the purchase history for anything you didn't buy.
6. Revoke any connected apps or linked accounts you don't recognize.

Do this even if the penalty is only a few days long. Riot's support article on rank manipulation describes players who shared their login with a booster and then lost the account to theft and resale. How to Keep Your Account Safe During a Boost covers the full security checklist.

What kind of penalty did you get?

Read the notice word for word, because a rank reversal, a temporary suspension and a permanent ban each lead to different next steps. In League of Legends the reason appears when you try to log in to the penalized account.

Riot has published the clearest numbers. Its Account Penalties and Enforcement FAQ (October 2025) sets a 3-day ban for a first boosting offense, 14 days for a second and a permanent ban for a third, for both the boosted account and the booster's account. Boosted LP and MMR are reversed, that season's Ranked Rewards are withheld or revoked, and Honor drops. Riot's older support page quotes suspensions of 14 to 180 days, and the Community Pact says there's no strict three-strikes rule for serious cases, so treat the ladder as a guide rather than a promise.

Valorant uses a similar set of tools. Riot's July 2026 Playing Fair post lists account suspensions, rank reversions that return RR and MMR to their pre-boost levels, reversal of rewards tied to the manipulated rank and permanent bans for repeated, severe abuse. Players who queued with the booster can also lose the rating they gained from it.

Screenshot the notice, the order page, the site's refund policy as it read when you paid, and the order chat. Save the payment receipt. You'll need all of it in the next steps.

Can you appeal a ban for boosting?

You can, but don't expect it to work if the account really was boosted. Appeals exist for penalties issued in error.

For League of Legends, Riot's suspension FAQ says to submit a support ticket and choose the request type for discussing a personal suspension, ban or restriction. The same FAQ says penalties that were correctly assigned won't be removed, and that penalties resulting from account sharing count as valid because you're responsible for all activity on your account. Riot's Terms of Service put the same rule in legal language.

If you appeal, keep it short, factual and honest. Lying about who played, or claiming a hack when you handed over the login, won't survive a look at the login history and can make a temporary problem a lasting one. A real case for appeal is one where you didn't share the account, didn't buy a boost, and the penalty doesn't match what happened. If someone got into the account without your permission, say so plainly and follow the publisher's compromised-account process, which Riot links from the same FAQ.

Never pay an "unban service". Nobody outside the publisher can lift a penalty, and these offers usually ask for your login, which is how many stolen accounts start.

Do you lose your skins and purchases if you're banned?

Usually yes: for as long as a suspension lasts, and for good if the ban is permanent. Publishers don't refund purchases on accounts closed for breaking their terms.

Some ranked systems keep running during a suspension, too. In League of Legends, inactivity decay for Diamond and higher players continues while the account is banned, so a long suspension at a high rank can cost LP on top of the penalty itself.

Can you get a refund from the boosting site?

Only if the site's written policy covers penalties, and only if you ask with evidence. Policies vary widely: some exclude bans entirely, some compensate when the booster's own conduct caused the penalty, and some only refund the unfinished part of an order.

1. Send the site your evidence through the order chat or a support ticket, so it's on record.
2. Quote the exact refund or penalty clause you're relying on, and say what you're asking for: a full refund, a partial refund or a free redo after the suspension ends.
3. Give a reasonable deadline for a reply, and keep every message in writing.
4. If the site ignores you or refuses something its own policy promises, consider a card chargeback or a PayPal dispute, depending on how you paid.

Card issuers and PayPal decide disputes under their own rules and look closely at what the seller promised in writing, so the policy text matters more than anything said in chat. How to Pay for a Boost Safely covers how each payment method handles disputes, and the refund policy checklist shows what a good policy should say before you order.

Can a ban on one account affect your other accounts?

Yes, in Riot's games. Since November 19, 2025, League of Legends penalties apply to every account Riot confidently attributes to the same person, and Riot's terms allow a penalty in one of its games to carry over to others, up to account-wide bans.

Riot's Vanguard post adds that boosters who keep a main account get escalating suspensions on that main as well, and the Community Pact lists hardware bans among possible penalties. Don't make a new account to wait out a suspension: Riot names using a fresh account to get around a penalty as prohibited behavior in its own right.

How do you avoid a second penalty?

Stop boosting the penalized account, at least for a good while after the penalty ends. Penalties escalate: in League of Legends a second boosting offense brings a 14-day ban and a third a permanent one.

• Play the account yourself for a while. Riot says detection watches for sudden, unusual MMR jumps, so another boost soon after a reversal is likely to stand out.
• If you boost again later, choose duo so nobody else signs in, and keep the order small.
• Don't queue with players far above your level just to climb; Riot treats that as hitchhiking.
• Use a site with a written penalty policy and a good safety record. The boosting site rankings weigh account safety most heavily.