Server Freeze or Targeted Ddos attack?

About 45 mins ago (see timestamp of my post), your N American servers mysteriously froze/crashed for a moment. An odd thing occurred that maybe related to that.

I had just placed my Grand Spectrum sapphire (+6 to all elemental resists) on the trade market for 24 divs rather than the 29 which I intended. I realized my typo-error and within seconds went back to cancel the transaction. At that moment the server...froze...and when I was able to interact with the game again, my item had been sold.

While I am not delighted about losing 5 divs, what really caught my attention is the buyer's ability to port into my hideout, run past me, grab the item and leave during a time when the game seemingly could not be interacted with.

This could be just a coincidence, but...how was that accomplished? And was it just a random server issue or was it intentional? And I know it was a greater issue overall, because mass bitching followed in the general chat.

I gotta say, the thought that the "buyer" was connected/involved with the server issue has crossed my mind.