Xbox Live users suffering hacked accounts, FIFA 11 and 12 purchases

[Ironman273]

Xbox Live users suffering hacked accounts, FIFA 11 and 12 purchases

By Ben Kuchera

Ars Technica has received a number of reports from Xbox Live customers complaining about hacked accounts, unauthorized purchases, and a slow response from Microsoft itself. The pattern is weirdly specific: gamers notice that unauthorized purchases have been made using their credit card information or existing points, and FIFA Soccer 11 or 12 has been played on their account.

"Yesterday, my live account got hijacked and charged just over $100. Specifically, two large purchases of points followed by the download of FIFA 12, which had 2 achievements unlocked for the game, and every MS point spent on Gold Premium Packs and DLC," one reader wrote. His Xbox was turned off, and he learned of the breach from confirmation e-mails sent to his workplace.

Another gamer blogged about his account being breached:

"Sure enough, all of the Microsoft points that were stored in my XBL account had been spent on in game items for

FIFA 11

(I don’t own that game… hell, I don’t even like soccer video games) and whoever spent my MS points had then tried to purchase more. Presumably, when that purchase failed, they abandoned my account and went on to steal from some other unsuspecting gamer."

These online reports are becoming increasingly common, and Microsoft's response has been to lock down affected accounts for 25 days while the company investigates the charges. We've e-mailed Microsoft for comment, and have yet to hear back. For now, the best course of action is to keep a close eye on your account, and contact Microsoft if you see any fraudulent charges or notice FIFA-related activity in your achievement points or history.

Source: Ars Technica

[Ayepecks]

I doubt their Xbox Live accounts were so much hacked as they had horrible passwords for their Hotmail accounts, given the massive amount of e-mail password theft I've seen recently.

[WastedJoker]

A couple of guys I know from another forum have complained about points being added to their accounts erroenously. Dunno if this is related.

[George P Global Moderator]

This is why I don't link my CC to my xbox live account. Prepaid points ftw!