When you find out that your Xbox Live account has been suspended or banned, you might be a little upset. If you feel that the suspension is not justified, you might email Microsoft or even call the Xbox Live support phone number. Now it seems that a number of Xbox Live enforcers are dealing with pranks set up by banned and disgruntled Xbox 360 players that go way over the line in terms of protests.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that on August 29, Kings County, Washington police came to the house of Eric Neustadter, the operations manager for Xbox Live. Apparently an instant message was sent to AT&T’s cell-phone emergency service from a person identifying himself as "Eric". The message said that two people had broken into his house and shot his son. However when the police arrived at Neustadter's home they discovered that nothing was wrong.
As it turns out, Neustadter was a victim of "swatting" - which is the term used when a prank call or message is used to send out the police or SWAT teams out on a false report. Neustadter told the police that other employees at Microsoft have also been victims of "swatting."
As a result of what happened to Neustadter, local police have now sent out an alert to other law enforcement agencies to keep an eye out on similar incidents against Microsoft and Xbox Live team members. Even the police admit that "swatting" is "a relatively new phenomenon that has grown increasingly popular by hackers."
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