Viewing Thread:
"Hacked Xbox Live Account"

Last night I appear to have had my XBL account hacked, this person has somehow managed to clear out my MS points balance as well as transfer another £21 for purchases which appear in my transactions list on Xbox.com but also appear to have been transferred off my account. These purchases were for a downloadable copy of FIFA 13 & an online pass for this game, a third transaction for a further £42.50 looks like it was declined (either by Paypal, my bank or MS).

Luckily I was actually online when these transactions occurred and spotted them in my email client. I quickly logged into my XBL account (via Xbox.com) and changed my account password which was a good thing as I have repeated emails from MS which would appear that this person was still attempting to access my account after the password change. Once I logged back into my account using the new password (which required a further security check) I found out that I could not remove the payment method from my Xbox account, there is an option to do this but the site does not seem to let you (says something like this option is not available at this time).

Anyway, after getting in a queue to chat to an online MS advisor, one long wait later and I did get to report this problem. The advisor told me that once you enter payment details into your XBL account (either Paypal or Credit card) only MS can remove it! I would strongly suggest anyone in this situation to contact them and get this done. I always redeem pre-paid codes for MS stuff (live subs & points purchases) and actually can't recall ever linking my Paypal account to my XBL account, perhaps it was when I first joined? (which was about 5 years ago).

Anyway, this MS agent has now put a temporary ban on any purchases being made using my XBL account until they complete an investigation on this reported activity. I have to call their helpline when it opens at 9am this morning (the number if anyone needs it is 0800 5871102) to launch this investigation and hopefully get my stolen money back.

Just a heads up really in case anyone on here is also unlucky enough to experience this, as a quick Google search would appear to suggest that this problem is not quite as rare as you might think...

I'm not falling into that trap again

Sonic Chris wrote:
Such is the cost of having a level 80 Norn Warrior called Chull...

Thought it was called 'Braveheart' ;¬)

Got an email yesterday that somebody in Puerto Rico tryed to login to my Guild Wars 2 account. Thankfully, ArenaNet send emails when an unknown ip tries to access your account.

Such is the cost of having a level 80 Norn Warrior called Chull...

Dr. Garin wrote:
Standard procedure Pete. They wont deviate from it even if its not entirely relevant for your case.

Not convinced much "investigating" ever goes on.

Agreed on that Dr. Garin

Once MS gets hit with a tsunami of credit card charge backs they will soon beef up the security.

Standard procedure Pete. They wont deviate from it even if its not entirely relevant for your case.

Not convinced much "investigating" ever goes on.

Doesn't sound good at all Pete.

I assume you've confirmed your static IP address to them.

I'd have thought though some alarm bells might have gone off when their systems detected you online but another login attempt from elsewhere though you could of course be logging in from your smartphone.

Multiple facor authentication time methinks.

Not sure what's going on but MS have now temporarily locked me out of my own account? I rang them and they confirmed that they have had to do this ''as part of their ongoing investigation?'' The agent I spoke to confirmed that they are satisfied that these transactions are fraudulent but for the moment they will no longer send any correspondence to my registered email address (my Freeola account)? Even though I have changed my XBL password they said I shall be requested to do this again before they will grant me access back into the account (hopefully tomorrow). Don't know what they have found but I'm not entirely sure I'm liking the sound of it.

I actually said "I don't know how relevant it is now though" ... that video was perhaps 2 years old and that was why I asked ... which seems to have been totally ignored by all and sundry!

Garin thinks it's gibberish as usual, but it is quite easy to recreate the scenario described ... so try it ... it's not going to harm anyone ;¬)

pete_21 wrote:
If it really is that easy to hack an XBL account then MS have a big problem. I would have thought this kind of thing is actually illegal is it not? I'm sure if someone posted a guide on how to break into peoples homes on YouTube it would be removed pretty quickly...

The video is gibberish.

Think the only thing I can really do is to get MS to remove my inked payment method and only add MS points to my account as and when I require them. Of course if MS really are going to bin off this system next year then long term this probably isn't going to be an option.

It seems that MS will drop points, I doubt very much they'll drop the concept of being able to credit your account with money though. After all, gift cards etc. are a major source of income and so are people who dont have credit cards/paypal.

That news came from Tom's Hardware no less.


If you Google MS to kill off Microsoft Points system you'll find it.


I can't link to it as that would be a breach of forum rules.