Users of Microsoft’s “unhackable” Xbox Live online gaming portal seem to have fallen victim to a suspected phishing scam, which has seen many stung with credit card charges for items they have not purchased.
Xbox Live Account holders have reported multiple transactions going back a good few months, which have seen hackers purchase Microsoft Points, then cash them in for downloadable content.
The points have been specifically spent on EA Sports Ultimate Team Packs on titles such as FIFA, Madden and NBA, giving a chance for these points to be turned into hard cash!
An Ultimate Team Pack allows gamers to build an ultimate fantasy team, players will change hands for real money, between gamers. EA does not keep a record of the transactions.
It is thought that a phishing scam could have popped up from illicit websites promising gamers free Microsoft Points if they first hand over their card details.
The problem with this theory is, affected gamers are claiming to have no knowledge of falling for rather obvious scams such as these. Meaning that gamertags, passwords and billing information must have been obtained in some other way.
It is not quite clear how hackers obtained this data, but it seems like a content provider holding the personal information of Xbox Live users may have been hacked.
Mircosoft has always been adamant that its online portal is immune from hackers, thanks to its closed-wallet features. So these recent incidents are sure to worry the company.
Microsoft says: “In this case, a number of Xbox Live members appear to have recently been victim of malicious ‘phishing’ scams (ie; online attempts to acquire personal information such as passwords, user names and credit card details by purporting to be a legitimate company or person).
“The online safety of Xbox Live members remains of the utmost importance, which is why we consistently take measures to protect Xbox Live against ever-changing threats.”
With Sony’s PSN entangled in a large scale hack attack last year, Sony lost a number of customers to Microsoft, and it was well documented that PS3 users were trading in their PS3s for Xbox 360s, but how will this recent chain of events affect Microsoft?
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