Interesting reports of Xbox Live hackings have been trickling in on the internet for the past couple of week or so, with users reporting that purchases are showing up on the credit card attached to their Xbox Live account. While the occasional isolated hack-report is expected, some believe a pattern is emerging, and a widespread security flaw is becoming evident.
Many of the gamers reporting hacks say that FIFA Soccer 11 or 12 has been played on their account, even though they don't own the game, leading to the speculation that there's some FIFA-specific hack going on.
Microsoft is denying they have any evidence of widespread Live compromise, issuing a statement saying:
“We do not have any evidence the Xbox LIVE service has been compromised. We take the security of our service seriously and work on an ongoing basis to improve it against evolving threats. However, a limited number of members have contacted us regarding unauthorized access to their accounts by outside individuals. We are working with our impacted members directly to resolve any unauthorized changes to their accounts. As always, we highly recommend our members follow the Xbox LIVE Account Security guidance provided at www.xbox.com/security to protect your account.”
Are we looking at a case of internet-connect-the-dots, where a series of random occurrences are seen as a pattern? (IE: FIFA is a popular game all over the world; it could be simple coincidence that the game is downloaded on lots of "traditionally hacked" accounts.)? Electronic Arts, has said, basically, that this is the case.
“With the popularity of FIFA globally, and the sheer number of players playing the game online, FIFA is an obvious target for phishers and frauds,” an Electronic Arts told Giant Bomb.
“It’s not a title-specific issue and is coincidental that FIFA has been tied to a number of compromised accounts,” a Microsoft representative said.
While both EA and Microsoft saying "coincidence!" is the best we can report, we'll keep an eye on this issue as (or if) it develops further. Until then, keep track of your passwords, purchases and logins and be safe out there.
Sources:Giant Bomb. Ars Technica, Gamespot
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Skyclad
I went online to play some Battlefield 3 with a friend and when I logged on to Live, a message popped up saying my account was last used on another console. I knew right away it was either a small Live glitch or a hack. I checked my MS Points and all 2,000 I had were gone. I checked last games played and it said I played Fifa and I don't even own that game. Checked purchase history, someone bought three FIFA "consumable" packs with my MS Points. also noticed I had 3 Fifa achievements. Called X Box support and they locked down my account, had me change my Live and Windows Live ID password and they are investigating it. To be sure, I called my credit card company and asked for the transactions from today... sure enough, someone tried using my credit card to buy 2 different Microsoft store purchases, one for 20 bucks, another for 5. My credit card company said Microsoft didn't allow the pruchases because they looked suspiscious. So as it stands now, i have no credit card for a week or two until the other one arrives, my 2,000 MS Points are gone AND my account is locked down for at least 3 days. How does this happen when I don't even own that game? Both FIFA and Battlefield 3 are EA games... I don't own FIFA but play Battlefield 3 online a lot. I wonder if they got my info through EA somehow.
RickSparticus
My account was hacked for 220.00 + my previous balance of points. Xbox has done nothing to contact me and give me a status. They like to say the issue is not theirs but the only fraudlant charges to my account came from them. I cannot beleive they are still letting this happen. At least PS shut down their service until they fixed their issues. As a loyal xbox customer I am verry disstressed about their lack of concern to the people this has happened to. At my bank they tell me they have this issue with xbox at least once a month. This is one little branch in the big world. Iam seriously debating getting rid of all my microsoft products. I want to know who eats the bill, microsoft or my bank. In the end it will be the consumer. Do to their lack of action they are only costing me money. You cant tell me they cant stop this now. Stop letting the bad people win and stand up for your customers. Ban FIFA 12 until it is secure. EA sports is as much to blame for this as they are.
me20025
I was hacked a week ago (1/20) and my account used to play FIFA '12 (which i don't own and have never played). 6000 microsoft pts were purchased (and very rapidly spent - almost all spent (in 120 increments) by the time i was able to log in, boot them out and change my password (15-20 mins later). i was just lucky i got the notification email for the points purchase and that I happened to check my email first thing when i woke up around 7am. xbox live refunded all the points & money lost and reopened my account to me within 4 days.
ArnTheGreat
Yea, my friend just linked me this article. End of October friend saw me online playing FIFA and made a comment about it - I had my brother at my house at the time so thought it was some bizarre coincidence. 3 weeks later ~ Over $90 charged to X-Box. I go to my point history and see all three things spent on these "Packs". When I call X-Box they're "iffy" and bouncing around with me rather or not I got hacked. The second I mentioned those "packs" they completely let off and instantly said "oh, those are points commonly spent on FIFA to buy expansions and other players."
25 day ban "investigation" at the end of the investigation they issued a refund, which took over 5 weeks to clear (My bank only took 1 day to clear it, they kept saying Microsoft hadn't sent anything, but Microsoft kept replying to every ticket "It'll be issued within 5-10 business days.") and none of my original 2900 points back... I still haven't even bothered logging back on. They should probably just admit that they got hacked.
Fifaplayer444
I Am the Newest Member to get Hacked I was playing Saints Row The Third with my buddy and i got logged out and said I signed in somewhere else, I said thats weird so i signed back in then i got signed out again, So i went and logged on to xbox on my computer changed my password. it was already changed someone was trying to keep me out. so i got my password reset to my phone and changed my password. but it was to late my 2500 points i got for chirstmas was spent on fifa 11 stuff. a gold pack a gold player pack and another pack. it left me with 10 points. On my xbox the last thing it says i purchases was my 2011 ford f-150 svt raptor. but online it says the three fifa things. I want my points back and a big sorry in the form of money and my gamer points back from xbox and microsoft. my password is too hard to guess and it is a load of crap that mircosoft things its just random.
fitz618
Well hacked today Dec 22,2011. sounds like it is way more than coincidence. XBL trying to tell me it is a freak thing, only to read all these posts on the net. I was taking for $107.95 with FIFA 12 being the game stuff purchased. Then i call xbox and now i can not use my online srvice for up to 20 days. Why should the victims be punished also? I think everyone should get together and start a class action law suit against Microsoft and EA games for allowing this to continue. I do not think they understand the problems that can arise. cancelled my credit card, bank cards, and been charged by my bank for having to cancel bank cards and get new ones. Now i have to stop using my games that i purchased because of their mistakes with their security measures. What happened to having to verify alternate email address with the owner of the service? I think there should be some real reprocussions for their mess ups.
anjurasko
I was hacked...today, actually. My boyfriend caught the person in the act while I was sleeping. Luckily only my 1200 remaining points were spent on FIFA 12 (thankfully not the bank card). I reset my Windows Live ID password with my cell phone, then proceeded to make a whole new Windows Live ID for my gamertag & deleted the foreign e-mail address associated with my old ID. Now that everything is completely changed, I'm back into my account and I'll just sob over my lost points and buy more when this is all over...whenever it's all over. Something has to be done eventually. I'm kinda glad I know about this now. I wouldn't otherwise.
Gomez16
My account was hacked, It is not phishing. I had 200$ worth of points bought and all spend on fifa stuff. I think you have a problem Microsoft and EA. Someone is getting into our accounts! Oh, and thanks for the 25 day BAN for my troubles! THANKS!!!
Nerdi_Master
I'm the newest victim of the FIFA hackers, my account was hacked while I was away recovering from surgery last month. When I looked at my achievements I noticed the ones for FIFA 12, a game which I would never play, and I also checked my microsoft points and I only had 10 left out of a previous 1500-1900, give or take. I called xbox and they confirmed that purchases were made with my microsoft points. What was also weird was that when I went to log into my account after being offline for so long, it said my profile was invalid, so customer support had to help me get it restored. My password seemed to have been changed as well. I'm hoping the investigation goes quickly, but given the nature of the comments here, I don't have alot of faith.
Nerdi_Master
I'm the newest victim of the FIFA hackers, my account was hacked while I was away recovering from surgery last month. When I looked at my achievements I noticed the ones for FIFA 12, a game which I would never play, and I also checked my microsoft points and I only had 10 left out of a previous 1500-1900, give or take. I called xbox and they confirmed that purchases were made with my microsoft points. What was also weird was that when I went to log into my account after being offline for so long, it said my profile was invalid, so customer support had to help me get it restored. My password seemed to have been changed as well. I'm hoping the investigation goes quickly, but given the nature of the comments here, I don't have alot of faith.
SinQ
I got hacked as well over 50 days ago now. XBOX customer support helped some with giving me tokens for free months of XBL, but not much hope for my original account over 5 yrs old. This is the worst experience I've ever had with any company. When my PS3 was hacked it was back on in about 30 days with nothing charged to my credit card. When my friends Steam account was hacked it was fully recovered by Steam in less then 48 hrs. This is deplorable service by XBL and Microsoft. On the bright side I still have my PC and PS3 for gaming. If they cant recover my account I will probably put all my XBOX stuff up for sale. My PC with gtx 580's in sli make XBOX look like the old hardware that it is anyway.
tfrevert
I was hacked a month ago and they locked my account only to suspend it for some BS terms of use violation. Which I can't actually find in the terms of use. I just filed with the BBB (http://goo.gl/0LmwB) I've made 6 attempts to get it resolved. Lost around 2500 points.
xboxlawsuit
Enough is enough. With Xbox having known about this for at least six months and punishing victims of this hack by locking their accounts for as long as five months while allegedly "investigating" what should be a straight forward matter of checking console ID databases, it is time for a class action lawsuit against Microsoft and EA. I am looking for Alabama residents over the age of 19 who have been victims of this hack and had their credit card used to purchase MS points that were stolen by the hackers. These persons needsto be willing to stand up and be the named class represenative in a lawsuit I plan to file against Microsoft, EA, and others.. At this point, I do not need someone who has had their account migrated to another country -- that may be another lawsuit.
If Microsoft and EA will not do the right things and provide information to the victims of this attack, we can force them to do so in court.
If you meet the criteria described above, please contact me at xboxfifahacklawsuit@gmail.com.
JMR8027
I got my account hacked yesterday. >8000 points purchased on my credit card and hundreds of 120 point "in game consumables" Funny thing is not only have i never played FIFA, but i canceled my XBOX membership 6 months ago. Good job microsoft for securing credit card info for EX-members!
paved420
I got hacked today, I had to recover my profile and it had fifa12 last played last and only had 30 ms points left.... xbox live is trying to say only a few people have had this problem but the more I search it I can tell they are lying.I didn't even realize I got hacked until I tried to buy something, cause seeing fifa last played didn't really make me think I got hacked (may have been a glitch), so many people might not know they got hacked yet...
schism08
Just got my Xbox live account hacked today, November 1, 2011. The unauthorized user purchased around $30 in Microsoft Points, downloaded the "Premium Gold Pack," and had unlocked achievements for FIFA 12 (which I don't own).
So as of today, this is still an issue happening with Xbox users. Someone on one side needs to just admit responsibility, this is way more than just a coincidence.
xedeon
I just got hacked yesterday also Oct 14 2011. Two charges showed up on my account, one for $49.00 and another for $79.00. Looking at my account activity I see points being spent on "Premium, Gold, Pack" stuff. It's also showing what FIFA 2012 was played on my account! My Xbox has been in storage since last year when I got my PS3! WTF! Good thing I was awake when I got the email confirmation and caught the charges and filed a dispute via Paypal before they got debited from my bank acct..
Microsoft should come clean instead of denying this issue, it's obvious that there has been a compromise!
knlover100
I just got hacked yesterday and the hackers bought 70 dollars worth of microsoft points and the only thing they bought so far was FIFA...
I do NOT give out my password and email to anyone and I have no idea how they got my info nor do I know why it was my gamertag they decided to hack. Anywho, I called Microsoft and they were very helpful and (hopefully) they know what they're doing.
annoying_tool
I had my account hacked a few weeks ago. I bare some responsibility for not having a better password. But that notwithstanding, I have been hearing about a rash of hacks on the news since then. I hope Microsoft or EA or who ever can fix the security hole. In my case MS was really helpful in getting me a refund, but if this is part of a larger problem I hope they figure it out soon because I don't want to go through that again.
roxorz14
I contacted EA. They don't listen. They just asked me a bunch of questions about my Ultimate team...which I CLEARLY told them I didn't have because I don't play (or ever have played) FIFA. I don't get it, I wouldn't even have a connection to EA if it wasn't for having an account through the Bioware Social Network. Setting up an account through them means you are essentially setting up an EA.com account. And that sucks when people are hacking EA and getting my information. XBL, though I don't agree with them shutting down my account for 30 days, was at least helpful and pleasant to talk to (though I hear that's a rare thing).
I hope folks keep digging into this and that it doesn't go away. I didn't use to change my password every month, but I was guarded with my info and this still happened. Just goes to show that if someone really wants your info...they'll get it...and it's made easier for them when companies that host your info have crap online security protecting your info.
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