XBL Users Take the Bait in Phishing Scam

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It has been reported reported by the Sun’s UK site that many Xbox Live users in 35 countries have lost money to online scams. An e-mail was sent to Xbox users that directed them to a site that was offering free Microsoft Points. All they had to do was enter some personal info and Ta-da! The scam artists took small amounts from each account over a period of time so that the activity wasn’t noticeable.

Some of the digital conmen even befriended players in order to chat. During the chats they would ask for personal information like school names, and age in order to guess at passwords.

According to the article, an average of £100 was taken from each account with some losses being as high as £200. That’s about $155 to $312 per account. Needless to say, these bandits made off with quite a bit of money. Microsoft has been working since last night to protect their users from further attacks and have even gone as far as promising to refund money to users who can prove that they did not share their passwords. How they can prove that is beyond me. Unfortunately for these users, the hacking didn’t happen to XBL servers. Therefore, Microsoft doesn’t have to take any responsibility because the users were conned individually.

Between the PSN hacks, the steam hacks, all the other hacks that happened a few months ago, and this, it is becoming increasingly dangerous to be a gamer with an account. Why can’t we be left alone? I am getting sick of all this cyber bullying that has been happening.

If you have an online account with any companies, it is probably best to make sure your information is kept safe by regularly changing your passwords, and keeping up with your balances. If you can, it may be a good idea to just buy PSN and XBL cards instead of purchasing points and money through the system. This way none of your account information is stored online.

What do you think of hackers, and cyber criminals? Let us know below.

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