Theives Charged 15,000 Microsoft Points to victim's live account (kotaku)

[8th lutz]

http://kotaku.com/368266/thieves-charge-15...ms-live-account

 

The story of Clinton's bad luck combined with bad judgment is a bit of a scary one. The Canadian gamer writes that he was robbed to the tune of about $25,000 when someone broke into his residence, swiping his Xbox 360, games and computer equipment, as well as the keys to his truck.

 

But it's the Points he's pissed about.

 

While his insurance covered the majority of the loss, the one thing he couldn't recover was the hundreds of dollars in Microsoft Points charged to his credit card, via the information stored on his Live account. Oddly enough, he says he was talked out of canceling his credit card (bad, bad idea) by a customer service rep at his card company, resulting in someone else enjoying the entirety of NHL 08's downloadable content.

 

Unfortunately for Clinton, Xbox Live customer service reps told him that "it can take up to 30 days to remove credit card information from your account, and up to 5 years for that information to be purged from Microsoft servers." Might not be a bad idea to see if you can wrest some of that control back in your direction, folks.

[JamesD]

There's a reason I don't give my credit card to pay services like XBOX Live.

I'll go to the store and buy some points.

[moycon]

Wow. I hope MS adds a dashboard update to fix this. All you would have to do is tie a password to the purchase button. Like say if you clicked that you wanted to buy the FULL version of Pac-Man, it would ask for a pin.

[Albert]

Ouch, that sucks. Yeah, they should definitely require a pin or something if your console has either been idle for a while or powered off since the last time you bought anything. The iTunes Music Store does this--it prompts you for your password anytime you make a purchase (of course, you could do some serious damage there with someone's account).

 

..Al

[dalton4life]

That really does suck, but 15,000 points breaks down to roughly $187.50. That doesn't qualify as "hundreds" of dollars unless the points cost more in Canada than they do in the US which I guess is possible. It's bad, but not as bad as the story makes it sound. You can thank MS in part for the whole intentionally confusing MS Points purchase system.

Edited March 15, 2008 by dalton4life

[Mendon]

*NOT* a flame against MS (or Nintendo), but Sony is really getting the online purchases right, in my opinion.

 

On the PS3, you can password your account so that only you can make purchases and the purchases are not connected to the serial number of your console, thus there is no DRM issue with replacement consoles.

 

Both MS and Nintendo need to really take a look at the way they handle online game and DLC purchases as neither are consumer friendly.

 

 

 

Mendon

[+HammR25]

you can make your credit card not work with the console immediately by going to your live account online and putting in bad address information and an incorrect expiration date.

Edited March 18, 2008 by HammR25

[JamesD]

you can make your credit card not work with the console immediately by going to your live account online and putting in bad address information and an incorrect expiration date.

Which pretty much defeats the purpose of putting your card number on the account in the first place.

I think I'll continue to buy points in a store.

[moycon]

you can make your credit card not work with the console immediately by going to your live account online and putting in bad address information and an incorrect expiration date.

 

Good information if this works.

 

I have a card tied to mine. (Too much trouble running to the store when I can get a couple thousand points in about 5 seconds) nice to know if I ever did get ripped off, I could make sure the card tied to my account wouldn't work. I still hope they add a pin to the purchases.

 

Which pretty much defeats the purpose of putting your card number on the account in the first place.

 

Not sure I follow this...You would be the only one who could do this.... Unless the thieves had the password to your Live account on Xbox.com. What purpose would it be defeating if you made it so the credit card tied to your 360 didn't work when a thief stole it?

Edited March 18, 2008 by moycon

[Atari5200]

That really does suck, but 15,000 points breaks down to roughly $187.50. That doesn't qualify as "hundreds" of dollars unless the points cost more in Canada than they do in the US which I guess is possible. It's bad, but not as bad as the story makes it sound. You can thank MS in part for the whole intentionally confusing MS Points purchase system.

 

exchange rate currently is $1.08 per US $1, so Canadian cost would have been $202.50. barely hundreds.

[+HammR25]

I intentionally have the wrong info in mine now since it contains no password. I did it mainly to stop me from doing impulse buys but I also thought of what might happen if someone stole my console.

 

It's rather easy to change it back if I really want to buy something.

[JamesD]

you can make your credit card not work with the console immediately by going to your live account online and putting in bad address information and an incorrect expiration date.

 

Good information if this works.

 

I have a card tied to mine. (Too much trouble running to the store when I can get a couple thousand points in about 5 seconds) nice to know if I ever did get ripped off, I could make sure the card tied to my account wouldn't work. I still hope they add a pin to the purchases.

 

Which pretty much defeats the purpose of putting your card number on the account in the first place.

 

Not sure I follow this...You would be the only one who could do this.... Unless the thieves had the password to your Live account on Xbox.com. What purpose would it be defeating if you made it so the credit card tied to your 360 didn't work when a thief stole it?

If Microsoft does address verification on credit card transactions you won't be able to buy points and you'd have to correct the address to do so.

[+HammR25]

They definitely have to check the card expiration date.

[moycon]

If Microsoft does address verification on credit card transactions you won't be able to buy points and you'd have to correct the address to do so.

 

Oh yes, I realize that, but all that would require is for you to log back into your account and change it. Not a huge deal.

[Hyper_Eye]

Wow. I hope MS adds a dashboard update to fix this. All you would have to do is tie a password to the purchase button. Like say if you clicked that you wanted to buy the FULL version of Pac-Man, it would ask for a pin.

 

They already provide the option to password protect your profile completely and they have had that ability since the very first day XBox Live released on the original XBox (I know because I have a day one account and I password protected it.)

[+Cobra Kai]

Buy points at retail. Problem solved. It's never been a secret that Xbox Live is unsecure as hell.

Edited March 18, 2008 by Gunstarhero

[moycon]

They already provide the option to password protect your profile completely and they have had that ability since the very first day XBox Live released on the original XBox (I know because I have a day one account and I password protected it.)

 

So you are saying when you log into your gamertag on your 360 you are prompted for a password and once logged in, when you purchase a game you are prompted for a pin or password before the purchase will begin? How do you do this?

Edited March 18, 2008 by moycon

[+HammR25]

I'm pretty sure the only way to do that is to type in your password every time you want to get on XBL. That's why I'd rather just have incorrect info until I need it.

[Atariboy]

You don't even need credit card information if you have a profile created on a Xbox 360 I believe, you can do everything through subscription and points card bought from anywhere that sells Xbox 360 hardware, games, and accessories.

 

I'm stuck having credit card information since I migrated a Xbox 1 account over so its active on both, and a valid CC was a requirement for Xbox Live on the original console.

[+HammR25]

Nope, it's not required, just convenient for impulse buying.