My Xbox account got hacked, and I finally got it back. The Tl;Dr version is that Microsoft customer support is very good, but when they say it will take up to 30 business days, they mean it. Total it took like 2 months to get my account back.
I don't know how it was hacked, but someone took over the account, and transfered my subscription and MS points to another account (total value ~$60). It's one of those frustrating situations where you would literally pay the person $80 NOT to do it. It's not the money, but the fact that you route your online life through one account and its a pain to re do everything.
The second frustration is that everything important is ancient. It's all routed through your Hotmail account, which you haven't touched since 1999. The passwords are from a bygone era. I think half of my passwords back then had to do with Party of 5 and RL Stine novels. The other problem is the "secret questions" that they use to identify you. They are equally dated, and by not knowing then YOU sound like the hacker, and then microsoft gets all suspicious of you. Also, half of them are publicly accesible, such as your mother's maiden name. This is how a string of celebrities recently all had their accounts hacked, its because all of their secret questions could be answered with a 2 second google search. Paris Hilton actually had the name of her dog as her secret question.
ID Theft makes you feel totally taken advantage of. It's mean. Anyway, I'm glad to have my account back, even though I'm on self imposed video game exile until finals are over. Safe gaming everyone!
2 comments:
how frustrating! and i never remember if, on joint accounts, which one of us answered the question--is it my grandmother's name or his? my old address or mascot or his first pet or fourth grade best friend? argh.
Ugh! That is the worst... Robbie just had to sort out some unauthorized charges on his credit card. What a pain... But you win, with all the hotmail drama. If my life depended on me knowing all the info about my 1998 hotmail account - I would be dead.
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