Good morning Cag I thought I would share with my fellow gamers an ongoing issue with M$ that was reignited last tuesday May 24. Before you begin reading let me preface this by saying I have made a career out of internet security being employed as a internet security specialist so read this and assume I know how to protect passwords and guard against scams.
Way back on march 7 my xbox live account was compromised and 6000 m$ points were purchased using my debit card. I noticed right away day of, and issued a stop from my bank, and promptly contacted microsoft's customer support line at 1-800 4my Xbox.
I was lead to a "specialist" who told me the money could not be refunded, unless it was fraud, and all sales were final, if it was indeed fraud I would need to contact my bank and local law enforcement, and also suspend my account while microsoft's fraud department "investigates" the problem. On March 9 a refund was credited to my bank account.
The accounts suspension was lifted, and although I was told frequently that the fraud department would contact me by email I have never once received an email from them, but I got my money back so I thought all was well until....
March 26
It happened again this time my account was migrated away from my own xbox the only thing that was still linked to my account was paypal, this was also after changing my password. I called again talked to a person that said they would have to suspend my account and to file a fraud report with paypal and wait till this issue is solved.
I noticed that there was an account license transfer and that all of my xbla games were transferred to a new xbox, and on the microsoft billing site Aliens vs predator was purchased from games on demand, and a ton of borderlands DLC, I informed m$ support about this immediately they said it would help.
Now paypal blocks all microsoft transactions nothing is linked to my account and the password gets changed every 2 weeks, plus I have a completely different email linked to the account.
Paypal emailed me after 10 days and informed me that they could not get a response from microsoft regarding the fraud, after 10 days of trying to contact them. so paypal refunded my money. My account was still suspended,
On April 8 I called Xbox customer support to get my xbox live account reinstated, they told me the fraud allegation had not been investigated yet, despite filing it months ago, they said it looked like that the last 4 people I talked to did not file the fraud claim correctly and that they could do it for me but it would be another 7-10 business days. myself sick of talking to them I said no, paypals blocking purchases, no cash card is linked to my account my password changes every few days, I just want to be able to play on live again.
I was put on hold, for about 45 minutes, I talked to a "specialist" who promptly lifted the suspension and apologized for the horrible service I received so far. I thought everything was fine.
On May 24, I woke up turned on my xbox popped portal 2 in to finally play coop online with my buddy, I got a message saying that my account was suspended due to a problem with your payment option. I knew this was wrong as I bought a 1 year card and redeemed it on my birthday back in February.
I called the M$ support line the customer service rep told me my account was suspended because the fraud department was looking into my claim from 3 MONTHS AGO!, and that it would be 7-10 business days before they knew what was going on. I proceeded to give the guy all the information from the fraudulent transactions from 3 months ago, from when my account was migrated someplace else the person bought Aliens vs Predator from games on demand, a ton of Borderlands DLC, and transferred the account licenses from all of my xbla games to there xbox.
I then gave him the xbox serial # and the console id # to all of the consoles I own (4) and pointed out the unrecognized number from the license transfer page that I saw months ago they said all this information was good and would help.
I called them today, May 31 they told me its still being investigated, and that the fraud department will contact me through email,
The wait continues. at least PSN is back up now, and i just rediscovered my love of steam. Has any Cag ever dealt with microsoft in this manner? were you contacted by there fraud department? Feel free to comment I will post again on friday when I call again because no doubt Fraud will not email me.
Way back on march 7 my xbox live account was compromised and 6000 m$ points were purchased using my debit card. I noticed right away day of, and issued a stop from my bank, and promptly contacted microsoft's customer support line at 1-800 4my Xbox.
I was lead to a "specialist" who told me the money could not be refunded, unless it was fraud, and all sales were final, if it was indeed fraud I would need to contact my bank and local law enforcement, and also suspend my account while microsoft's fraud department "investigates" the problem. On March 9 a refund was credited to my bank account.
The accounts suspension was lifted, and although I was told frequently that the fraud department would contact me by email I have never once received an email from them, but I got my money back so I thought all was well until....
March 26
It happened again this time my account was migrated away from my own xbox the only thing that was still linked to my account was paypal, this was also after changing my password. I called again talked to a person that said they would have to suspend my account and to file a fraud report with paypal and wait till this issue is solved.
I noticed that there was an account license transfer and that all of my xbla games were transferred to a new xbox, and on the microsoft billing site Aliens vs predator was purchased from games on demand, and a ton of borderlands DLC, I informed m$ support about this immediately they said it would help.
Now paypal blocks all microsoft transactions nothing is linked to my account and the password gets changed every 2 weeks, plus I have a completely different email linked to the account.
Paypal emailed me after 10 days and informed me that they could not get a response from microsoft regarding the fraud, after 10 days of trying to contact them. so paypal refunded my money. My account was still suspended,
On April 8 I called Xbox customer support to get my xbox live account reinstated, they told me the fraud allegation had not been investigated yet, despite filing it months ago, they said it looked like that the last 4 people I talked to did not file the fraud claim correctly and that they could do it for me but it would be another 7-10 business days. myself sick of talking to them I said no, paypals blocking purchases, no cash card is linked to my account my password changes every few days, I just want to be able to play on live again.
I was put on hold, for about 45 minutes, I talked to a "specialist" who promptly lifted the suspension and apologized for the horrible service I received so far. I thought everything was fine.
On May 24, I woke up turned on my xbox popped portal 2 in to finally play coop online with my buddy, I got a message saying that my account was suspended due to a problem with your payment option. I knew this was wrong as I bought a 1 year card and redeemed it on my birthday back in February.
I called the M$ support line the customer service rep told me my account was suspended because the fraud department was looking into my claim from 3 MONTHS AGO!, and that it would be 7-10 business days before they knew what was going on. I proceeded to give the guy all the information from the fraudulent transactions from 3 months ago, from when my account was migrated someplace else the person bought Aliens vs Predator from games on demand, a ton of Borderlands DLC, and transferred the account licenses from all of my xbla games to there xbox.
I then gave him the xbox serial # and the console id # to all of the consoles I own (4) and pointed out the unrecognized number from the license transfer page that I saw months ago they said all this information was good and would help.
I called them today, May 31 they told me its still being investigated, and that the fraud department will contact me through email,
The wait continues. at least PSN is back up now, and i just rediscovered my love of steam. Has any Cag ever dealt with microsoft in this manner? were you contacted by there fraud department? Feel free to comment I will post again on friday when I call again because no doubt Fraud will not email me.
