Microsoft moves court as several Xbox accounts hacked

Microsoft has filed a complaint in a federal court saying that, since 2015, a Chinese gaming website has been hacking Xbox accounts and selling the proceeds in the open market.

According to a report in The Verge on Monday, Chinese website iGSKY -- that presents itself as a gaming service company -- is offering players a way to pay for in-game credits and rare items but many of those credits were coming from someone else's wallet.

The Microsoft complaint alleges the company made nearly $2 million in purchases through hacked accounts and their associated credit cards, using purchases as a way to launder the resulting cash.

The site is offering cheap in-game points for the FIFA games, Forza Horizon 3, Grand Theft Auto V, and Pokemon Go, among others.

"Microsoft is committed to providing customers with safe and secure online experiences. We filed these lawsuits to protect our Xbox customers from the illegal trafficking of stolen property," a company spokesperson was quoted as saying.

The report said that Microsoft's in-house fraud investigators began looking at the site in December, making a number of purchases on iGSKY to build the case.

iGSKY delivered the credentials to Microsoft's investigations team in an email, along with instructions to spend the points as soon as possible.

"Shortly after that, the original owner of the account contacted Xbox customer support, complaining that he had been locked out of his account and unauthorised purchases had been made," the report noted.

Based on that evidence, Microsoft has brought charges of fraud.

--IANS

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