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Online Scam Targets Xbox Users

by Tim Stevens on September 13, 2007 at 09:21 AM

Online Scam Targets Xbox Users

Is there no place safe from hackers? According to Microsoft, scammers have taken their game to the Xbox Live online service. Users on Xbox forums have reported receiving questionable e-mails that were made to look as if they were sent from Microsoft Support. The e-mails attempt to trick people into updating their Xbox Live subscriptions with a credit card through a fake site that's an exact copy of Microsoft's Passport secure login page. This practice of tricking people into providing sensitive personal info is known as phishing, and is becoming increasingly common on the Internet -- though this is the first case we've seen of an online gaming service being used as the trap.

Here's an example of one of the fake e-mails:

Subject: Changes To Your Xbox Live Account

From: Xbox Support [support@passport.xbox.com]

Email body:

Dear Xbox Live User,

We have made many changes to everyone's Xbox Live account, and we would like you to check out the new features! You can check out the new features by click on the link below to login and check them out!

Please check out your new features to your Xbox Live account!

https://www.xbox.com/signin/

However, clicking on that link actually took you to a cloned site not run by Microsoft. Users were directed to enter in their Live usernames, passwords, and and also their credit card info. Once they clicked submit the info was in the hands of the phishers and who knows what they may be doing with it. Whatever it is, it won't be good.

So, add another entry to our list of top 5 e-mail scams, another example that you need to be careful of what you click on.

From Next-Generation

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Tags: Phishing, Scam, Xbox Live, XboxLive

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