As I posted previously, my Playstation Network account was hacked in the wee hours of Saturday morning. Because my credit card info was unintentionally linked, they were able to not only empty the $10 or so that remained after previous purchases but were also able to steal $140 from my bank account to load the account with before emptying it out with purchases.
The customer support was great, as they created a service request and walked me through changing my password after 2 escalations. Due to it being a Saturday, they were unable to reimburse the bank transaction and I was given a service number and told to call back on Monday. In speaking to an extremely helpful gentleman yesterday, I am very happy with the customer service I’ve received as a result of the early morning drama.
Not only is my bank account getting credited, but they were easily able to trace the consoles involved. In seconds, Paul was able to see that our console was not used to load the PSN wallet or download any games, so he continued the investigation to track down the console that hacked my account.
It seems that one PSP was used to load the PSN wallet with funds from my bank account, and that multiple PSP’s then used my account info to download games. Not surprisingly, this was identified in moments, down to the serial numbers of the PSP’s. All those involved have been permanently banned from the PSNetwork.
Odd as it may sound, I find this swift shot of justice more enjoyable than the recovery of my funds. In a world where people routinely do harm to people just trying to get by in this difficult life, I have no problem when justice (or karma) gives them a swift knee to the groin.
So, to prove that you’re smarter than me by not becoming a victim:
- Don’t use your credit card to make purchases from the PSN Shop. Buy the PSN cards instead. I didn’t even know these existed, nor did I know that the transaction in February retained my credit card info. So my next suggestions is…
- Login to your account and delete any credit card info that is stored there. It’s quick and simple to do.
- While it’s still possible that your account will get hacked and any money that you loaded in your PSN wallet will be pilfered, if you do the previous step at least it won’t hit your bank account, too. The wallet reimbursement was much faster (moments) than the bank reimbursement will be (days). I have no reason to believe there will be an issue, but if there is you know I’ll post about it to help you avoid any other pitfalls I stumble across.
My last remaining hope? That they were PSP Go’s. They only way that content can be loaded onto those little darlings is via the PSN Store, which they are now banned from accessing. Now that would be heavenly.
*sigh*
***Edit***
Refund from Playstation Network was processed yesterday. I’m a happy panda. 🙂
2 replies on “Playstation Network Hack – Resolution”
So glad to hear you got swift justice and money back. I need to call Sony Tomorrow to get my account back and also my money. My account got hacked too D:
Wohuan,
You should definitely call and report the issue as soon as possible. It shortened the length of time I was on the phone with the money folks and they were able to walk me through making the necessary changes to re-secure my account. I highly recommend you do as we plan, by purchasing PSN cards for purchases, keeping our banking info out of there.
And yes, I had the money refunded in a few days. They processed it immediately, but the usual bank processing time is what made it take that long.
I’m really, really happy with how they handled it and with the shot of justice done to the people that hacked me. Best of luck to you on quick resolution and return to carefree gaming!