Thief steals gamer’s Xbox Live identity

As if cases of pedophiles targeting kids on online gaming services like Xbox Live were not enough, now a case of identity theft on Xbox Live has come to light in Conway, Arkansas. Jonathan Herbert, a 28-year-old Conway resident, had his Xbox Live identity stolen. He notified a local police officer about the identity theft on Wednesday (February 20, 2008).

The police officer sprang into action and, according to The Cabin article, found that someone else was using Herbert’s Live account to play Halo 3 while he was logged into his wife’s Xbox Live account. The stolen Xbox Live account also gave the thief access to Herbert’s two credit cards and sensitive bank information associated with the account.

There were three futile attempts to carry out illegal transactions using the credit cards and banking information by the identity thief. They couldn’t succeed as a vigilant Herbert had already alerted his bank and credit card companies. However, when he contacted the company that manages Xbox Live accounts, Passport.com, and requested for the IP address of the unscrupulous user of his account, the company refused to part with the IP address. The IP address could help the police zero in on the identity thief.

Read [The Cabin]