Xbox CTO Links Permanent Japanese Account Bans To Fraudulent Codes
Xbox has confirmed that its own anti-fraud enforcement locked out paying Japanese users, which puts the burden of vetting code sellers on buyers the company has now told to stick to authorized retailers.
Reporting from 2 sources: GameBusiness.jp, Game Spark.
Scott Van Vliet, Xbox's CTO, posted on September 15 that Xbox support had acted over the weekend against accounts that redeemed fraudulent game codes, after Japanese users reported permanent suspensions on social media around September 12 to 13. The codes came from resellers, and some buyers redeemed them without knowing. Accounts judged to have been caught up unintentionally have been restored.
The suspensions drew reports across social media on September 12 and 13, and it took several days before Xbox addressed them publicly. Van Vliet's post says the support team acted on the Xbox Community Standards against accounts that had redeemed fraudulent game codes, and that the codes were bought through resellers. Some of those buyers did not know the codes were fraudulent.
The investigation restored the accounts judged to have been caught up unintentionally. Van Vliet did not disclose who sold the codes. His closing advice to users was to buy Xbox products, games, and codes from authorized retailers.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 2 cited sources below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.