Feldon 
NOTE: This article is NOT about Sony Online Entertainment or EverQuest II.
NOTE: Sony has NOT been hacked. This is an EA problem and 2 years ago, the same issue affected EA games on Xbox Live.
So I don’t know how many EQ2Wire readers also play EA’s FIFA Football (Soccer) games, but you might have a friend or family member that does. Apparently EA’s FIFA Football has lots of stuff you can buy in their in-game shop. So much so, that it has become lucrative to snatch funds from other people’s PSN accounts and buy or gift FIFA subscriptions and in-game items.
Nobody (including Sony) is sure exactly how these fraudulent charges are occurring, but here’s what we do know:
- Someone is gaining access to other people’s PSN accounts for approximately 1-2 minutes.
- In that brief window, they are able to trigger up to three $50 “fund” actions, such that PSN withdraws $50, $100, or even $150 from the credit or debit card associated with your PSN account and puts it into your PSN wallet.
- Said person then buys in-game FIFA subscriptions and items.
- Finally, that person removes the credit card info from your account and changes the password.
What Should PSN Customers Do?
If you have a PSN account (this does not apply to EQ2 or SOE!!!), then I suggest you:
DO:
- Remove all credit card / debit card information from your PSN account and pay with game cards instead.
- Change your PSN login/password to one not shared with other sites/service.
- Make sure your bank sends you daily notification e-mails of all transactions. Your bank doesn’t offer this feature? Switch to a bank that’s not living in the stone age!
- Encourage Sony to DISABLE EA game account funding in-game until EA fixes their shoddy code.
- If this happens to you, contact Sony immediately and firmly request a refund to your Debit/Credit Card not to your PSN Wallet.
DON’T:
- Cancel your credit or debit card. Hackers are not accessing credit card info. They are just triggering “fund” activities to your PSN account from your default billing source.
- Initiate a Chargeback with your bank if this happens to you. Sony will permanently ban your PSN account if you do this!
- Let Sony convince you that this is somehow your fault or that you did not secure your account. This is a widespread problem that occurred on Xbox Live ~2 years ago with the same thing — EA games fraudulently taking people’s money.
- Blame Sony or say “Sony got hacked again”. That’s just ignorance.
You should do this with *ANY* online activity, to be honest. If there is a “game or gift card available, use it” I shop on Amazon all the time, but before I buy I go to the store and buy a gift card to make my purchases. If I need to use a credit card, I will load funds on to a green dot or PayPal account that is not connected to my bank account/credit card.
Sure it’s a little bit of a hassle, but after being burned once, trust me it’s much harder getting your money back or credit fixed.
This just happened to me and I immediately canceled my debit card in a panic. Wonder if I should bother calling sony or not at this point I have already filed a fraud claim.
If you don’t want to be permabanned and close your PSN account permanently, then yes, I would contact Sony.