Microsoft is giving refunds to the UK victims of a phishing scam that has affected a number of Xbox Live accounts. The Guardian reports that Microsoft claims to be working with the victims of the attacks which try to gain access to the credit card accounts of specific Xbox Live customers. In a statement, Microsoft said, " .... we are contacted by members regarding alleged unauthorized access to their accounts by outside individuals. We can confirm that only a small percentage of Xbox Live customers have been affected here in the UK."
The scam was covered by the UK tabloid newspaper The Sun earlier this week and was covered by Neowin previous to that report. The Sun story also implied that the Xbox Live service itself was the victim of a cyber attack but Microsoft immediately said that was not the case and that the Xbox Live service for the Xbox 360 console was still secure. Microsoft also said today that there is currently no evidence that any personal customer information was released or sold to other groups as a result of these phishing scams.
The Guardian claims that the source of the Xbox Live phishing scam comes from China or Russia, rather than well known hacker organizations such as Anonymous. Microsoft has said that less than a million of its Xbox Live users have been affected by this latest attempt to gain access to user accounts.
The source does not make it clear if Microsoft is refunding victims in only the UK or if they are refunding all victims of this phishing scam.