Can Microsoft close down a Xbox Live gold membership?

[Leo_A]

For issues besides abuse (Cheating, modding consoles, being offensive to other players, etc.)?

I recieved this email today stating:

Dear LeoAmes17:

What's worse than wanting to play with friends and they're not online? Not being able to play anyone.

Your credit card will expire on 2007-08-01. Update it now so you can continue playing on Xbox LIVE® and getting early access to game content. You can do it online at our secure billing site. Go update now.

If you have any questions about billing and your Xbox LIVE membership, please visit our Customer Support on Xbox.com.

Game on!
The Xbox LIVE Team


But I've never even used a credit card in Xbox Live besides years ago on the original Xbox for the PGR2 booster packs, I've used Xbox Live points cards for buying content and subscription cards. I have over 6 months left on a 12 month card I bought several months ago.

I don't even have a credit card anymore due to not really needing one and I'm putting enough things on credit as it is trying to pay for my last semester of college. Is there anything I can do short of getting a new credit card just so they have a active one listed in my account?

[smork]

Are you sure its not a phishing email? It's easy enough to get someone's email from their gamertag. It could be a new id theft scam, give up your credit card or no gaming online!

I'd be sure to call the MS customer support line and ask them. Sounds fishy to me.

[diskoboy]

Yeah - that's a phishing attempt.

Just delete it.

[youruglyclone]

actually with the original xbl wasn't it required that you put a CC into your account info?

did you by any chance upgrade your old live to a gold account when you bought the 360 (aka moved your gamertag from old xbl to xbl gold?)

cause that's the reason why you got that e-mail

I know I got something like that a while back when my cc was expiring.

[exit]

The line "Go update now." is a dead giveaway of a phish, most companies are polite when they demand you to do things.

[Leo_A]

Yeah, actually that's exactly what I did because I wanted to maintain Live on both systems.

So basically my best bet is to contact Microsoft support, or get a new credit card and update my information on my console or xboxlive.com (Being sure not to do it by clicking on anything in this email)?

[diskoboy]

Yeah, actually that's exactly what I did because I wanted to maintain Live on both systems.

So basically my best bet is to contact Microsoft support, or get a new credit card and update my information on my console or xboxlive.com (Being sure not to do it by clicking on anything in this email)?

Trust me - it's a phish.

You can check your membership status straight from your 360. It will tell you exactly how much is left on your account. And I got a message in my 360's message box, a few days before my first year of live expired. Nobody's figured out how to phish that, yet..

[Leo_A]

Seems possible, I joined MyGamerCard.net and the leaderboard there for the AVS forums the day before I got this email...

Makes me glad I took their advice and used a different password than my XboxLive account one.

Perhaps someone used my information off there.

Plus the wording of this email just immediately ticks you off after reading it (At least it did for me). I certainly wouldn't word something the way they did if I wanted to keep a customer.

I think I might just might make sure this is solved though by borrowing cc information from my parents for my information so theres a valid card tied to my account just in case (Doing this through the console itself to be safe, certainly not through the links in this email they sent) since I don't plan to be buying anything by charging on there anyways.

Thanks for the help everyone.