I figured the good folks at HBO might be able to provide some assistance with this one. To make a long story short, my XBL account (gamertag 'amaroq') was apparently hijacked by someone in Italy, apparently in early 2012. My 360 died with the red ring of death in the spring of 2011, and so that's the last time that I used it; starting in early 2012, I got a couple e-mails from Microsoft confirming purchases with my Microsoft points (which obviously I didn't make). Those e-mails (or possibly some other e-mails I got related to the account) were sent to an @something.it address and CC'ed to me, but I don't have any idea what the address was anymore. If you check the history of games played with my account, all of the activity since early 2011 is games that I don't own and haven't played (Black Ops, FIFA 13, Modern Warfare, GOW 3, etc.).

I didn't do anything about it at the time, and just cancelled my XBL Gold subscription. Now I'd like to play some Reach and Halo 4, and I'm finding that my account is pretty well hosed (it's no longer associated with my e-mail address so I can't access it). I spent a good 45 minutes chatting with XBL support, and the person I spoke with seemed to have a pretty good grasp of what I was asking and what had happened. XBL support escalated my case to some higher level of support (the "Customer Care Advocacy Team").

I got an e-mail back from them:

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Dear Brian,

My name is Val; I am with the Xbox Customer Care Advocacy Team. I would like to thank you for taking the time to contact us in regards to your unauthorized access claim.

I received your claim here at Xbox. I have thoroughly investigated your account and I am happy to report that I did not find any evidence of unauthorized access to your account. Also, after reviewing your billing history there was no evidence of fraudulent purchases.

The activity in question originated from the console that has been verified as your own.

We take your online security very seriously here at Xbox and we keep a record of all unauthorized access claims and their resolutions. During the investigation, I temporarily locked your account to protect it from any fraudulent activity. At this time your Xbox LIVE account has been unlocked and ready for use. I apologize for any inconvenience that may have caused.

I am happy to help resolve any problems with your Xbox LIVE account. If there are additional details that you think we should consider, please either reply to this email or call Xbox Support (800)-469-9269 and mention this Service Request Number: 1205415391. Please also see the helpful links below to assist you.

Thanks again for your understanding and patience while I investigated your account. We value you as customer and look forward to seeing you back on Xbox Live!

Sincerely,

Val

Xbox Customer Care Advocacy Team
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I responded to that e-mail with this one:

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Val,

Thank you for looking into this. Unfortunately, the problem does not appear to be resolved.

First of all, I'd just like to be sure that the problem was communicated properly to you -- this relates to the account with the gamertag "amaroq" which was previously associated with my Microsoft account under the e-mail address brian@mythica.org, and not the account with the gamertag "WaxierSpy327" which was created just recently during the process of attempting to recover the "amaroq" account.

I attempted to download my profile for the "amaroq" account just now and was still unable to do so. It appears to me that the "amaroq" account is still not associated with my Microsoft account, brian@mythica.org.

In case the following information was not communicated to you via my chat with XBL support, I will summarize: The account "amaroq" is my account and was previously associated with my Microsoft account, which is under the e-mail address brian@mythica.org. At some point during the past two years, it appears that someone else has taken control of this account as it is no longer associated with my e-mail address and the account lists games which I do not own and have never played. The account was an XBL Gold account until recently when I canceled the XBL Gold subscription after realizing that it appeared that someone else was using the account.

To address your response:

In your reply, you stated: "I have thoroughly investigated your account and I am happy to report that I did not find any evidence of unauthorized access to your account."

I can assure you that there was unauthorized access to my account. If you look at the history of games played under my account, you can see the last six games are: COD: Black Ops II, FIFA 13, Modern Warfare 3, Gears of War 3, Battlefield 3, and UNO, going back to February of 2012. None of these are games which I own or have ever played. Additionally, if you note the country for the account, it is currently listed as "Italy." I live in Wisconsin and can assure you that I have never lived in Italy and did not at any time enter my location as Italy.

The last time I used the account was roughly two years ago in April of 2011 to play Marathon: Durandal; around that time, my Xbox 360 console died with the "red ring of death," and it has not been used since then. For roughly a year and a half after that time, I did not own a working Xbox 360 or use my Xbox Live account -- as such, I did not play the games that were recorded as being played during that period of time.

Additionally, you stated: "Also, after reviewing your billing history there was no evidence of fraudulent purchases."

Although I did not think of it at the time I spoke with XBL support originally, I believe I had either 1,600 or 2,000 XBL points on my account at the time that my original Xbox 360 died. I remember receiving, perhaps a year ago, an e-mail stating that a purchase using my Xbox Live points had been made, and this was a purchase that I did not make. As such, my assumption is that a fraudulent purchase was made using my account at some point.

Finally, you stated: "The activity in question originated from the console that has been verified as your own."

This seems unlikely to me, as the Xbox 360 console that I currently own has never been able to successfully access my Xbox Live account, and my previous Xbox 360 console has not functioned for over two years now.

I would appreciate it if you would look into this issue further, as I am still unable to access my Xbox Live account and I still am unable to account for the activity that has occurred on the account during the time that I did not have a functioning Xbox 360.
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I just got a response back from Val -- it's literally exactly the same response that I got from him the first time. So, needless to say, not particularly useful. (I sent him back the same response I had sent the first time, since he was so considerate as to do the same.)

Anyone have any ideas? Am I just SOL? Or is there some way that it's possible for me to get my account back? Am I just going to have to suck it up and start a new account from scratch? I had purchased a ton of XBL games with the account and I'd really prefer not to have to re-purchase them.

Thanks all.