One of my credit cards was compromised yesterday. With my wife, that now comes to three in the past year, and I view it as a way of life at this point, as I check my transactions online daily and can spot discrepancies quickly. Being on a graduate student salary, I don’t have much to lose!

The compromise was easy to spot, as I got confirmation emails from Microsoft thanking me for the purchase of an XBOX Live Gold Account, 10000 Microsoft Points (valued at $125), and two games. It seems that the thief not only had my credit card information, but my email address also, which isn’t surprising.

What is surprising is the clearly outsourced capability of Microsoft to deal with the matter. When I called Microsoft to inform them of this issue, the lady on the other end seemed incredulous that an account could be opened in my name that I didn’t open myself, and it took about 20 minutes to get the Gold Account canceled. She said I would have to dispute the charges with my bank, which I had already done in 3 minutes.

Not only that, but the culprit potentially may not be too bright, based on the email confirmation I received of the cancellation:

billyver

Billy Ver? Billy Ver? Facebook brings up a few options, but nothing worth pursuing.

I emailed Microsoft with all of this information (ticket number 1109336330), asking them to investigate. We’ll see what happens. Stay tuned.