My EA Origin account hacked, twice in 2 months

So my EA Origin account has been hacked now for the 2nd time in 2 months.

The first time (last December) I'll admit my password was not the strongest :o. After that I changed it and added SMS authentication for each login.

Now I've been hacked again. No SMS received from Origin and all that I received was 2 emails to my GMail account to reset my password. I have SMS authentication on my GMail too so I don't know how they managed to execute the verification process which would have normally required access to my email! :wtf:

How are they managing to circumvent these security measures? :confused:

Magic, however I would suggest changing all your passwords

What AV are you using? And make sure the you have no Trojans or bots on your PC. I have never had my account hacked og and did you perhaps receive a link from a chat sometime in origin that you clicked on?

I've had mine hacked! Bought things on my account, I had to cancel my cards and EA reversed the charges. Though it has only happened once, I no longer let Origin save my password and it's still got the old CC details.
#FuckEA

Using Avast 2014, the free version. Gonna upgrade to 2015 now, also free version.

Nope, I never clicked on any chat windows from Origin.

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Originally Posted by BeoTeK

I've had mine hacked! Bought things on my account, I had to cancel my cards and EA reversed the charges. Though it has only happened once, I no longer let Origin save my password and it's still got the old CC details.
#FuckEA

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Yeah, the first time some Russian (i assume) bought the Russian version of Fifa15. There was no easy way to contact EA and they became effectively unreachable as it was 2 days before Xmas. In the end I requested a refund for the game and that was that. Card was also cancelled and the original transaction blocked. What a hassle!

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Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

Yeah, the first time some Russian (i assume) bought the Russian version of Fifa15. There was no easy way to contact EA and they became effectively unreachable as it was 2 days before Xmas. In the end I requested a refund for the game and that was that. Card was also cancelled and the original transaction blocked. What a hassle!

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There was a mass hack of Origin passwords a couple months back, mainly by russian hackers. Hence the Fifa 14 russian version.

Thanks The_Imp! So that's likely the reason for the first account breach. This second breach is very perplexing as I have SMS authentication on...

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Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

Thanks The_Imp! So that's likely the reason for the first account breach. This second breach is very perplexing as I have SMS authentication on...

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No problem :) You didn't use the same password on your Gmail and your Origin account, did you?

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Originally Posted by The_Imp_ZA

No problem :) You didn't use the same password on your Gmail and your Origin account, did you?

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Nope, they are very different! In any event, from now on I'll only trust EA Origin as far as I can throw them.

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Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

Nope, they are very different! In any event, from now on I'll only trust EA Origin as far as I can throw them.

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Happens to everyone, brother ;) Hell, just look at Playstation. :p

Strangely only certain Origin accounts were affected. Luckily, I wasn't.

I had a similar occurence a few years ago where my steam account was hacked, as well as email addy.
Turns out it was a bot, no idea how my pc became part of a botnetwork. But I had to format just to be safe it's removed.

well the chances are good u got something dodgy running on ur machine, no doubt from the legit software u own and the "education" videos u watch ;-)

Download something like the Kaspersky offline scanner, head into safe mode and see what nefarious hitchhikers are freeloading off ur machine.

change all your passwords and do a scan on your PC for a keylogger or just get generated last pass passwords.

How do you guys rate Avast? They currently have a special on for R99 for a 1 year subscription to their 2015 edition. I've been using their free 2014 edition up till now.

I'm going to create a USB Rescue disk now and then do an offline scan.

Btw, needless to say, EA has not bothered to call or email me...

It's EA. They do some really funny stuff with their security.

My favorite so far is that they allow you to create an account with a password containing special characters...but not log on with it. You just get some generic error...

Will trying to wrap my head around that one...

Got hold of them on chat. It was like talking to some kind of bot. What an exercise in futility!

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<snip>
you: I did already reset my password. I want to know how the "hackers" are getting past the SMS authentication.
<snip>
**Anisha: Any body can try to hack the account.
Anisha: But he will always fail in that for sure..
you: I had SMS authentication and they bypassed it. How is this possible? Did the Russian hackers come to South Africa and access my cell phone without me seeing them?
Anisha: Not at all.
Anisha: Your account is safe.
Anisha: Try to keep an eye on your accounts on regular basis.
Anisha: No body can breach your account.
you: OK, fine, thank you.
Anisha: Alright.
Anisha: It was my pleasure to help you out today.
Anisha: Is there anything else I may assist you with today?
you: No, it's fine, dont worry.
Anisha: Thank you.
Anisha: I know you have trying very diligently to get this issue sorted out. I really appreciate your co-operation. As a token of gratitude, please allow me to offer you a Discount code that can be used to purchase EA Games online on Origin.
you: OK.
<snip>
Anisha: It was really nice experience to have chat with you.
Anisha: Wish you all the luck and the best wishes for future.
you: Thank you.
Anisha: Thank you for contacting EA and chatting with me. I do appreciate your time and have a great day!
Anisha: Pleasure is all mine!
you: Thanks, you too, goodbye.
Anisha: Bye!
Anisha: Take care!
Anisha: Have a wonderful day!
Anisha: Enjoy Gaming *smiles*
Anisha: Are we connected?
Anisha: It seems that you are away from your keyboard. Since I have not heard anything from you, I need to end the chat session. Please feel free to contact us again.We will b glad to help you.
you: Thank you goodbye!
Anisha: Bye!
Anisha: If there is nothing left then please disconnect the chat.

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**Not his/her real name :)

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Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

Got hold of them on chat. It was like talking to some kind of bot. What an exercise in futility!



**Not his/her real name :)

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No, not a bot, I see similar robot like responses dealing with outsourcing firms based in India. It's like a list of canned responses that they have to follow, no deviation, no acknowledgement of anything, just spew whatever is on the list until the issue is resolved or the person disconnects.

Yip, I know not a bot, which is why I said like a bot :p

Though she did have me wondering about her being human and/or a potential hacker that hijacked the session :D She asked me for my email and I refused to give it... lol.

They might as well be bots, there is a definite lack of a human touch there. No thinking, they just don't get paid to think. Deviate from the script and you get fired/warned.

Looks to be a common problem with the hacking and with the "intelligent" help received from EA.

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http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/2350793
Umthinkin$%# posted 2014-Dec-22, 8:56 pm

Hello all. My Origin account got hacked 2 days ago. I found out by opening my email account up to check for mail and saw a reciept for a purchase of FIFA 15 purchased with my credit card through Origin. I then opened up Origin and found no new game in there ready to download (in case my kids had accidentally bought it).
So I then made contact with EA through thier "Help"(uses term loosely) livechat feature. They were helpful though as I ran through what I thought had happened.
They agreed to refund the money.
So I thought 'this is great all solved'. Oh how wrong, as yesterday they have permanently banned my account!.
I get back on to the livechat help and they advise me that they cant fix it as all bans are dealt with by the accounts section who are contactable only through email. But it will only take around say 10 to 15 days time to get back to me.
So this is where I am, stuck without BF4 for the whole christmas holiday period. (My gaming name is Cruelass for all Sydney 24/7 regulars). Hope to be back on when this is all sorted out.
Has anyone else had this happen lately and what was the result?
<snip>

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Strange, I've only had good experiences with EA support. Never had any bot like conversations...

Valve on the other hand. :wtf:

Did an offline scan on my OS partition by booting off a Kaspersky Rescue Disk. No viruses, trojans, etc... found. So it remains a mystery how the 'hackers' managed to reset and change my password without access to my email. I changed my password on my GMail and I then had to proceed to re-login to each and every device using a different SMS authentication code each time. What a pain!! But it demonstrates that it must have been some sort of inside hack that they used to change my EA Origin password?

[MENTION=725]StrontiumDog[/MENTION]

Very strange. Ag well, at least it's over now (hopefully). :p

So I just logged into Origin and got told my account is logged in elsewhere. This is weird as I only have it installed on one PC, and nowhere else. I changed my password just to be safe and checked that mobile authentication is enabled (it was).

I figured it must have gotten confused somehow after PC rebooted from load shedding, thinking it was still logged into a different IP? Anyway, not taking chances...

I don't have mobile verification and have not been hacked. Can that perhaps be the cause?

Same thing happened to me a few weeks ago, and then again today. Had to reset password, the whole thing.

What fun.

edit: According to the dude (it's always an Indian guy) I spoke to, apparently it's not a hack at all, but some sort of "technical error" which they are apparently "aware of and trying to fix".

Cool story bro, still just want to be able to play games without having to change my password every time the wind changes direction...

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Originally Posted by Kimitar

Same thing happened to me a few weeks ago, and then again today. Had to reset password, the whole thing.

What fun.

edit: According to the dude (it's always an Indian guy) I spoke to, apparently it's not a hack at all, but some sort of "technical error" which they are apparently "aware of and trying to fix".

Cool story bro, still just want to be able to play games without having to change my password every time the wind changes direction...

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Well make sure its a technical error. Cause if u have had to change ur password again, chances are there is spy/malware riding ur machine...