Phishing is a type of deception designed to steal your valuable personal data, such as credit card numbers, passwords, account data, or other information.  I’ve recently seen quite a few discussions going on about accounts being hijacked after a visit to a site that someone thought was an official Xbox site.  These sites often claim they’re offering free Microsoft Points or a variety of other free things but that’s not what they really are.  They are sites looking to gain your personal information including email address and passwords in order to access to your Xbox Live accounts.  They do this by mirroring other official sites to deceive and trick you.  They are not official.

Do not provide your information to any website that you are not sure about or that you can not verify.  Many of these sites are posted on message boards so I suggest you make sure to double check the links before clicking or to not click at all.  Don’t fall for the “free” temptation.  I know it seems like a no-brainer but people do fall for this stuff.  I’ve read far too many stories on accounts being hijacked after following what appeared to be an official Xbox site when in reality, it was a phishing site.

Recognizing Phishing Scams