On Monday, our friend Deaconblade of Unscripted360.com posted a warning we should all take to heart.  The gist of it is, if anyone messages you on Xbox Live regarding getting free points, do not believe them. Short of them sending you the code so you can redeem the points yourself, you should never believe such offers.  Here are some important excerpts from Deaconblade’s post, who was recently just chosen to again represent Xbox as an Xbox MVP, so surely he knows what he’s talking about.

Do not offer any of your passwords, emails or any other sensitive information to anyone via Xbox LIVE!

Representatives from Microsoft and Xbox will never ask for this information via messages on Xbox LIVE.  I know it sounds good to get free points or have your gamerscore increased but don’t trust anyone (especially a stranger) to do this for you.  Keep your account information to yourself!

There are no websites or people who have magically discovered a way to give your account free Microsoft Points.  They can’t and won’t give you free points.  Instead they’ll use your credit card information stored on your account to make purchases and do other criminal things.  And again, Xbox LIVE and the team at Microsoft will never attempt to verify or obtain your personal information via messages on Xbox LIVE.  If you are victim to this, please contact Xbox Support as quickly as you can so that they can assist you in reclaiming your account.

I’ve personally also seen a friend have his account stolen by giving away his details to a website; luckily for him, he had no credit card information on the account.  The only thing he lost were the several hundred Microsoft Points he had sitting in his account. On a high note, he did manage to get his account back, but not without many hassles.  Beware, not everyone even gets their account back, nor should you ever count on this!

So again, to the Xbox community, please please please never give out your personal information, including emails, passwords, or any other sensitive detalis!