When Gaming Turns Into a Nightmare: My Experience with a Hacked Account

As a 41-year-old firefighter, I find solace in the immersive worlds of video games, even if I’m not a hardcore gamer. My gaming history includes several PlayStation and Xbox consoles, where I primarily enjoy narratively rich, offline titles like Skyrim, Fallout, and Red Dead Redemption 2. Recently, gaming has taken a turn for the worse, not just for me but for my 9-year-old son, who is just starting to discover his passion for video games.

The issue began when a hacker targeted my PlayStation Network (PSN) offline tag—a seemingly innocuous four-letter username I created years ago on PlayStation 2. This individual reached out, most likely thinking they could convince me to hand it over, but I ignored their attempts. In retaliation, they managed to steal my PSN account. While that in itself is frustrating, it didn’t stop there; they also gained access to my Gmail and Yahoo accounts.

With my email addresses compromised, I became a victim of harassment. The hacker was able to change my passwords and settings on various platforms, including Netflix and Spotify. Luckily, I’ve been able to confirm that my financial information remains secure, but that hasn’t prevented this malicious individual from messaging me frequently, inquiring if I’ve reconsidered paying a Bitcoin ransom for my emails.

In an effort to mitigate the chaos, I promptly contacted my financial institutions to secure my accounts. Interestingly, I found that the most effective way to reach a real person was to allow a payment to become delinquent; suddenly, I had their full attention! While the password resets and account recoveries were tedious, they weren’t insurmountable, until I got to the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live.

Together, these accounts house over $2,000 worth of digital content—games, subscription services, movies—none of which I can access because the hacker is still in control thanks to the stolen email addresses. Since I can’t change my passwords without the reset links being sent to the very person who stole my accounts, I feel hopelessly locked out of my own purchases.

Attempts to reach customer support at Microsoft, Sony, Google, and Yahoo have been an overwhelming disappointment. Despite Yahoo offering account recovery tools for a fee, authentic customer support remains elusive.

The whole experience has left me frustrated beyond belief and, worse, my son is heartbroken.