Buying games from foreign regions: Please read the FAQ in the first post

A handful of posts above yours, someone had a similar issue. See if they managed to get in touch with anyone.
Seriously? Thought it's quite rare, but what triggered that thought for me was that I made a purchase last weekend or the one before that. Do you remember around which date that person posted? just to get an idea how far to dig. Appreciate it! I'm now starting to think that all these gambles are just not worth the nerves. I saved 150 on 3 years of game pass only to lose it with other games anyway and maybe could've avoided this problem.
 
Seriously? Thought it's quite rare, but what triggered that thought for me was that I made a purchase last weekend or the one before that. Do you remember around which date that person posted? just to get an idea how far to dig. Appreciate it!
Just yesterday afternoon! Really a handful of posts up.
 
Much appreciated. Sorry, I see it's indeed not very far in the topic. Yes, a truly worrying sign and I'm afraid I'll refrain from any vpn/other region puurchases in future. I could still take advantage of xbox gold conversion to ultimate vis european gift cards luckily, but that would be as far as I would go now. In my case I lost a handful of games and a long-time used skype account. But the guy in other post lost a huge library and I don't believed he did anything other crazy with his account, so it must be a different issue here. Probably related to the game purchases after all. Just terrible.
 
Something I've noticed on my Microsoft Account Order History is any UK item I've redeemed that had a zero value, because it was a pre-paid code bought elsewhere, such as a UK game code or UK Gold sub code, they all show as 0.00 USD and not 0.00 GBP, despite my original/primary address and original Hotmail email being UK.
 
It "good" to know I am not the only one this has happened to

I dont know how I feel about starting over again with an account for each region - it seems like an abuse victim going back to their abuser

I googled the compliance lock issue & if I was downbeat before I am more so now

It also seems as if its ransomware (without the ransom request) with the perniciousness of Microsoft across your PC - everything seems to default to your locked account & trying to open emails & websites auto logs you in and you get the "compliance lock" message without any option to use another account - I'm pulling my hair out trying to do stuff on my PC & work laptop

I am sure its now to do with the VPN gifted games from Argentina that has messed up my account, it will be interesting to see how this develops over the next few weeks to see if this becomes more widespread
 
How recently have you been using the Argentina method?
I have been using this from the end of last year - gifted around 20 indie games (that I probably would have had access to via Gamepass - but I prefer to own the content, even though it's available to me on GP)
The last time was probably at the start of the month
 
I have been using this from the end of last year - gifted around 20 indie games (that I probably would have had access to via Gamepass - but I prefer to own the content, even though it's available to me on GP)
The last time was probably at the start of the month
Well fingers crossed you get it all sorted.
 
I have been using this from the end of last year - gifted around 20 indie games (that I probably would have had access to via Gamepass - but I prefer to own the content, even though it's available to me on GP)
The last time was probably at the start of the month
I'm pretty sure some people have been doing this for months/years, it would be odd to go after you for 20 games.
Still haven't managed to reach anyone at support?
 
Well fingers crossed you get it all sorted.
I am not hopeful - everything is so automated and email based that trying to speak to anyone these days is nigh on impossible & if you do, they have very limited access & will basically tell you to fill in the same forms that you have already done

I'm even tempted to try Watchdog or send Phil Spencer an (actual) letter about losing a loyal XBox gamer of 20 years
 
I bought the codes and activated last time about a week ago. 6-7 April or so.
Have you tried the contact methods I posted yesterday to the other member? Surely one of you can go through to someone.
 
I'm pretty sure some people have been doing this for months/years, it would be odd to go after you for 20 games.
Still haven't managed to reach anyone at support?
Some of the links I had already tried & I am not on Twitter - but will look into this at the weekend

The telephone helpline these days is hopeless as it basically tells you that you have to go online to get support, which then requires you to login, which I am unable to do !! Grrrrrr......
 
You mention Gifted games, is that you pay for someone to gift you a game ?
Potentially this could of been done via Stolen Cards and the reason for the Lock.
Hasn't VPN always been against the T&C's also ?

I jumped off the Foreign Train once VPN was needed.
 
The only way I have had success getting to speak to someone is to go to billing options & then select an unrecognised charge on your account & request a callback BUT they have very limited access & will tell you to fill the form in again - the call centre is not in the UK and you will get a very scripted conversation
Most other options will not give you the choice of a call or a chat, but refer you to their forums for advice!!
The compliance lock form states that most call handlers do not have access to this route of enquiry
 
Have you tried the contact methods I posted yesterday to the other member? Surely one of you can go through to someone.
I spent a few hours with several agents. None of those groups have any access to unlock account even at managerial level with that compliance overdrive. The compliance group can't be reached by phone even by the MS workers themselves and the support team also doesn't get any other reason from them other than email bout violation of agreement. So it's all pretty much kept behind the closed walls.
 
You mention Gifted games, is that you pay for someone to gift you a game ?
Potentially this could of been done via Stolen Cards and the reason for the Lock.
Hasn't VPN always been against the T&C's also ?

I jumped off the Foreign Train once VPN was needed.
Good point about stolen CC

Also I would guess they know who has gifted the game & it would be easy to trackback other people they have gifted to or sold on ebay, etc

I agree, in hindsight I really should have used a "burner" account for the gifted games to protect my main account especially as a VPN was needed

Going through the Microsoft help pages, if you follow enough links, there is even help telling you how to change regions when you move abroad !!
 
Good point about stolen CC

Also I would guess they know who has gifted the game & it would be easy to trackback other people they have gifted to or sold on ebay, etc

I agree, in hindsight I really should have used a "burner" account for the gifted games to protect my main account especially as a VPN was needed

Going through the Microsoft help pages, if you follow enough links, there is even help telling you how to change regions when you move abroad !!
I think it has lees to do with code activation itself, but more with the region scam. So as long as you activate a code without VPN and your region - that all should be fine. But regions and VPNs are much more traceable and suspicious. Especially for AI tracing.
 
What is galling is that in a court of law you would at least know what the charges against you are & would be able to mount a defence - here you can lose (15) years of your (gaming) life and huge sums of money without any recourse, at the whim of one person and not know why
I reckon I have lost at least £50k worth of games & DLC (and I am sure it is much much higher....); I realise it is an obscene amount to have spent on games over 15 years, especially when I look at what I now have to show for it
The solace I have is that it may be a wakeup call that there is life outside of videogames, although I am still deeply upset and down about the whole situation
 
Reddit is always a good place to check as well.

 
So this happened to a friend of mine maybe 6 months ago - he did get his account back
i did some research into this at the time, a lot of forums/reddit and the like

i know @alasdair said it, but im not sure if @Lexkalin confirmed it.

in the majority of these "sudden bans" they are all accounts that use msn/live email accounts, i didnt find too many people that didnt have (at)hotmail/msn/live or other primary microsoft domains included.

my friend did get his account back, and microsoft seemed to insinuate at the time that it wasnt a"xbox" TOS that had been breached.

ive not looked at it for months, but i would ask people elsewhere if they are registed using a MS domain
 
So this happened to a friend of mine maybe 6 months ago - he did get his account back
i did some research into this at the time, a lot of forums/reddit and the like

i know @alasdair said it, but im not sure if @Lexkalin confirmed it.

in the majority of these "sudden bans" they are all accounts that use msn/live email accounts, i didnt find too many people that didnt have (at)hotmail/msn/live or other primary microsoft domains included.

my friend did get his account back, and microsoft seemed to insinuate at the time that it wasnt a"xbox" TOS that had been breached.

ive not looked at it for months, but i would ask people elsewhere if they are registed using a MS domain
My MS account had gmail address.
 
So this happened to a friend of mine maybe 6 months ago - he did get his account back
i did some research into this at the time, a lot of forums/reddit and the like

i know @alasdair said it, but im not sure if @Lexkalin confirmed it.

in the majority of these "sudden bans" they are all accounts that use msn/live email accounts, i didnt find too many people that didnt have (at)hotmail/msn/live or other primary microsoft domains included.

my friend did get his account back, and microsoft seemed to insinuate at the time that it wasnt a"xbox" TOS that had been breached.

ive not looked at it for months, but i would ask people elsewhere if they are registed using a MS domain
My gamertag is linked to a msn.com account
 
My MS account had gmail address.
Oh so yours could actually be a Xbox ban, damn. How many games have you bought, say in the last 6 months? Was it just pre-paid codes for games or did you buy credit?
Same for @alasdair actually, were you buying credit at all, or just game codes/gifts?
 

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