Your gaming account has been hacked — what to do now

The immediate steps to recover a compromised PSN, Xbox, Nintendo or Steam account.

Updated Sep 25, 2026

Act quickly and in this order. The first hour matters more than anything you do afterwards.

Immediately

1. Change the password if you can still sign in. Use a password you have never used anywhere else.

2. Turn on two-step verification. This is the step that actually stops it happening again, and it is the one most people skip.

3. Sign out all other devices. Every platform has this option in account settings. Changing the password alone does not always kick out an active session.

4. Remove saved payment methods before anything else can be bought with them.

5. Check the registered email and phone. Attackers change these first so recovery emails go to them. If they were changed, you need the platform''s recovery process, not the normal reset.

Use the platform''s official account recovery, not a password reset. Have ready: the original email address, the approximate creation date, past purchase receipts, and any console serial number associated with the account. Proof of purchase genuinely speeds this up.

Only the platform can recover an account. No retailer can, including us. Anyone offering to recover your account for a fee is a second scam.

Report unauthorised purchases

Contact the platform''s support and report them as unauthorised, then your bank if real money left your card. The sooner this is reported, the better the outcome tends to be.

How it usually happens

Very rarely by anyone breaking into the platform. Almost always one of these:

Sharing login details in exchange for free currency, skins or a "cheap top-up". This is the most common route by far.
Reusing a password that leaked from another site.
A fake login page sent by message or posted in a game chat.
Buying a shared or cheap account — where the original owner keeps the recovery email and takes it back later.