The use of a VPN is nothing surprising in this day and age, and there are all sorts of reasons why you might want to go down that route, but Xbox fans are being warned that it could lead to an indefinite ban if you do so.
This originates from the Xbox price comparison website Xbox-Now, which is displaying a warning on its front page that suggests to “not use a VPN at the moment because some people from our Discord were currently banned indefinitely for using VPN.”
A user known as ‘Rho’ also took to the Discord platform to explain the circumstances behind their ban:
This user is still banned at the time of writing, but they shared an update from another user who recently got their account reinstated, and Microsoft provided a detailed explanation behind it. According to Xbox’s support team, that particular ban was for “exploiting the differences in pricing” on the Xbox Store rather than anything specific to the VPN.
This account was suspended for the fraudulent acquisition or use of Xbox content. In this instance, your account was found to be purchasing content from out-of-region marketplaces, exploiting the differences in pricing between regions or countries that are not the region or country of the account.
As a sign of trust and good faith, we will be lifting the permanent account suspension and trust that this account, and other accounts and devices that you own do not participate in these types of fraudulent activity.
Despite this, Rho says they “want to stress” that the Xbox Community Standards “do not prohibit this practice” and that “the rule cited is essentially fabricated”, which is a key source of their frustration when it comes to these bans.
Looking at it from our side, we’d suggest two things here – the first is that Microsoft needs to make it as clear as possible what the rules are surrounding the use of VPNs for all Xbox users. The second is that if you are thinking of buying games from “out-of-region marketplaces”, the safe bet is just to avoid it entirely. You might save a little money in the long run, but the evidence clearly shows you’re risking a permanent ban from the Xbox team.
What do you make of all this? Let us know down in the comments section below.
