Can a Ps4 be hacked? Please help!

[TreacleMoon123]

I got a text from my banking app yesterday to say there was unusual activity on my account. When I looked into it there was hundreds of euros spent in the playstation store over the past month.
I questioned my 10 Yr old ds about it and he swears blind that he didn't buy them. I believe him as it wouldn't be him at all.
The bank recommended that I speak to playstation.
Spoke to someone in playstation today who said that it looks like the transactions were made from our console. The person I spoke to was very unhelpful.
Is it possible that the console could have hacked?
Please help!

Did they say why they thought it was made from your console?

The most likely thing is that the PlayStation network account rather than the console has been compromised.

What would anyone have to gain from hacking in that way? PS4 get the money not a hacker, are your bank details stored on the account? Is it a game your DS plays? Are there any controls over making payments on the console?

It's possible for a card to be used for purchases as we had this from x box but they could see that the purchases were not made from our console. I suspect it was your 10 year old. You can check to see what transactions have been made from the PlayStation account.

You can check the purchases made from your child’s account.

Is your card stored on the console ?

Are email notifications of your son’s purchases sent to your email ?

Somebody with your card details can make purchases but they would install it on their console and not your son’s.

Delete your card details immediately and check your son’s purchases.

This happened to us.

It was my ds.

I’d check your son’s PlayStation account. Does anyone else have access to the console - friends or DH maybe??

It's your child.

Thanks all.
Will check purchase history when I get home.
It's strange, there was 4 transactions for 24.99 within 15 mins of each other on my banking app while we were eating dinner yesterday. His ps4 was on but he wasn't on it as he was eating dinner with me.

Yes when I said most likely, that was if it’s the case that it absolutely cannot be your DS, as in the purchases are from a game he doesn’t own or play.

What are the purchases?

If the transactions link to the IP address of the console then it is most likely your son, or someone else with physical access to the console, carried out the purchases.

Was that the transaction time or the when the transactions booked to your account?

After banking closed yesterday all of the transactions I made from Friday through to Monday were cleared on my account. Due to the bank holiday and shopping trips 20+ transactions were recorded at close of banking.

It's possible these transactions happened any time since Friday, if you mean were applied to your account not the actual transaction date.

You need to see if the purchases are in the PlayStation account on the console, or if they are just appearing on your banking.

It might be as simple as your card has been cloned / details stolen and is being used to buy virtual / in game currency that the cloner can then sell for cash / crypto.

Check your sons purchases on the console.

They don't always go through to banking app immediately.

We have had a couple of problems with ds

1. Lots of purchases - was ds, but it was his money and his bank account and he learned the lesson quickly how much lots of little amounts of money add up and he never did it again

2. Repeated purchases - was a fault, he kept trying to buy it and didn't receive it due to a fault, tried again over and over for the same thing and only received one. We quickly got a refund on the duplicates as they could see he only received one

You can have your account hacked in PlayStation Network as it happened to me. Someone tried to buy an iPhone! Luckily I only keep a card attached to the account with no money in it. It was not my son either. Never store your card details as they can always be accessed.

I would think it was DS. There can be a delay on purchases. Is it for a game he plays? Fortnite? Roblox?

I consulted the ‘tech experts’, ie my son and his mates. They all think it’s probably DS but did tell me about a TikTok hack which claims that if you tried to buy V bucks on Fortnite and then force quit the game it will give you the bucks but not take any money. This hack doesn’t work! Could something like that have happened?

Your son may think he is telling the truth when he says it’s not him but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t be mistaken. Sometimes purchases are not completely obvious, if settings have card details saved you might not have to put in any passwords for example and can buy something with a single click of the button. It might not be obvious to your DS that he is buying things that are charging you money, he might think that he is just getting in-game upgrades.

This happened to my husband’s account and PlayStation insisted it was a legitimate transaction even though a) the transactions originated in Khazakstahn b) they were for a game my husband had never played and c) my husband had DIED four days before the transactions were made. It was for almost £800 and took me weeks to sort out. In the end I had to do a chargeback through my bank who then took over the investigation for me and PlayStation eventually stopped pursuing it but said my husband wouldn’t be allowed to make any further accounts. To which I replied that’s fine, because he’s DEAD. Absolute bastards.

Anyway, if you log into the account there should be information about the origin of the transactions which will show what IP address they were made from.

What games does he play? 24.99 sounds suspiciously like a season pass for fortnite or a load of fc24 points 😬

People do complain on these games it's very easy to just click on something you like the look of without realising you are actually paying for it, so your son may think he was using free things when he was being charged.

Ok so most likely accidental purchases then.
Oh fuck it! 900e down the drain 😭

Put a password required for all purchases on as quickly as possible. Are there going to be any consequences for your son? That's a lot of 'mistakes' he made ...

Is the account set up to send you emails after every transaction?

Card is cancelled since yesterday so no longer an issue with further purchases.
There won't be a card attached to it again.

I would think your child has ended up buying things - even if it was accidental.