Origin accounts reportedly being accessed, stolen (update: EA denies 'intrusion')

Origin accounts are being stolen, according to Eurogamer and numerous victims of account hijacking who have taken to the Electronic Arts Forums.

Users report receiving emails from EA notifying them that their password, email address or both were "successfully updated," even though the users themselves hadn't requested any changes. The original account owners then found they were unable to access their accounts — in addition to changing the email or password, the thieves edited information that would usually be used to verify ownership, such as the user's birth date.

Origin support representatives appear to be dealing with account theft on a case-by-case basis, responding to individual users on the EA Forums, such as in a three-page thread with multiple Origin users reporting theft. EA has not yet released further details on the problems; It remains unclear whether the service was hacked, or whether these accounts were lifted through phishing or social engineering.

We've reached out to EA for more details, and will update this article with any information we receive.

Update: An EA representative sent Polygon the following statement via email: "Anytime a player has a question about the security of his or her account or personal data, we take it very seriously and take all possible steps to help. For any customer who cannot access their Origin account for any reason, we ask them to please contact Origin Help or EA's customer experience group at help.ea.com. The robust security measures in place to protect Origin users accounts are constantly being expanded and upgraded, and we also strongly recommend customers take the protective steps of using strong passwords and changing passwords often."

Update: We followed up to ask specifically if any accounts may have been compromised by hacking. EA put those concerns to rest for now, saying, "At this point, we have no reason to believe there has been any intrusion into our Origin database."