The Xbox Live Rewards program has been set up by Microsoft to give Xbox 360 owners a way to get extra Microsoft Points if you do things like renew your Xbox Live Gold membership or take part in special promotions. However on Thursday night, some Xbox 360 owners discovered that the Xbox Live Rewards system gave them some extra points that they had not earned. As reported by Computer and Video Games, thousands of Microsoft Points were delivered via a glitch in the system. The origin of the glitch has yet to be revealed.

Some Xbox 360 owners reportedly went ahead and spent their extra Microsoft Points. Others did the right thing and contacted Microsoft's Xbox customer service on fears that their credit cards might have been hacked. The official Twitter page for Xbox Support gave some contradictory info on whether or not people who spend those Microsoft Points would have those purchases recalled. However, Microsoft is now telling those who already spent the extra points that they will get to keep their items, only the points that haven't been spent yet have been recalled.

As we mentioned the Xbox Live Rewards program is designed to give active Xbox 360 owners some extra incentives for their activities. For example, people who renew their Xbox Live Gold membership for a full year will receive 200 Microsoft points, with lower amounts given out to people who renew for a shorter amount of time.