It's been widely reported that over the last couple of weeks a unusually high volume of Xbox live users, said to be playing pirated games on modded consoles, have been banned from accessing the service.

The complaints of Xbox live users who've had their accounts banned have appeared in Xbox forums around the net making enough of an impact to warrant Microsoft execs stepping forward to respond.

Via Xbox live mouthpiece, Major Nelson, the official statement reads.

"In our continued effort to keep gameplay safe and secure for our community of more than 14 million members, Microsoft has taken action against a small percentage of Xbox 360 consoles that have been illegally modified in order to play pirated games."

"You should know that modifying your Xbox 360 console is also a violation of the Xbox LIVE terms of use, will void your warranty and result in a ban from Xbox LIVE. The health of the video game business depends on customers paying for the genuine products and services they receive, both from manufacturers and the local companies that support them. We will continue to employ and bolster anti-piracy security measures to counter piracy in the gaming industry and improve security in the Xbox LIVE community."

Fair enough eh? However, in the process it appears that Microsoft may have gone in a bit gung ho in its approach to tracking down modded consoles. As a result, some innocents have apparently been inadvertently banned. One forum poster over at Xbox Scene claims that they've never modded a console but have sufferd the wrath of the Xbox manufacture, with another claiming that when he phoned the Xbox live customer service helpline the representative told them that they'd been receiving similar calls for the last five or six hours.

Piracy has been an increasing problem on Xbox 360 and Microsoft's action to swoop now on those responsible has been spurred on by three of the biggest titles of the year,Gears of War 2, Fallout 3, and Call of Duty World At War ,appearing on bit torrent sites.

The winter clear out of modders comes just in time for the brand spanking New Xbox live experience which lands on November 20th.