FIFA 13‘s Ultimate Team mode was mysteriously taken offline last night for unscheduled maintenance, but now full service has been resumed, EA has decided to shed some light on the reasons behind the maintenance.

”FIFA 13 Ultimate Team is back up and running. Earlier this week, a very small number of users attempted to gain an unfair advantage by manipulating coins. To ensure a fair economy for all our users we decided to take FUT offline in order to restore a level playing field,” Ultimate Team’s community manager said on the EA forums. “We take issues like this very seriously. Permanent bans for FIFA 13 have been served to all users who attempted to gain an unfair advantage.”

“We would like to thank you, the community, for your patience during the downtime. We’ll continue to maintain the best experience for all fans of FIFA 13: Ultimate Team.”