I like it how people are instantly lunging towards the 'This is clearly a lie' route of thinking. We all know EA want as much money as they can drain from our wallets, so here is what I'm thinking...
...What if it -was- intentional?
If EA weren't idiots, they could very well be doing this to see what lengths people are willing to go to get around having to make further purchases. I bet it cost them maybe half a day's work to implement the micro-transactions and this little 'exploit' they just so happened to put in.
TLDR - If this was intentional, your now EA's lab rat. Have fun with that.