Credit Card Fraud = I Lose (Blizzard, Bank of America)
Scott Rippee @ 5:21 pm June 17th, 2007I really sucks that someone can obtain my credit card (bank ATM card) information, use it to charge 300 dollars to blizzard entertainment, and Bank of America can launch a full investigation only to determine that I am responsible for these “authorized” charges that someone else made and I have to pay.
BoA, this is not over
June 18th, 2007 at 2:13 am
That’s total bs. You should appeal and ask to see the said “authorization”. I’m sure blizzard has the IP of the purchaser logged somewhere. May be you can trace it that way.
It does not behoove BoA to harass the customers who keep their sorry little establishment afloat. Morons…….
June 18th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
Where is BoA’s proof that you were the person who bought stuff from Blizzard? You should switch banks and credit cards after this. Give me your personal information, and I’ll set one up for you. Haha.
June 18th, 2007 at 5:43 pm
Yeah, they must not have proof that it was me so I am not sure what information they used to make that decision nor do I know what “authorized” means.
I’d like to talk to Blizzard again, but it was a 2 hour of wait time last time I called and they didn’t help me, just hurried me off of the phone.
I’m off to the local BoA branch tomorrow to try to figure something out.
June 18th, 2007 at 8:59 pm
That majorly sucks. These websites, and perhaps a few others, may offer you some help:
http://www.consumer-action.org/english/articles/recognizing_credit_card_fraud_english/
http://www.consumer.gov/sentinel/
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/yourself/personal/fraud.mspx
June 20th, 2007 at 6:15 am
Hi Scott,
Direct your bank to this thread:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=450004
This is happening to people from America to the Netherlands. I was looking for more information when I cam across your site ;)
June 22nd, 2007 at 10:45 am
Thanks for the link. This seems to be very common and it seems that Blizzard is not able to deal with the problem considering their phone wait time and that they wouldn’t even look into my situation.
I got bank of america to reopen my claim. The person who first wrote up my claim in the first place didn’t include 5 of the charges and this seems to be the reason it was denied.
Thus far I’ve learned that
If you do business with the business that someone has used your card to spend money with your claim loses a lot of credibility. I’ve never spent money with Blizzard, but when they thought that I had it caused my claim to be denied.
If you show any sign that you know of the company, what they do, who they are it seems to put you in less good of a light.
June 29th, 2007 at 9:41 am
The same thing just happened to me, with Blizzard Entertainment and BoA. I found the same forum listed above and am now trying to find the right organization to report this to because it’s obviously a widespread issue.
June 29th, 2007 at 11:28 am
When you find out who to report this to please post here so that myself and others can do the same.
July 2nd, 2007 at 4:08 pm
Same prob here. 10 charges from blizzard on my CC dating from May to July.
My CC company is chase, and they knew of this prob when i called and quickly took the charges off. They told me they were having one hell of a prob dealing with the Blizzard situation
July 3rd, 2007 at 9:04 am
I think the problem is not the banks but Blizzard itself. No bank will spend 2 hours on hold just to investigate the charges. Blizzard need a separate line for fraud investigation.
July 13th, 2007 at 7:05 am
Blizzard isn’t going to do anything about it because I bet there are people who don’t catch it. They stand to lose that money.
Banks are all too happy to stick it to a person who bounces a check, by tacking on all sorts of fees. If they started charging the same sort of fees for false credit card charges, companies like Blizzard and NC Soft would be a good deal more motivated to upgrade prevention.
July 14th, 2007 at 10:50 pm
Hey… as per Federal Laws you can be held liable only upto $50 in case you file a fraud report.I just got hit by the Blizzard charges and AmeX revoked them. I filed compaint with FBI and FTC.
I’ve also sent email to Blizzard seeking explanation of the steps taken to identify the perpetrators. May be you all should do the same. Some kid playing game on their site is using our cards.. !!!
July 15th, 2007 at 10:32 am
My charges totalled $240 rangine from May to July 1st. Only reason i didn’t catch it sooner was because i had been away and just had a family member paying the bill for me. When i got home beginning of July, i noticed the charges.
Visa took them right off and was away of the Blizzard situation right when i made the phone call, so it was no problem. Apparently, this is not just 1 kid…but probably quite a few figuring they can play video games under someone else’s dime.
What exactly are they buying anyway? I’ve had charges range from $19.99 to $43.99 and in between.
I know who Blizzard is as i used to play Starcraft back in college.
July 17th, 2007 at 11:31 am
Got hit with 5 charges between 6/23/2007 abd 6/25/2007. My credit card company is Capital one and they called me to ask about these charges since they suspected they were not mine. I said they weren’t and they immediatly close my account and issues a reversal on the charges. Will receive a new credit card. It does seem the Credit Card companies are aware of this problem.
July 23rd, 2007 at 9:34 am
I just got 3 unidentified credit card charges on my bankstatement:
BLIZZARD-ENT*ELECUPGRD - 21.64
BLIZZARD-ENT*ELECUPGRD - 21.64
BLIZZARD-ENT*ELECUPGRD - 19.99
I called Blizzard about it last week, and they said these were three Upgrade Accounts from TRIAL to a Regular Account. I told them that I purchased my games at a Store, and that they were NOT Trials. They soon told me that I needed to call my credit card company, since this appears to be fraud and that someone has my credit card information. The funny thing is….if someone stole my credit card information, why are they charging ONLY World of Warcraft gaming items, and not other goods and / or services. I think there is a billing error going on within their company.
July 23rd, 2007 at 9:37 am
I forgot to mention, the dates of these charges were: 07/08/2007.
August 20th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
Thanks for the thread
NC Soft 39.99 7/20
Blizzard-ENT*ELECUPGRD 39.99 7/21
Blizzard-ENT*ELECUPGRD 43.35 7/21
Blizzard-ENT*ELECUPGRD 39.99 7/22
Chase Visa is issuing me new cards with a new account
August 23rd, 2007 at 5:36 pm
found this thread by googling “nc soft”, as my debit card had 4 charges, all to NC SOFT 512 2256359NY. called my card issuer, citizensbank, who were already on it and had put a hold on my card. have to wait a week for a new card, but was assured that i am NOT responsible for the charges. yay, citizens! and booooo, BoA!
my question is… why isn’t the media all over this? found numerous hits on the internet re blizzard & nc soft fraud, but haven’t heard anything on the news.
November 14th, 2007 at 10:32 am
If you read the forum posts that the link above goes to it explains a lot. This is becoming huge and is hitting people all over. It is suspected that hackers from Russia, China etc. are involved in a scheme called gold mining. I don’t know how they end up getting money? Some think they use these initial small charges to validate credit card numbers and then they throw in big purchases directly to them once they see they are not detected by someone. My credit union immediately credited us, and is investigating the issue. Same deal, about $80 in 3 small amounts for BLIZZARD-ENT*DWNLO If you push your bank should back you up, and as someone else stated, should be max of $50.
Also, we cancelled the card immediately and had a new one issued. To the guy who made previous Blizzard purchases- you are going to have a harder case to build. I don’t think your previous purchase from Blizzard had anything to do with you getting hit. You just happened to buy some legit things from them before you were hit. Good luck.
November 14th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
I tracked down the source of the credit card theft. http://www.recreationconnection.com was the culprit. Someone hacked into their website and stole all (or some) of the credit cards used through this site to purchase tickets. I had bought tickets through my employer from this site.
Did any of you guys used the site?
November 14th, 2007 at 5:39 pm
I’ve never used that website at all.
February 29th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
Had the same thing happen to me on 2/21/08 but a hefty $77.94 from:
BLIZZARD ENT*WOW SUB 02/20 CARD
Because I play World of Warcraft and have the monthly $14.99 recurring bills also on this card, Im fearing its going to go nowhere with BofA. What is highly suspicious is this is the only charge on my card that is fraudulent.
Despite giving Blizzard their own transaction # on my statement, they still offered no help but instead gave me this canned reply:
“I was unable to locate the 77.94 charge on the account you provided.
Thank you for contacting the Blizzard Billing department regarding the recent charge against your credit card. If you feel that you have been fraudulently charged, please contact your credit card company to investigate this charge and inquire about further card security and fraud prevention. In the event that your card has been lost or stolen, you may wish to file a report with your local police department, as well. Please be sure that anyone who has access to the credit card has not previously purchased our services. Any disputes may result in action against the account or alternate legal recourse. In a majority of these cases, we find that the charges are the result of a friend or family member using the credit card. If this is the case, we **may** be able to assist over the phone. While we cannot look up transaction numbers or credit card numbers directly, we may be able to locate the account(s) in question by other means, including but not limited to contact name or email.”
March 16th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
“Because I play World of Warcraft and have the monthly $14.99 recurring bills also on this card, Im fearing its going to go nowhere with BofA. What is highly suspicious is this is the only charge on my card that is fraudulent.”
Yeah, that may make it more difficult. It was a big deal for Bank of America if I had actually purchased anything from the company in question (Blizzard) previously. When they thought I had because the first person I talked to didn’t mark every charge they turned down my claim. When they got it right that I was disputing every charge I finally won my claim. It’s not really fair that it should factor in whether you know of or have purchased from the company or not.
I would imagine that the Banks and credit card companies have software that can help them detect mass fraud cases like this. So why did I have such a hard time with my claim? Maybe they had not had as many cases with Blizzard as I suspect.
March 16th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
When i called my CC company, they were familiar with the case and knew all about it. All it took was a 10 minute call and it was all taken care of.
June 26th, 2008 at 7:54 pm
Just got hit for 41.97 on 6/20/08. Bank of America card had been stolen just previous, I got the charges removed but the account that was stolen was only for college with only 28.18 remaining in the account at the time. Got nailed with overdraft fees that Im required to pay. Any possible ways to get isp or home address of the person who charged it to play?
July 23rd, 2008 at 4:03 pm
I’m currently filming a documentary about Bank of America. I would like to hear from people that are willing to go on camera. You can e-mail me at ejgertz3@aol.com. The project is a 2 hour feature documentary.
October 17th, 2008 at 6:34 am
Yesterday (10/16) I found 2 charges from Blizzard Entertainment for 14.99 and put a freeze on my account. Today, 4 more charges for 14.99 appeared.
Blizzard Entertainment is mostly to blame for this kind of fraud because they accept no responsibility for their highly unethical business practices. What kind of company allows people to make multiple credit card charges without even asking who they are? They allow players to create accounts without confirming their identities in anyway. They dont even delete the accounts they know are using stolen credit card numbers.
Blizzard needs to be investigated by consumer protection immediately and if possible, their online gaming “community” needs to be shut down.
This has gone too far. These geeks are screwing with peoples lives and their well being…and for what? A game? Shut it down now!
December 4th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
I got my PayPal account hijacked by someone getting into my World of Warcraft account information. The reason I figured this out is because I disputed the charges (over $1300!?! who the hell spends that much money on a friggin video game?!!), and 2 of the 4 fraudulent charges had ‘warcraft’ or ‘WoW’ in the other party’s email info. If anyone has a PayPal account, i recommend closing it immediately. In my case, PayPal emailed me to let me know they knew the charges were unauthorized, and they STILL processed them through my bank. They told me that they would allow the ’seller’ (the fraud) to respond within 7 days. Well it’s 7 days, and I got a message today that said they are restarting the investigation instead of closing it in my favor, despite a lack of response from the sellers. So who knows if or when I will get my money back.
December 4th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Oh also, I almost forgot…I never even really played the game. I bought it, thought it sucked, and threw it away. I have read NUMEROUS articles about personal information being compromised by online accounts for games with Blizzard, so I will be staying away from their products in the future, as their information is clearly not secure, AND they have TERRIBLE service. Everything I have read about the compromised information via Blizzard has basically said Blizzard either doesn’t respond or if they do, don’t do anything about it. How awful.
March 8th, 2009 at 10:42 am
I have had 9 charges posted to my debit/credit card that came out of my checking account. I notified Citizens bank when the first two charges were made and canceled my card. The following day two more charges were there and then yesterday, 5 charges appeared. These charges range from 14.99 to 26.50. I had to go to the bank and sign an affidavit each day and we canceled both cards and closed the checking account. I have googled Blizzard entertainment and have seen that this has been going on since 2007. The credit card companies need to take some responsibility here and take away card privileges from Blizzard Entertainment.
March 18th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
I have had 4 charges. Three are being disputed; my bank cancelled my debit card card and reissued me a new; but, somehow they manged to make another charge this month to my new debit card. I don’t how that happen. I told my bank that maybe my checking account number has been compromise and they don’t beleive me. This is outrageous. I may just have to close this account to avoid more unauthorized charges from Blizzard.
March 25th, 2009 at 2:20 am
After two years this credit fraud is still ongoing? I can’t believe it. It makes me think twice about upgrading my trial account on WoW.
March 27th, 2009 at 12:41 am
the worst part is, Blizzard is making zero effort to do anything about it…understandable, since they can always claim they are not directly responsible, and the charges are obviously coming from people who pay monthly fees to play. But then again, Guild Wars is a game that is one heck of a lot more fun (both PvE and PvP), and free on a monthly basis. Wanna guess how much of this you hear coming from that game? I paid for only 1 xtra month and had hundreds of dollars of WoW fraudulent charges hit my account. Luckily I had terminated my account, so all the supernerd charges for god knows what never went through. But the fact that I hadnt played the game for literally years when the fraudulent charges were processed is alarming. One word of advice: NEVER EVER USE PAYPAL. From what I understand, most of the BS with WoW is happening through PayPal accounts, so NEVER use a paypal account to buy a Bow of Flaming Gimptard or something like that. But then again, just my opinion, if you are actually paying money you earn in real life for items in a video game in fake life, there’s something wrong with you to begin with.
April 19th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
I see all y’all are having problems with blizzard. I’m wondering if it’s possible to start a class action suit (no, i’m not an atty) charging them with being an accessory to the theft. A few bad charges, they are innocent, but it seems to me they are showing a very consistent pattern. That surely should get their attention. Also wonder if you can invoke RICO.
This thread started with BOA and that’s what i’m posting about. It appears they have a recent leak. My father’s card got hit with charges from iTunes last month, my mother just got the call from fraud prevention–her charges were this afternoon from a jack-off-in-the-box in california. We live in new england and her card is still in her wallet. They never used their cards at the same store. BOA was quite helpful. Wonder why banks don’t ask the places for security camera footage around the time of the charge?
In reply to bummer’s post (final sentence) you’re totally correct. You want to see total stupidity in action? swoopo.com You pay 75c to bid on an item, and for every bid the current bid price is increased by an amount pre-determined by swoopo (usually 1c). If you bid within the last 15 seconds of the auction, it puts the clock back to 15s. After you win, you have to pay for the item too. Why didn’t i think of this scam, uh, i mean scheme. Oh well.
May 8th, 2009 at 6:54 am
To the poster above, my BoA debit card was also hit with fraudulent Itunes charges. I cancelled the card and got a new one. Two weeks later my credit card which is issued through Household Bank is getting hit with charges from Blizzard Ent. I can’t believe this is still going on!
July 27th, 2009 at 11:56 am
I must say, after viewing both forums regarding Blizzard Entertainment, I am just as surprised and dismayed as Warlaw that the company has allowed this continue without altering their practices. The fraud folks at my CC company rang me Friday to inform me of the suspicious transactions. I’m glad they did, because it had been a few months since I used my card.
And good luck getting through to anyone in Billing via telephone. When I rang the corporate office to get another number, the operator said there was only one number to call for billing and accounts. Yeah… When I find another number, I’ll be sure to post it here for everyone to ring.
July 28th, 2009 at 9:27 am
I got hit with one yesterday morning, I noticed it quickly and had my debit card canceled and a new one in hand in an hour. It was showing as pending until this morning, so it’s now in dispute. I can’t get anyone to answer the phone at Blizzard, rings four times then goes to busy. Not happy about this at all!
September 8th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
win products with huge discounts. 50 cents per bid, second pack it’s like 30 cents. Great site, go here http://muulu.com
September 10th, 2009 at 4:49 am
I had to cancel my debit card because someone ranked up $300 in only one day!!! Luckly, I check my accounts dayily and caught it right off the ball. The reason this is such a problem, that I have discovered, is BLIZZARD only needs the credit card number, not your name, the security code, etc.
September 25th, 2009 at 8:38 pm
I just got three fraudulent charges to my card also. All for Blizzard Entertainment World Of Warcraft stuff.
I am not and have never been a customer of Blizzard so the charges stood out like a sore thumb on my credit card statement.
In response to Kristi - do you have that on good authority that they really only need a card number, and not a name or even a card expiry date, which is the absolute minimum anyone else needs. If so that is just crazy.
Anyway I have emailed Blizzard customer support to ask what information they would have needed before processing three payments on my card, all in the same day, two in US$ and one in UK Pounds.
I would encourage everyone else who has had their cards fraudulently used to purchase Blizzard entertainment services to do the same.
November 5th, 2009 at 11:40 am
Hi, did you manage to get any refunds? I had 46 separate transactions on my Chase mastercard to Blizzard Entertainment. I didn’t notice because I moved back to Europe but left some funds in my US bank account. Chase say they are only liable for 45 days previously so I stand to lose over $1000. Any ideas?
January 21st, 2010 at 12:20 pm
Crazy - three charges from Blizzard @ exactly $21.64 each over two days. Chase was helpful though but it sucks cancelling a card and dealing with all the bs that goes with it.
Blizzard Customer Service “is not accepting phone calls at this time.” WTF?
February 6th, 2010 at 2:46 pm
Still happening. Just got charged 84,89$ (CAD) (77,94 USD) twice in two days in a row. Still waiting on the phone. 1h25m elapsed. Still waiting.
February 6th, 2010 at 2:48 pm
Oops. Double Post. Forgot to mention its also from Blizzard Entertainement.
March 4th, 2010 at 6:22 am
The bank in case of fraud., they are the responsable of the use of the credit card and should pay the money back. If you inform that a company have issued your card with not authorization. Then the bank should refound you and consider take case on blizzard by themselves
Say to blizzard that you will speak with the bank about this case and you promp will recieve a letter from blizzard telling you that they refounded your money.
IN SUMMARY
The security in internet is not 100%. If on the other hand you have problems with blizzard regarding payments, I suggest you take it to the bank,
March 4th, 2010 at 6:26 am
read international law about using of credit card number s on internet and responsabilities of banks in case of frauds.
March 15th, 2010 at 9:15 am
I dont understand how someone got a hold of my credit card and ordered a ton of merchandise @ $14.99,10 times on 2/16/10
10 more times on 2/25/10,30 more times on 3/03/10,2 times on 3/04/10 and 5 times on 3/05/10 and not only no one questions,the order I dont get a call or email or something of an inquiry.All I get is a stinking bill in the amount of $861.98 all in 4 days.
ps,some of the charges
were also priced @$15.98
$16.04,$16.15,$16.21
50 times @$14.99…I refuse to pay for these fraudulent charges
Also do you have an address where this so called merchandise was sent.
April 27th, 2010 at 11:43 am
13 years in the computer field and I never had an issue with any on line funds; until yesterday.
I woke up to find 10 charges for $25.00 from Blizzard. One right after the other. During the period of being on the phone with my bank and Blizzard another 2 charges for $25.00 appeared. This was generated through Blizzard on an account that was CLOSED months ago.
I had to close my credit card account (easy enough) and then spend 45 minutes on hold with Blizzard to get to an operator. In short, I was told that the charges were generated for a “Character transfer”, that it was fraud and that if I filed a police report they would release the IP and transaction information to the police. There is obviously a hole somewhere. I’ve had Blizzard accounts for years and NEVER had an issue. Someone is hacking away at Blizzard user accounts.
April 27th, 2010 at 3:11 pm
We got ours taken care of,and no thanks to BOA,and we cut up the credit card,end of this story
April 27th, 2010 at 3:14 pm
What I don’t get is if my bank can phone me concerning one charge that seems out of the ordinary why Blizzard with all of their tech savy fails to see and allow 12 charges “from them” for character transfer purposes on an account that is closed. That’s nothing short of being irresponsible.
May 4th, 2010 at 4:40 am
I just found 6 charges in my checking account called BLIZZARD E-SHOP VELIZY VILLAC for $237 each. Calling bank this morning. I am assuming this is more of the same that I am reading. I have never used my debit bank card. So not sure how that could get out. Isn’t it more likely someone has my checking account info and is doing direct debits to it via this gaming site? Have any of you had to change your checking account in response to this?
May 14th, 2010 at 4:32 am
Jack, I have the exact same thing. B of A is supposedly going to reverse the charges. We live in Keller, TX. I am curious if you live in the same area.
I want to know how these folks are getting our CC info and processing it. They should be required to have the proper zip code, and the security code.
Shit I can’t even charge more than $75 on my flipping card to get gas, but some jack ass can charge $200 worth of crap and get away with it.
The system is broken!
May 28th, 2010 at 11:23 am
Being a wow player I might be able to explain a bit of what is happening. The people stealing your credit card info is not using them to play the game. These are not kids trying to get some free play time. I will try to explain what is happening. It is quite complicated but here is the short version.
World of Warcraft is a subscription based game meaning players pay a monthly fee to play. In the game world, there is an in game economy where high lvl items can be purchased with in game “gold”. This gold has a real world value in dollars.
This game currency in some cases is worth more than real money. For thieves to get their hands on this currency in order to sell it to players, they “steal or hack” players accounts. Once the players account is “hacked”, they use stolen credit card numbers to transfer the hacked account( a server transfer is $25 which Blizzard collects as a fee) onto another World of Warcraft Server and trade the players gold from the hacked toon to another so it can be sold to another wow player for real money.
Then, they use the character to go out in the game world and make as much gold as possible to sell before Blizzard catches up and locks the account to try to get it back to the actual owner.
The individuals stealing the accounts and using the stolen credit card numbers are mostly from china. Selling gold is big business, I have seen articles showing that over 200,000 wow accounts have been “hacked”. You can also get an idea of the numbers of hacked accounts by visiting the wow customer service forums where Blizzard customers make posts reporting stolen accounts. There are thousands of posts.
For those of you not familiar with all of this just do a google search with the keywords “wow gold” and you will be amazed. A note of caution. Do not actually visit any of the sites that you get hits for because these sites typically install key loggers to capture the user names and passwords of wow users to steal more accounts so they can steal more gold to sell.
I know that was a bit long but I hope I have shed a bit of light on the situation
July 11th, 2010 at 2:34 pm
I haven’t played wow in years but I just got three 25.75 charges in a row today.
August 2nd, 2010 at 8:50 pm
BLIZZARD E-SHOP VELIZY VILLAC just got me too and I also have BofA they must not be very careful in who they let access the accounts I am fighting with them now to do something about it. If this has been going on for awhile why isn’t’ these banks catching this?
August 3rd, 2010 at 6:35 am
Debbie, some of the banks are doing something. The responsible ones that is. Bank of Scottland at one point said no more WOW accounts charged automatically. If you want to process a WOW account charge you must come in to the bank. Now THAT is being proactive.
August 9th, 2010 at 4:54 pm
I have been paying bills and buying stuff online since 1993. For the first time, I’ve been very recently hacked. 2 charges from Blizzard E-shop were on my debit card totaling $373. I check all of my bank balances every morning with few exceptions. When I saw the fraudulent charges (I had no idea what Blizzard was and there is no one else who could possibly have access to my info) I called my bank immediately. I told them I had not made these charges and they said they would send an affidavit for me to sign and send back to them. The bank rep asked if it was okay if they put me on hold for approx. 5 minutes. When she returned, she said that she would credit my account immediately. While she was gone, I refreshed my browser and another $25 charge appeared. I don’t remember the name but it was definitely a Blizzard subsidiary. The card was immediately shut down and I’m told a new card is being issued. The $ was put back into my account before the phone call ended. Kudos to Wachovia!
I’m sure that someone compromised my account through a transaction I made with EBay. The previous night, I bought something on EBay through PayPal. I was asked if I would like to give a dollar to an organization to help people who had suicidal tendencies. I should have said no, but not thinking there would be a problem, I said yes. A coworker told me that employees of these organizations that ask for donations online have been known to tap into customer’s accounts after collecting the dollar donation. She had it happen to her. Funny thing is, I have not yet received anything that said I gave a dollar donation but those 3 Blizzard charges showed up. I know that’s not coincidental. So be careful if you are asked for donations online. So far, no other charges have been made. I’m glad I checked my account that morning or the person could have spent all day charging things. I don’t have a lot of $ but I have checking account overdraft protection attached to a credit card with very ample funds which would have kicked in if all of the $ in my checking account had been used. I think I’m going to get rid of that protection. I hope all of this stops. Good luck to everyone who had to go through this. Switch to Wachovia!
August 19th, 2010 at 8:17 am
I HAVE NEVER PLAYED WOW. I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF “BLIZZARD E-SHOP” BUT I AM PAYING FOR TWO CHARGES OF $180 EACH AND IM NOT HAPPY. GOD BLESS YOUR SOUL IF I EVER GET MY HANDS ON YOU YOU CREEPY LITTLE CREDIT CARD SNATCHERS.
August 19th, 2010 at 8:43 am
Apparently this WOW/BLIZZARD fraud is becoming more prevalent. My suggestion to anyone with a Credit or debit card is to call your bank and place a block on any and all charges from Blizzard. This does not mean that a charge will not show up as “pending” should your card be compromised. But it will help in preventing the charges. And should they actually go through you have more leverage when disputing them with your bank. Debit cards are the most dangerous where protection and recouping your losses are concerned.
August 23rd, 2010 at 11:30 am
I just revieved an email that says there is problems with my WoW account and i need to comfirm some details with them ,,, Erm i may of registered an account but i never got round to using it, So why am i revieing Emails years later from this blizzard company ,,,
Looking at the emails hard i think either Spam or blizzard needs a fast cash,, and they may be the people behind all this cash which is being taken from other’s Visa and Bank accounts ……
August 27th, 2010 at 11:23 am
just was notified of fraud with using BankAmericard….pissed off…bank is aware…filed police report also
October 6th, 2010 at 9:20 am
This thread began in June, 2007 and it is now Oct 2010. I just got three debits from Blizzard all dated today adding up to over $400. I had never gotten a false charge over more than ten years. Chase knows it is fraud and will cancel my card and reissue a new one with the charges removed. But, what I want to know is how the industry cannot find a solution to this particular fraud with Blizzard. This has been going on for at least three years! Why hasn\’t the FBI gotten a court warrant to tap Blizzard\’s online operation in order to try and catch the gang at work in real time? Can\’t an online tap see who is inputting, from where in the world, or something?
October 9th, 2010 at 1:17 am
As a World of warcraft player myself, and seeing trade spammed with gold farmers trying to sell stuff here is what they are charging you for.
Blizzards world of warcraft game has the option to level 3x faster and get a special mount if you refer a friend. Now what that consists of is buying a new game. There are 3 packs for this game about to be 4.
Lvl 1- 60 is 19.99 if you attach this to your account and add a time card for 30$ or 15$ you also get a special 2 person rocket mount. this is very common thing to see spammed in trade..mostly by gold sellers on stolen/hacked accounts and using stolen credit cards.
Let me tell you these gold farmers in chine/japan are brutal and relentless. this is mostly the reason why you don’t see anything done about it.
They have entired call centers over there with 100’s of employee’s ripping people off and hacking them. Hope i sheed some light on whats happening here.
October 9th, 2010 at 1:32 am
I just read what i wrote and that makes no sense to someone that has not played the game so let me explain it a tad better.
In World of warcraft you start at one and level up. At level 20 you get a ground mount that helps you get around faster, at level 40 you get a faster one. At level 60 your are able to purchase a flying mount. Now! Blizzard has what is called the refer a friend option. Where if you refer a friend and he buys a account you can level up 3x faster. If he buys a time card to put on his new account. You recieve a 2 person rocket mount so you and your friend can fly around together. What these chinese farmers are doing is stealing credit cards and selling the mounts ingame for game cash(what we call gold) they are then turning around and selling that gold for real money. With a game like World of warcraft that has 12 million + players you can imagine how many people are buying these mounts as they are a cool ingame item to have and are basically free to players who have a bit of in game currency to spend. i have seen these sell anywhere from 5,000 gold to 15,000 gold They sell the game gold to other people for about $3-5$ usd per 1000. Adverage gold selling sites sell anywhere from 50,000 -5 million gold per day per server and there are tons of servers, $3-$5 per 1000 x 5 million this is a huge industry for them. I am quite shocked that noone has done anything about this tho.
October 12th, 2010 at 11:03 am
Just had my account hit this morning with 4 charges of $90.54! B of A account. did a search on the company name of the charge and found this blog…
October 26th, 2010 at 1:56 am
jepp.. blizzard is taking 12, 99 every month from my account though my account that I have has been frozen since 2009… Emails doesnt help… calling them didnt help… so I have to contact my norwegian bank and get a new visa… that also costs money and it takes a week to get a new visacard. Im now calling one last time, and if they wont help I will call them what they are. They said 7 min… Ive been on hold for 27 min…
December 3rd, 2010 at 8:55 am
I just recived a charge from blizzard e-shop velizy to my buisness atm card. I am not a gammer, no offense to you all. but the mother fucker responsable for hacking my shit will live out the world of warcraft when im thru tracking their ip address. Yes I am pisd, bb&t said that the charges will have to be disputed to claim as fraud. Ive got thier fraud in the form of a glock and m-4, yeah someones game console will get fucked up when I’m thru. It’s gona be easy when you have access to u.s. gov. equipment to track assholes with…….
December 9th, 2010 at 7:56 am
I was hit twice by this company twice over a two month span. First they charged my Bank of America Visa for 180.00 and two months later they hit my Chase Mastercard for 140.00. Both times the credit card companies called me to notify me of potential fraudulant charges. I have zero dollar balances on both cards and haven’t used either of them in over a year. I’m extremely angry that this company has done this to so many people. I have never bought a video game in my life. Someone needs to crack down on them. I’m fortunate enough that my credit card companies took care of this but I want something more than a refund done to this company. What they are doing is criminal! Has anyone had any success filing legal action?
December 20th, 2010 at 10:12 am
I just checked my boa account and saw two charges in a row that was not made by me. my boyfriend plays wow and just purchased the new expansion and got a monthly sub. not using my cc info. though. I am now on the phone waiting already 30 minutes for someone to pick to find out what is going on but i fear this will not be resolved because of the posts that have been on here since 2007. im very irratated since its 5 days before christmas and i have bills to be paying, whovever did this needs to know they need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent. Blizzard is going down for this
December 20th, 2010 at 12:10 pm
Erica, I can only tell you what I experienced (and posted about here).
I don’t even PLAY that game and multiple charges started rolling in from Blizzard. Fortunately none of them cleared. If you haven’t yet, get on the phone with your bank. My bank told me that because the charges hadn’t cleared yet, they couldn’t consider it fraud. I said, “So I’m telling you that hundreds of dollars worth of pending charges which will put me negative are bogus and you won’t stop them.” Not until they clear, then we can file paperwork. Hopefully your bank is a little easier to deal with. As for Blizzard phone support, yeah I was on hold close to an hour. More than likely someone got your number and is using it to create new WOW accounts in order to stay a step ahead of their fradulent “Gold mining for money” infractions. WOW doesn’t allow it and when they are caught their accounts are closed. So, in order to stay a step ahead of the law so to speak they create new characters and transfer them from one WOW server/world to the next. That costs them money each time they transfer worlds. We end up paying for it.
December 20th, 2010 at 12:54 pm
Just went and tried to cancel my bank account what a waste of my time and money this ordeal is costing me and why isn’t blizzard doing something more to protect it’s gamers who have invested their time and money into a game! Still waiting to find out if they bank is goin to get me my money.
December 20th, 2010 at 12:59 pm
The banks are one aspect of it true enough. My biggest complaint is what Blizzard is failing to do where prevention is concerned. Example: Multiple charges come through to Blizzard on my account, which is closed and has been for years. And that doesn’t set off some type of red flag or alarm at Blizzard? I gurantee if it was their accounts being fradulently charged they would be all over it. They have simply gotten too big for themselves. There seems to be very little, if any responsibility from their end.
January 15th, 2011 at 4:37 pm
Guys,
I was lucky that after calling the credit card fraud hotline of my bank and stating the charges were not mine (I think I had to agree to being recorded when I stated this) that I got them refunded. Still meant the hassle of phoning the bank, getting cards cancelled and getting new cards though. I check my card balance regularly but they had still hit me with three separate charges on the same day.
I emailed Blizzard and they did respond quite quickly. However here is the frightening part - I asked them what information they would have needed to make charges to my card and this was their reply:
“Thank you for contacting Blizzard Entertainment. Sorry to hear about the recent compromise of your credit card information.
In order to process a credit card through our system we require the full name as it appears on the card, full card number, expiration date, security code, and billing zip code.
You have taken the correct step in disputing the charges with your credit card issuer and I hope they will resolve the issue promptly. ”
So you have to ask yourself how someone got hold of all those details about your card and your zip code…
I guess the answer is just to be really careful about any on-line use of your card, make sure you have good anti-virus software on your computer, and check your card balance regularly. That is about all you can do.
Still a mystery to me who could have got hold of my card details and how…
January 23rd, 2011 at 8:10 pm
I don’t pay World Of Warcraft by credit card, rather I buy the game card, so could it still happen to people that don’t use credit card payment ?
February 17th, 2011 at 9:19 am
Just to be clear, this doesn’t have anything to do with World of Warcraft people in general. The scammers are using the name ‘Blizzard e-shop’ but of course this is not Blizzard/Activision, a multibillion dollar firm with no interest in ripping off the average consumer.
Many of the people getting charged have never heard of the game, and plenty of the others play using completely different methods of payment, so the question remains: where are the scammers getting their card data from?
I was just hit with this scam myself, but thankfully the bank flagged the charges as fraudulent and are issuing me a new card. I have used the card through PayPal, but my guess is that one of the smaller online vendors I’ve used in the past must have been hacked.
February 17th, 2011 at 11:11 am
Just got hit with 2 fraudulent charges from BLIZZARD E-SHOP. I recently returned back home from a business trip and the charges appeared within a week of returning. Over 300 bucks combined. Received a call from my bank of suspicious charges. Killed CC and will be recieving new card. Have to wait until charges process before I can dispute them according to my bank. We’ll see.
March 3rd, 2011 at 12:43 pm
Can anyone tell me HOW they got this resolved??? I need contact info. My bank will do nothing unless I can have the company call them.
March 20th, 2011 at 4:31 pm
So i just got my account hit today. 2 $150 dollars transactions. After reading every single post on here and how much bullshit this is, im gonna do what I can in my power to have any and all the news stations I can report on this matter. I dont make alot of money, we\’re broke because of the economy, and I just put my check in. Now I have 12.00 to my name, I cant even buy my daughter diapers. Never had a WOW account, but I do have xbox live. Maybe these two are linked? Dont have paypal, and I dont order anything online. Maybe an investigation into microsoft is in order. I also called blizzard and the guy said its very common, and thats all i needed to hear. Im gonna blast this shit all over the media, and every person on this post will be contacted if I hear of a class action lawsuit. I Fought to protection this country, and took an oath to protect it against all enemies…..foreign….and “DOMESTIC”!! Oh its on baby!
March 20th, 2011 at 5:25 pm
Sgt Marine -
Why would you want an investigation into Micrsoft? There is no connection between Blizzard and MSFT and your XBOX Live account has nothing to do with WoW.
The whole thing is on Blizzard and as long as they’re getting money they don’t seem to give a crap!
March 21st, 2011 at 7:22 am
No I totally agree, but when all the factors come in to play and “my scenario” is considered, it can only mean a few things. Im sure that when I went through mcdonalds the other day, the guy behind the counter wasnt like,” oooh im gonna charge his account to play wow”. I was just saying that for “ME” the two line up perfectly, but then again Im not versed in hardcore gaming. The only way a “video game company” could have gotten my card number would be through xbox. Regardless, until you have all your eggs in the basket, how could you be sure there isnt one left behind. Maybe not investigate (didnt mean that literally) but atleast make microsoft aware (i know they are) of my situation. Just to be sure!!! Why not?
March 21st, 2011 at 7:28 am
I wonder if we could say this??? Would the blizzard hits on everyones cc and debit card be put into a “demographic”? Such as it seems the only people who get these charges are somehow linked to a purchase of “gaming” software? Not necessarily wow. Because im sure my dad who doesnt play xbox or buy anything related to gaming or software for that matter, would never get a fraudulent charge from blizzzrd. Just wondering.
March 21st, 2011 at 10:17 am
I am a gamer, though never WoW or any other online, computer based game for that matter. I do have Xbox Live but it wasn’t paid for with the same card that got hit and I don’t have a credit card attached to the acount just in case.
I haven’t been hit in a few months (knock on wood) and I haven’t changed my buying/shopping habits in any way. I’d love it if Blizzard could get their payment/billing issues handled once and for all.
March 21st, 2011 at 2:31 pm
Just sent an email to blizzard requesting their security procedures and/or protocols for their online games. Im hoping they return my email. If not I guess a police report followed by the investiagation of my bank will be the next avenue of approach to render a response. The good news is that they are located literally 4 miles away from my house, maybe a quick stop in would do me good. :)
April 27th, 2011 at 10:48 pm
Has anyone seen the connection between the fraudulent charges with Blizzard and software keys being sold on eBay? I am pretty certain my information was used to buy multiple product keys that are resold on eBay. The credit card company caught it after the first charge of 190 the other two attempts didn’t go through.
May 2nd, 2011 at 2:48 pm
I noticed 3 charges for $149.90 this weekend in holding charged to my account, I called it in right away and the charges have been removed, the CC canceled, and a fraud report filed with my bank. The bank sends an automated call today to verify a new charge placed on the same canceled card for another $193.00…..I guess the perp thought that the charges woul have gone unnoticed for a little longer….creep. Blizzard really needs to get a hold on this problem, and I think the only way to get them to act, as opposed to seeing this as an acceptable loss, is to hold them accountable. I am agreeing with the class action. They won’t fix their security and verification process if they don’t have to, and it looks like they will need a court order before they decided that fraud is unacceptable.
May 30th, 2011 at 5:30 pm
This just happened to me today. $99.95 charged to BLIZZARD ENT*ONL STORE\\8 POS……….What did everyone else do? Do I call blizzard or just my bank? Help! Please….
May 30th, 2011 at 7:50 pm
If they used your credit card then you have rights with your provider. Meaning, you will not be liable for fradulent charges. If they charged this through your debit card it could be tough. I had World of Warcraft charges through my debit card but Chase came through strong for me. If you choose to call WOW support (and you should) be prepared for no less than a one hour wait time on line before you speak to a rep.
May 31st, 2011 at 6:18 pm
Thanks for the info David…It was a debit card and four more charges went thru today for a total of about $200 additionally and now KeyBank tells me that they cannot be reversed even though I contacted them when the first charge went thru and I was told to wait and not cancel my card. Little pissed off….Now I am on hold with Blizzard going on 20 minutes..GRRRRR