After 6 years and thousands of dollars of products purchased online on several dozen different websites, I now can join the ranks of credit card fraud victim. Of course I never thought it would happen to me. I’m careful with firewalls, anti keystroking software, virus protection …. I don’t have any idea how my credit card info was compromised and I may never know. Eleven charges on my credit card appeared from World Of Warcraft Cdke Velizy Fr, NC Soft and Blizzard-ent*elecupgrd for 27.82, 39.99 or 19.99. It should be noted that since I have never done business with these companies, they aren’t the crooks. ..but why someone whould steal my CC info and use it to buy online gaming accounts is beyond me! I just found these charges today so haven’t had time to look into it but do know there are many others out there that have seen the same charges appear on their credit cards in the past couple weeks. Having to close my account is a headache but I suppose it could have been worse. Just a heads up! Always look at your credit card statement, only use one card for internet purchases and NEVER use your debit card.
I’m short on time tonight but will research this a bit more over the weekend and possibly post an update on the situation.
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I don’t mean to make light of what happened. It was probably a real pain to have to notify your bank and have the charges reversed. But think about World Of Warcraft and the others. They’re the real victim here.
When the bank reversed the transaction and credited your account, they also reversed the transaction on the merchant. Sincethis particular merchant only sells a service, he didn’t loose the product like most do, but in addition to having t return the money to your card issuing bank, he was hit with a chargeback fee of from $20-$50. Yep – he was fined for being the victim of fraud.
Make no mistake, for you it’s a pain – for on-line merchants, fraud is a $3 Billion a year loss before the chargeback fees. For the credit card companies, fruad of this type is a revenue stream.
Tom Mahoney
Director, http://www.merchant911.org
Developer, Preventchargebacks.com
Tom, I agree with you. I know that on this particular card I have an additional password associated with it. Some sites make use of this added protection and some don’t. Hopefully the steep charge back fees will provide incentive for online merchants to step up their security efforts. It makes financial sense for them to do.
I JUST GOT BACK FROM VACATION IN AZ. WHEN I WENT TO THE ATM I WAS NEGATIVE. I HAD JUST GOT PAID FRIDAY! I HAD THREE CHARGES FOR $19.99 FROM A BLIZZARD ENTAND ONE FOR $39.99 FROM A NC SOFT COMPANY. I NEVER HEARD OF THESE PEOPLE. I AM STILL WAITING FOR MY MONEY TO BE RETURNED FROM MY BANK. WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE? AND HOW DID THEY GET INTO MY BANK ACCOUNT? THIS HAS BEEN A PAIN. THE ONLY PURCHASE I DID ON LINE WAS MY AIRLINE TICKET.
Sorry to hear that Kathy… especially with your debit card. Hopefully it’s not more difficult recouping funds from your bank account. I only use a credit card online because if this kind of fraud should happen at least my bank account is still intact. It’s difficult to say how they gained access to CC or debit card info but I’m guessing that some companies are having security issues. Keep us posted on how it goes with your bank and good luck. You’ll want to cancel that account immediately.
I have been ripped off by blizzard and world of warcraft by debit card fraud. Does any one know how to get your money back? I have been trying everything for over 5 weeks.
I too had this happen to me. I see one similarity here, i too purchased airline tickets with the card that was hit.
Another thing of note is that no charge back will be issued for these. The fraud department at Citibank told me they had already paid and will not be reversing the charges on the merchant there was really nothing they could do in that regard and were going to investigate the matter.
I found this site by googling a fraudulent charge. I had 4 charges from NC SOFT 512 2256359NY on my bank debit card with Citizensbank. By the time I called them, they had already caught it and put a hold on my card. They also asked about a bunch of other online purchases, NONE of which were made by me–all were fraudulent. Futhermore, I have been inundated with phone calls from online universities claiming that I requested enrollment packages, and I received 2 emails from Scholastic books, asking me to confirm orders of childrens books (which I did not order).
It’s all very creepy. I don’t know how the culprits got my info. I have never played or downloaded any online games. I use ebay (paypal) fairly often and only order online from verisign authenticated sources. Plus, I have McAfee protection software and all the spyware protection there is. So HOW does this happen?
Citizensbank assured me that I am not responsible for any of the charges. If your bank(s) don’t give you the same answer, you should switch banks!
Regarding comments by Tom Mahoney and Tate Dwinnell above… google NC Soft and Blizzard credit card fraud, and you’ll see that this is rampant. I’ve learned that they are associated with the World of Warcraft games. Something *must* be amiss with their security or their business practices for those 2 names to keep cropping up.
My question is why the media hasn’t been all over this. I found numerous hits on the internet, but haven’t heard anything on the news…
Yes, most banks are probably aware of this by now and will probably halt the charges immediately. At the very least they should reverse the charges. Vicky is right, if they don’t find a new bank. I too have never used the sites in question so the info wasn’t stolen from their sites and they are getting killed on charge backs as Tom mentions above. It’s difficult to say how the information was stolen and we will probably never know. I suppose its just the risk we all take in this cashless, online world. Definitely pays to check your statements every month, use only one card for internet purchases and sign up for some kind of credit score monitoring service…and NEVER use a debit card!
Just yesterday my credit card company called me and alerted me of some fraud transactions – a few of those fraud ones are – NC Soft, Play NC Europe, Double Day book, 12-in-one Multivitamins, Ultima Smile etc…the bank is nice to reverse all these charges. At first I thought that it was only my cc info that was somehow hacked on the internet, but later on I was shocked when I received emails from a couple of these merchants – one thanking me for the order placed and the other confirming that the order had been shipped !! When I followed up with a couple of these merchants by calling them, I was even more surprised to find out that they had my old address as the shipping address !!! How weird..why would someone who stole my cc info give the merchants my email and home addr ? The other strange thing is that all these fraud tns are for small amts.
I had also recently used my card to pay Delta Airlines for excess baggage at the airport, so am wondering if it their database that has been hacked or what ?? – the others who had airline connection in their cases, which airline was it ?
Also, did any of you guys (especially Tate D.) verify your credit reports – to ensure that its only a credit card fraud and not id theft ?
Please reply asap. Thanks.
The Blizzard and other WOW charges are from hackers who get your card number, then sell them en mass to groups in Africa, Asia, former soviet block, who buy online gaming subscriptions to farm gold. As I’ve read elsewhere, online games actually comprise the 28th largest economy in the world. There’s an economic boom going on, and some of the retailers don’t have stringent enough measures in place to prevent massive identity theft.
The million dollar question is which company had their database hacked.. the airlines connection is interesting but we may never know. My credit report has not shown any unusual activity so I’m not concerned about ID theft at this point
i’ve also had my cc info hacked and used for fraudulent online gaming purchases. however the original charges came from WP-RUNESCAPE-BY-JAGEX WILLIAM MORRI and ANKAMA DOFUS ROUBAIX. there were many charges for $5 and $65 that all came through for a period of 3 days. my bank caught them immediately and notified me to verify, which i did as fraud. the few charges that slipped through are currently being investigated and taken care of by my bank for the refunds.
i understand that the companies are being charged fees because of this fraudulent info their being given but i have absolutely no sympathy for them. i can’t imaging how someone got my card info, but if these companies had checked the name, address, or ANY information to verify the charges they would not have happened in the first place. i fail to see where they’ve been more inconvenienced than i have. they haven’t had to cancel their accounts and then do all the backwork on finding out what future charges are going to bounce because they’re trying to go to that account.
i think banks and credit card companie should take a stand and not allow charges to be complete without the proper verification info.
it’s so frustrating because every time i use my card i have to provide everything but my blood type, but some jerk figures out my card info and doesn’t even have to know my name.
I have had three cards hit in the last year. Every time I get a new card it only takes them a month or so to start up hacking. I agree with Jen, I have to give every bit of info and they don’t even know my name and can charge on the card. Blizzard and WOW, same company, don’t even have a record of me or my card # yet here the charges are. My question is, If Blizzard is not getting the money, Where is it being routed to? Visa, which seems to be the main card hit, should have that info but will not give it up. I am presently hiring a private detective to do some tracking. I don’t like being robbed and I will find them. The CC companies don’t care because, as was stated, they get charge back fees which amount to more than the charges so they get richer no matter what. It is not good business practice for them to catch them and our government officials, aka Treasury dept., can’t seem to find their a** with both hands much less someone who is leaving a very definite money trail…
As a person who has been SCREWED TO THE WALL with fraudulent charges let me tell – $19.95, $29.95, $49.95 – those are all cute and tidy. Try over $30,000! Someone charged $20,000 to a card of mine from Staples (in New Jersey – and claimed I was living in NJ at the time) several years ago and it hasn’t stopped since. Today, I just found 40 fraudulent charges including overseas purchases of several i-phones (can you say the country of Sarawak). Those alone were to the tune of $1600 + bucks! This particular credit card company has already given me 3 different numbers as IT HAS BEEN HIT TWO OTHER TIMES.
I have just purchased Lifelock and have 7 years of protection with the 3 credit reporting agencies. Fortunately, I have never had to pay back a dime (nor WOULD I ever pay them! – I had nothing to do with it!).
THis is all the work of illegals and other low-life scum doing the jobs that good people would never do. Pilfer, steal, cheat – they can all GO TO HELL!
Love,
Dave
Try and changing your cards @ least once or twice ayear…thats what i do. just call the 8oo # and report it lost you get a new one…
Also ripped off by blizzard. Someone at blizzard re-opened my account after I cancelled my subscription. I called to find out why they were still charging me and they told me the subscription had never been cancelled. I looked for my cancellation verification email and found that all messages from blizzard had been deleted from my email account. They only got me for 120 dollars in monthly fees, but that’s still annoying as hell. My character (lv 37 paladin) was obviously not worth selling. It was still there when I logged in today. Also, they have changed their policy since the last time I cancelled- a new message says that to re-open your account, your card info will have to be entered MANUALLY. That’s great, but it doesn’t help me. I called a second time to let them know about my email getting hacked and ask again for my money before seeking legal advice. Blizzard was not receptive- I tried to call a third time and 1-800-59 BLIZZARD had been “disconnected?” Yeah, right. Even though it’s some gutter-crawling curr running the scam in there, it’s still Blizzard’s responsibility to give me back my money. If the thief wasn’t working for them, then my first cancellation would appear on their records. If it does appear in their records, and they’re just telling me it doesn’t, then that lie makes that phone rep the thief. Blizzard is the thief because the thief works for them. I’d be interested to know how many oter people have been ripped off in this way- and if anyone knows agencies like the better business bureau that deal with these issues more specifically.
Blizzard hacked my email hacked by blizzard blizzard ripped me off
blizzard opened my account back up account re-opened wow rip off wow scam scammed by blizzard
I was billed twice to two different credit cards for a game on runescape. The first card came back on my computer as denied but was charged on this card, When I put in the second card I was also billed for this. I cannot find a phone number for runescape to challenge this. Can you help me with this.
Louise Hodge
Unfortunately, it is also an incentive for the CC companies to lower their fraud protection schemes.
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!
does anyone know the phone # for runescape games i have being trying to get them but cannot please help thanks.
this has just happened to me…ive lost over £100..my bank wont give it back and its hard to get through to blizzard wow..
For all you people who say you don’t know why someone would steal you’re information for online games, it’s this (and I don’t know how you missed this): If they pay with YOUR credit card, they’re not out any money. Simple as that.
For all you people who wonder where the money is going, its this: its going EXACTLY where it says on your statement. Lets look at this with an ounce of logic. Those who game, are computer savvy. Those who steal your credit card info do it through the computer. For those of you who don’t see the connection at this point, you deserve to have you’re credit card scammed.
The second plausible explanation is that someone who hacks credit cards has simply used the same name. Not that complex.
My advice is deal with it from a bank end. I know in Canada the banks’ anti fraud things are pretty good, and if there are large charges the RCMP deal with them. Freeze your account.
also, what you don’t realize is that when you park your car, leave your wallet in it, don’t lock it, and leave, it is very very VERY easy to go into your wallet, copy down all of the information you need to both use and verify all of your credit cards and then put everything back where it was in the wallet.
It takes about 4 minutes with a pen and paper…about 1 if you’re efficient, don’t look for other valuables in the car, and have a half decent camera.
However if you leave your car unlocked with your wallet in it, I honestly and truly believe you deserve to get robbed and inconvienced because you have demonstrated by example that you’re too dumb to take part in the capitalist, monetary system.
how do i cancel my membership with runescame.want no more payments to come out from creditcard.