Credit Card Fraud involving Blizzard Entertainment

harryhound

Captain's_Wife wrote: »

It's rare to spend the extra (government) funds to chase on-line theft, when the merchant makes an easy target for being in possession of stolen money.

This advice was for U.S. law. I'm not sure how things stand for my friend's across the pond.

Welcome to all these international newbies giving their perspective on this serious global crime - I was trying to explain to a management consultant friend at the weekend, the implications of the virtual world now having an economy that ranks 28th in terms of GDP THIS IS REALLY SERIOUS MONEY.

To answer the question:
Britain's jails are full. We are now trying a tagging system that means that small time crooks (most crime numerically is created by under 25 year old males, probably living without an effective male role model) theoretically have a curfew. Financial crime is not "sexy"; juries tend to fall asleep. Our government has "privatised" the problem back to the banks to sort it out and we now have increasing "clever" systems for using CC's. lnvented by nerds, they protect the banks but make the cards almost unusable and unreliable for the likes of senior citizens. Unfortunately the rest of the world has not kept up with this technology, pioneered in France, where bouncing a cheque is a criminal offence.
So we now have the worst of all worlds: Steal CC details of a UK card then use it in slacker parts of the world, to milk the victim. There are some countries where a European CC transaction is refused when it gets back home, because of the high percentage of fraud.

This is NOT a victimless crime - have your CC details stolen and YOU the victim are at risk of going to jail.

Here is the link to the major CC fraud thread on this site:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=5144640&highlight=Lolita#post5144640

John_Pierpoint

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

I have had 6 x Blizzard transactions - 3 in the US and 3 in France. All identified by Egg as suspicious and refunded without any hassle. Well done, Egg!

Hi Mark,

For the benefit of our American cousins, I'm being ironic.

Is everything still OK with your Egg card ?

I don't know what Citi bank is up to, but I'm not that happy.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=332339

I hope the incident does not come back to haunt you.

John.

fraudwatcher1

You are so right!

There is actually software out there that can generate the card number for you if you understand the credit/debit card sequences. A lot of these online companies get hit hard with debit card fraud b/c of that. The criminals normally aren't interested in the services rendered by these companies. Often times they use online companies to test the card number out, then make other charges on the cards...

I haven't read the other posts, so I might be repeating advise. I do advise everyone to check their accounts online everyday. A majority of fraud occurs overnight (literally). I check mine everymorning. A lot of people are scared of online banking b/c of the increased amounts of online fraud, but those same people are usually the ones shopping online. Many banks offer online alerts to online banking users that will e-mail or text you when there are changes to your account. Be more aware of your money people! Don't just assume that you signed up for something and forgot about it. Don't call your bank to inquire about a foreign charge, but refuse to let them close your card. If you can't live without your credit/debit card, then you shouldn't put your money in the bank. Keep it under you mattress!!!

SINY-LINY

lotbroek wrote: »

here a message from the netherlands, i've been hit too, first i got a mail from ebay that my cardnumber was used to eather create an acount or to pay, after two days i noticed a 4 time blling of my cc i was not aware of:
12-06-2007 BLIZZARD-ENT*ELECUPGRD 800-592-5499 CA 15,12
12-06-2007 BLIZZARD-ENT*ELECUPGRD 800-592-5499 CA 15,12
12-06-2007 BLIZZARD-ENT*ELECUPGRD 800-592-5499 CA 30,27
12-06-2007 BLIZZARD ENT*WOW SUB BLIZZARD.COM CA 11,35

looks like some kid playing online games with our money, my cc is now blocked
many thanks to ebay to warn me.

---

Hi,

I came to this site after seeing charges on my citibank debit/credit card from both RBS THE NETHERLAN GA and Ebay that were not authorized

06-16 *DEBIT AUTHORIZATION
AT 22:39 RBS THE NETHERLAN GA $ 0.00

06-16 *DEBIT AUTHORIZATION
AT 22:38 RBS THE NETHERLAN GA $ 0.00

06-14 *DEBIT AUTHORIZATION
AT 22:34 EBAY SAN JOSE CA $ 0.13

06-14 *DEBIT AUTHORIZATION
AT 22:32 EBAY SAN JOSE CA $ 0.13

06-14 *DEBIT AUTHORIZATION
AT 22:31 EBAY SAN JOSE CA $ 0.13


The last thing I purchased on my card 6/11/07 was a an item on Ebay coming from HK through GB.

When the item was won I paid for it ASAP . A few days later I got 7 emails from "aw-confirm@ebay.com" asking me to verify my CC info.

I deleted them thinking it was a phishing scam, went on my ebay account where the same emails were also sent to my ebay messages folder.

I never opened them or linked to them so I am not sure if this is just a coincidence or not.

I called citibank they are putting a watch on my account, Monday I will have to call ebay to find out whats going on.


SINYLINY

dahlia47

Black Saturn, don't be naive. It is often not be a person's online purchases that compromised their credit card number. Everyone thinks when they see fraudulent activity that it was the result of their online buying. But that is not necessarily the case.

It's true that usually the fraudulent purchases happen online--a person buying online only needs the card number, name, expiration date, and sometimes the security number, rather than an actual physical card.

But they could have gotten that information from any merchant--when you pay in person with your credit card, that info is frequently stored in the merchant's computer system (even when it is not supposed to be), and someone can hack that system to get credit information for anyone who has shopped there.

In the US, the biggest breach recently has been at TJ Maxx. Fraudsters breached security at a couple of stores and stole information being transmitted wirelessly from the point-of-sale credit card readers to the main computers. This info allowed them to hack into the main computer system and steal thousands and thousands of credit card numbers. The mess is still being cleaned up. You can read newspaper accounts of this. I read about it in the Wall Street Journal.

The people whose numbers were stolen were people who had shopped at TJ Maxx stores in person with their credit cards. Not people who had shopped online.

I got a call from Bank of America yesterday. Two $5 purchases from Truition showed up. My VISA card is cancelled again, the second time since November, and I await a new one. I do shop quite a bit online, since 1998 or so, but only from reputable retailers. It has only been in the last year that I started using my VISA to buy groceries at a small local market--I used to pay cash--and I am wondering if their security is not all that great. The problems seem to have started at about the same time. When I get my new card, I will not use it there. I will go back to paying cash. We'll see if that makes a difference.

So yes, you can shop online. It is no worse than shopping in person.

buba69

Happened upon this thread when googling "BLIZZARD-ENT*ELECUPGRD" looks like somebody did a major hack on some major online service (Amazon? Itunes?). Either that or they are using the type of program mentioned by fraudwatcher1 above. I live in Chicago, and these explanations seem to be the only suitable ones based on the geography and general disassociatedness of all the people here reporting these charges...

I have 3 charges all on the same day:
06/07/2007 Sale BLIZZARD-ENT*ELECUPGRD(Services and Merchandise) 24692167158000769885617 $19.99
06/07/2007 Sale BLIZZARD-ENT*ELECUPGRD(Services and Merchandise) 24692167158000769885567 $21.74
06/07/2007 Sale BLIZZARD-ENT*ELECUPGRD(Services and Merchandise) 24692167158000769885559 $19.99

I will be calling the card issuer in the morning...

TrainWreck_2

I bought scrubs online for work at Jasco's ecommerce store and that is how it all started that was on 6/18/07 and within seconds my debit card number was used for:

6/18/07 Purchase NC SOFT NC 1 512 225 6359 NYUS $29.99
6/20/07 Purchase WORLD OF WARCRAFT CDKEY WORLD OF WARCRAFT VELIZY F $27.11
6/20/07 Purchase WORLD OF WARCRAFT CDKEY WORLD OF WARCRAFT VELIZY F $27.11
6/20/07 Purchase WORLD OF WARCRAFT CDKEY WORLD OF WARCRAFT VELIZY F $27.11
6/21/07 Purchase BLIZZARD-ENT*ELECUPERD BLIZZARD-ENT*ELECU 800-592$19.99
6/21/07 Purchase BLIZZARD-ENT*ELECUPERD BLIZZARD-ENT*ELECU 800-592
$21.19

For a grand total of $152.50 in fraudulent charges to my card. :eek:

I am now in overdraft and the fees will be tacked on at least $20 ea purchase and after $100 it's $50 more. I called my bank and I have to send a signed letter to them via fax. I called Jasco to let them know that their secure website certificates are worth spit. I called Warcraft and got an automated message and so I have to try tomorrow morning again. I have yet to call Blizzard where I am sure I will get some kind of BS story about how they double check everyone before the charge the card.
:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: I think I just popped a blood vessel!

TrainWreck_2

To whom it may concern,

My debit card was recently used to purchase a download from your website. This was an unauthorized transaction and a large sum of money was taken out of my checking account by debit card. What do I need to do to get my money back? I contacted my bank, however because of Blizzard's and Warcraft's gross neglegence, my ability to function at a comfortable financial level has been interrupted. I have been greatly disserviced by your lack of guidlines to see if purchases are legitimate. I appreciate a prompt and pro-active response from you. I have a family member that works with the FBI and specializes in internet fraud. If the issue is not resolved between Blizzard and myself , the next step will be contacting her about the situation. There are also several forums online with other cardholders expressing their concerns regarding the practices of Blizzard and WarCraft. Strict changes need to be made regarding the screening of credit card purchases made by your customers. It is very obvious that your company is aware of the situation and has not acted appropriatly. Eventually, Blizzard may face a class action law suit regarding the reckless and harmful use of such sensitive financial information and its blatant way that it enables thieves to commit such crimes.

Thank you for your time, and prompt response

BB

John_Pierpoint

It is good to see the robust attitude our American cousins are taking to this crime.

More power to your elbow; over here in the UK we are reduced to chewing our elbows.

I have posted an entry here that links to the BBC interviewing, what sounds like one of your countrymen, explaining what the card issuers propose to do about the likes of Blizzard.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=5531542#post5531542

We will see, but in the meantime, we have to get on with our disrupted lives.

John

You can get a feel for English justice on this thread:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=5527211&highlight=jail#post5527211

and how pathetic it is by watching this video (click on "launch in stand alone player")

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_6220000/newsid_6225000/6225020.stm?bw=bb&mp=wm

SINY-LINY

TrainWreck wrote: »

I bought scrubs online for work at Jasco's ecommerce store and that is how it all started that was on 6/18/07 and within seconds my debit card number was used for:

6/18/07 Purchase NC SOFT NC 1 512 225 6359 NYUS $29.99
6/20/07 Purchase WORLD OF WARCRAFT CDKEY WORLD OF WARCRAFT VELIZY F $27.11
6/20/07 Purchase WORLD OF WARCRAFT CDKEY WORLD OF WARCRAFT VELIZY F $27.11
6/20/07 Purchase WORLD OF WARCRAFT CDKEY WORLD OF WARCRAFT VELIZY F $27.11
6/21/07 Purchase BLIZZARD-ENT*ELECUPERD BLIZZARD-ENT*ELECU 800-592$19.99
6/21/07 Purchase BLIZZARD-ENT*ELECUPERD BLIZZARD-ENT*ELECU 800-592
$21.19

For a grand total of $152.50 in fraudulent charges to my card. :eek:

I am now in overdraft and the fees will be tacked on at least $20 ea purchase and after $100 it's $50 more. I called my bank and I have to send a signed letter to them via fax. I called Jasco to let them know that their secure website certificates are worth spit. I called Warcraft and got an automated message and so I have to try tomorrow morning again. I have yet to call Blizzard where I am sure I will get some kind of BS story about how they double check everyone before the charge the card.
:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: I think I just popped a blood vessel!

---

Damn I also got scrubs from Jasco Uniforms the same day I ordered the items online from EBAY UK.

All EBAY stated was that there was another account opened up with my name , address and debit card number but they made sure they canceled it.

I made sure I changed my account numbers and debit information just in case.

Citibank is still watching my old account to see what happens and on 6/20/07 RBS tries 3 more times to get into my account.

As per the person I spoke to with Citibank RBS handles money exchange rates in my case it was USD to GBP but still no reason why they are trying to get into my account???