British bank Halifax is blocking all payments to Blizzard due to a rise in stolen credit numbers being used to pay for World of Warcraft subscriptions.
A Halifax statement reads:
We have seen a significant number of fraudulent transactions through Blizzard’s gaming sites. We have, therefore, blocked the majority of Visa/Mastercard transactions we receive from there in order to combat this. We do not believe the fraud is anything to do with Blizzard themselves, their sites or the integrity of their billing systems, rather it is site users utilising stolen credit card details to pay for subscriptions.
Fortunately, customers won’t have to switch banks to pay for their WoW addiction, but they will have to go through a special process for their payments. “If a customer does want to subscribe to a game site operated by Blizzard, using a Halifax or Bank of Scotland credit card, we can arrange for the payments to be processed for them if they contact us,” said the bank.
Although I do not play WoW myself, I think this is a very good piece of news, as I am a Halifax customer. It only means a minor bit of inconvenience to actual WoW players, and it ensures that they, and all Halifax customers know that we are not paying for someone else’s level 69 rogue. Also, I’m glad Halifax is being sensible about this and not blaming Blizzard, as fraud is hardly a new thing.
Needless to say, it’s a 50DKP minus for would-be credit card thieves.
Via: Game Politics
