UK's Halifax bank denies WoW charges

by Alexander Sliwinski { Feb 18th 2008 at 2:45PM }

The UK's Halifax bank has reportedly stopped transactions to Blizzard Entertainment "due to a significant number of fraudulent transactions," meaning those with Halifax issued Visa/Mastercards won't be making their World of Warcraft payment this month. The Register writes that the bank doesn't blame Blizzard and is apparently tired of dealing with all the fraudulent charges using stolen credit cards. The bank will allow payment processing once customers contact it to make arrangements.

Sister-site WoW Insider has chronicled many fraud issues on the insanely popular MMO. Between the keyloggers and phishers, Azeroth can be a dangerous place. In all fairness, the Halifax issue could have happened with any MMO as they all have similar scams. Although what Halifax is doing is inconvenient, it's still better than customers checking their monthly statements and discovering fraudulent charges.

[Via WoW Insider]

Tags: bank, halifax, worldofwarcraft, wow, wrathofthelichking

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

BJ Moneyheffer @ Feb 18th 2008 2:50PM

Inb4Ludwigs

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Feb 18th 2008 3:06PM

You're bill gates avatar is full of nerd and richguy.

BJ Moneyheffer @ Feb 18th 2008 3:19PM

And white sweater.

James @ Feb 18th 2008 4:25PM

"You are Bill Gates avatar"?

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Feb 18th 2008 4:38PM

Yes, he are bill gates avatar.

You read that right

hvnlysoldr @ Feb 18th 2008 6:52PM

It's not a coincidence that this inb4 applies to a certain commenter.

Although I don't play WoW I would see why the bank wouldn't want to lose money from fraud.

mattclarkie @ Feb 18th 2008 2:57PM

Don't trust Halifax. I bought a PS3 on my card and I got an email from the retailer saying my card was declined. I had bought from them dozens of time.

I rang Halifax and they said they thought I was being frauded. I said it was legit, and they said if the transaction was resent they would allow it. I rang the retailer and they sent through the transaction. Then I got an automated message from Halifax asking me to confirm the charge. I went through this, and then it refused to acknowledge my birthday, I know my own birthday, and was told the payment would be blocked.

I rang up Halifax and they said the payment had gone through, a quick call to the retailer confirmed this and the PS3 arrived the next day.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Feb 18th 2008 3:06PM

Everytime I read news about the UK, I'm glad I don't live there.

Poisoned Al @ Feb 18th 2008 9:58PM

Funny, I think the same thing about the states.

bAssackwards @ Feb 18th 2008 3:07PM

All your five-polygon gold mounds are belong to us!

Jevanzz @ Feb 20th 2008 11:38AM

Damn, this actually affects me!

Surely if you were a criminal with some else's credit card, you wouldn't just use it to play WoW, or have crackheads found a new addiction?

Cabcru @ Feb 18th 2008 3:21PM

I remember having a Halifax account as a kid. They shut it down and took my money because they said I didn't have enough money in there. I was a kid! Anyway, 25 years later and guess who has never been back to Halifax...

mikjendk @ Feb 18th 2008 3:52PM

I believe the reason for this is due to credit farmers. A regular approach for the farmers is to 'buy' copies of the game in question and then refute the charge. Since this takes a handful of days to go through they can essentially buy 20-30 copies of a game abuse them for a weeks time and then refute the charges.

John Smedly (CEO of Sony Online Entertainment) recently made some comments about it in an interview, describing it as causing several million dolloars worth of fines and fees for both the mmo company and the banks.