May 17 2010

Fraudulent credit card charges - clickandbuy.com and Blizzard

Filed under: Identity » Identity Theft, Privacy » Software,

Tools:

$1 charges from blizzard ent*wow sub and clickandbuy.com

Are you seeing charge attempts on your credit card statement from blizzard ent*wow sub and clickandbuy.com (London based online payment provider)? We just recently had these show up on one of our business credit cards, and after online access to our account was denied we called in and our credit card company informed us that they suspected these were unauthorized charges. In particular, due to the small amount ($1), they appear to be charge attempts - that is, if the $1 charge had gone through, the perpetrator would then proceed to charge larger amounts, knowing that they could successfully charge the card.

How does credit card fraud happen?

There's a number of ways credit card fraud can occur, not the least of which is identity theft, where someone gets a hold of the right combination of personal information necessary to pose as you. Personal information subject to identity theft and fraud includes your name, address, phone number, bank and credit card numbers, social security number, etc. However, in this case we feel the charges were executed by random number generators. You'll notice that not all charging systems are secure - they don't all check for the same information - ie. name, number, expiration date, and security code. If any one of these items is missing, the transaction's level of security decreases significantly.

Credit card number generating software

In this event, and in other reported events we've come across since researching this issue, it appears that all that is necessary in some instances is correctly guessing your credit card number. While fraudsters might be using so-called credit card number generating software, the odds of the software correctly guessing your number and related information are small. It is more likely that your credit card data was compromised during an online transaction.

Contacting Blizzard and Click and Buy

The blizzard ent*wow sub appears to be from Blizzard Entertainment, developer of the popular World of Warcraft computer game franchise. In the online version of the game, customers are able to purchase subscriptions. Their support phone numbers are 1-800-592-5499 (U.S.) and 1-800-592-5499 (Canada). More numbers, for other countries, are located on their website support page.

The clickandbuy.com could be attached to any vendor that uses Click and Buy's online payment system. These include but are not limited to Apple iTunes, Skype, msn, T-Online, Electronic Arts, Meetic, Playboy, SanDisk, Yamaha, UNICEF and more. While we were unable to track down a phone number for Click and Buy, we found a complaints page that links to their contact form.

Does your credit card company have fraud prevention measures in place?

If you are visiting this page because you have charges similar to these on your statement that you don't recognize, call your credit card company and put a hold on your card immediately, if you or they have not already done so, and have them send you a new card. In our case our credit card company recognized the clickandbuy.com charge as potential fraud (but not the blizzard one). When our account access was denied, we called in and answered security questions to a fraud prevention agent that was able to answer our questions and help us track down the problem. Fortunately, a hold was placed on our card automatically when the clickandbuy.com charge was attempted, and no further charges were allowed. Unfortunately, not all credit card companies have the same security measures in place. We asked how many of these incidents they receive and they said 5-6 per day. That means these charges are being attempted constantly, and odds are your card will be hit with one sooner or later. Call your company and make sure identity theft and fraud prevention procedures are in place now.

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Read Privacy Crisis: Identity Theft to start protecting yourself

In addition to using Evidence Smart, we recommend that you take the time to download and read Privacy Crisis. It's an ebook (electronic book) that shows you how to prevent identity theft. No recurring fees - once you have the book you'll have good knowledge of how the system works, and you'll feel more comfortable knowing how to keep your identity safe and protected.

There's tons of services out there that offer "identity theft" protection programs for recurring monthly fees. But if you know what you're doing you don't necessarily need all those extra cost services. After all, why should you have to pay more to protect something that should be protected by the company that is in control of your information in the first place?

Credit card stolen!

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Tue, 08/31/2010 - 12:55.

On 24.07.10, I received a bill from my credit card from CHF 3'500.- I have made no purchases from clickandbuy. I cancel my cards so what should I do more them that? Anyway I went to the police office to notice it!

Best regards, Mrs Burger

Contact your bank

Submitted by power of privacy on Tue, 08/31/2010 - 12:58.

Hi Mrs Burger,

We're sorry you're having to deal with this. Please call your bank to cancel your card and have your charges removed. Clickandbuy appears to be a high risk merchant as far as secure transactions are concerned.

Disposable Visa card

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Mon, 08/30/2010 - 12:14.

I play online games, and after getting my CC compromised constantly, I now purchase a disposable Visa card first and use it to pay my game purchases with. It has stopped the constant fraud hits on my main CC and still allows me to play and purchase game items.

Temporary credit card numbers

Submitted by power of privacy on Tue, 08/31/2010 - 12:57.

Excellent advice. For those using banks that offer this "temporary" or "disposable" credit card numbers for online transactions (the numbers are tied to your account, but are only valid for the duration of the transaction), we highly recommend this approach to help minimize credit card fraud!

blizzard.com

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Mon, 07/19/2010 - 23:49.

Just found 5 charges in 2 days from blizzard.com. Fraud charges filed.

Judging by the dates, this has been going on well over a year and still happening. You would have thought this would have stopped by now!!!!

Cancel charges?

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Sat, 06/26/2010 - 15:33.

I have noticed a number of these entries on my credit card and wonder if there is a way to cancel them.

Regards

Click and Buy Email Attachment

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Thu, 07/08/2010 - 10:26.

I received 3 unsolicited e mails telling me I had made purchases from clickandbuy. I have made no purchases. Below is one of the e mails. It had an attachment that I did not open.

ClickandBuy purchase confirmationMonday, June 21, 2010 9:48 AMFrom: "ClickandBuy" Add sender to ContactsTo: norfolk_va_lsa@bcca.org

Message contains attachments1 File (2KB)login.html

Dear norfolk_va_lsa@bcca.org,

You have made the following purchase using ClickandBuy:

Merchant: E-DevInvent GmbH
Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2010 19:48:58 +0300
Selected offer: 1000 Strip.TV Credits
Amount to pay: EUR 320.00 Currency Exchange Rate: 1
ClickandBuy account number: 11324558

In order to answer this email and/or contact the ClickandBuy Service Team, please click to attached file. You will be redirected automatically to our contact form.

ClickandBuy Customer Care Team

Don't Open Attachments

Submitted by power of privacy on Tue, 07/27/2010 - 15:40.

Never open email attachments unless they are from a trusted source (ie. person you know). In this case, this appears to be a scam. Check your card or bank statement and make sure there are no unauthorized charges. If there are, request a new card and ask for the charges to be refunded.

Contact your bank

Submitted by power of privacy on Sat, 06/26/2010 - 15:34.

We recommend you contact your bank and initiate a fraud claim. They should refund the funds and issue you a new card.

Credit card!

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Sat, 06/12/2010 - 22:51.

Show me a complete credit card info!!

Don't think so

Submitted by power of privacy on Mon, 06/14/2010 - 22:09.

Ummm, no. That would defeat the whole purpose of protecting people's personal information, wouldn't it?

WoW ID theft protection

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Wed, 06/09/2010 - 21:54.

I just recently found out there have been 10 new charges to one of my credit cards, and I did NOT make them. Me and my boyfriend play WoW with a bunch of other people and he just bought some gold online from the company using my credit card, could that be what happened???

What about stuff like this: identity theft protection. If I got ID theft protection can I still buy stuff online for WoW or is the company just totally sketchy and I'll get screwed no matter what?

BLIZZARD ENT*WOW

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Tue, 06/08/2010 - 03:23.

Yeah they got me on 1 for 249. 149. 11 at 25 and a lot of little ones over 900.00 in one day. This is bull.

Man in AL, USA

They withdraw money from my account

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Thu, 06/03/2010 - 22:54.

I need my money back

www clickandbuy - not authorized and it is fraud

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Wed, 05/19/2010 - 14:00.

I have noticed that £4.95 has been withdrawn every month from my bank account by "www clickandbuy". I have not authorized any withdrawal and demand this to stop immediately and a refund be issued. I look forward to your reply.

Once again...

Submitted by power of privacy on Wed, 05/19/2010 - 14:03.

It continues to amaze me how many people don't actually read this article, but arrive here and assume we're the ones charging the unauthorized "blizzard" withdrawals.

People - we are providing this article a a resource to help you! Please take the time to read it

I just got hit up yesterday

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Sun, 05/09/2010 - 01:18.

Blizzard totally took $265.84 from my account. I have never heard of them before. I'm glad my bank will take care of it. I will not be using online payments again. I was on hold for over one hour and still no one picked up the phone.

$3.22 charged by clickandbuy and then refunded

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Wed, 03/31/2010 - 05:18.

My bank placed a fraud hold on my account because they observed $3.22 charged and then refunded to my credit card. I had never even heard of ClickAndBuy before this. I assume someone was testing my account to see if they could later run larger charges through it.

Thank you for the posting

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Mon, 03/22/2010 - 18:08.

Very helpful and informative.

I was just hit by Blizzard, too

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Fri, 03/19/2010 - 20:28.

Anyone know their address? I was told I needed to contact the local Police Department in California since that is where the money was RECEIVED. That is the law.

Charges on my account

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Thu, 03/11/2010 - 22:07.

Does any one know the phone number to this company?????

Blizzard support

Submitted by power of privacy on Mon, 03/15/2010 - 18:05.

Call the phone number on your credit card statement next to the fraudulent entry. For Blizzard fraud charges, you can visit their support page. Let them know someone is fraudulently using your card information. The phone numbers listed for support are:

Canada 1-800-592-5499
United States 1-800-592-5499
Argentina 0800-333-0778
Australia 1-800-041-378
Chile 1230-020-5554
Indonesia 001-803-015-203-9778
Malaysia 1-800-813-156
Mexico 001-888-578-7628
Philippines 1-800-1-116-1011
Singapore 1-800-254-9927
Thailand 001-800-13-203-2841

Good luck!

Update - we've added additional contact information we found on Blizzard and Click and Buy in the article above.

I had $284.00 taken from my

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Fri, 03/05/2010 - 03:25.

I had $284.00 taken from my account by Blizzard Ent WOW. I am going to file a fraud report and the bank will refund it to me in 7-10 days. The only think that frustrates me is the inconvenience this causes. I hope they get to shut these bastards down!!

Click and Buy

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Mon, 02/08/2010 - 21:33.

Thanks for your posting. This has happened to me. The first time the bank called and asked if I knew what these charges were. When I told them no, they canceled my card. I received a new card. I have not had it for more than two weeks when they did it again. The only thing I purchased with this card was to update my Netflix account with the new number. NOTHING ELSE!!

Also there is another one, fees.com. They are doing the same thing. This is either possibly associated with Netflix or a program I found on my computer called mirar. You can erase it by going to control panel, uninstall program, then scroll down and select mirar. Also it gets into the c drive. c:\windows\system32. Delete it from there as well.

Mirar also puts itself in Internet Properties. I went to Internet Properties, then clicked on the "Manage add-ons" button, then scrolled down and disable them. I did all of these because when I deleted it was still in these areas described above there.

This is the best I can pass on. This all happened today. I hope this is helpful to someone.

Clickandbuy.com NY

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Sat, 01/30/2010 - 22:15.

I was looking at my Credit Card transactions, from the 11th of this month, and Clickandbuy.com charged around 13 dollars. I have never been to the website until now. I need to call my bank.

FRAUD: Click and buy $1,257.21 charge

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Fri, 01/29/2010 - 14:59.

First of all thank you for the article, it was very useful for me.

Yesterday I was charged $1,257.21 from clickandbuy and $1 from Paypal.

Whenever I use my credit card I receive a message from my bank to my mobile phone, that´s how I found out these charges.

As soon as I read it I called the credit card service to report it and to cancel the credit card. The bank was already closed so I had to wait until the next day.

Before going there I had to write down a letter explaining the facts. Then I went to my bank, explained these things and they told me that there were 5 attempts of charging me higher amounts but all of them were canceled. I was given a report of this charges by the bank, then I had to go to the police to lodge a complaint.

Once I had done it, I came back to the bank to give them this report and the credit card in order to be sent all together to the bank main office or wherever this kind of things are sent.

The bank immediately gave me back the money. I decided to cancel the credit cards I had.

I used two credit cards, the one that I always used to buy in the internet (never had any problem). And another one which I almost never use (and it was the one being forged). I haven´t used that credit card in almost a year,only once used in the internet (a secure page of books) I never use pages of games, gambling, dates, porn or something like that.

My question is: how on earth could someone know my credit card number and eventually used it so easily?

From now on I double check my bank account.

Wow

Submitted by power of privacy on Wed, 02/03/2010 - 00:46.

Holy moly - we've heard dozens of cases of small charges, but never one as large as $1,2k. We're sorry you had to go through this. We're not sure how thieves are able to get a hold of credit card numbers from people that are as careful as yourself, but here are some general techniques we've heard they use:

Credit card number generators (although with 16 possible digits, and 10 possible numbers for each digit, arriving at your card number (1016 = 10,000,000,000,000,000 possibilities), they might as well win the lottery first.
Receipts that print your credit card digits and name. You'd be surprised at how much information is available on some credit card receipts. In the worst scenario, old machines print out the entire credit card number, expiration date, and your full name.
Insecure Internet connection - while many secure shopping pages have SSL (security) certificates installed, not all know how to apply them properly.
Insecure data storage/ breach by a merchant or vendor - vendors that store your personal details may not keep them as secure as they need to be.

The list goes on and on. There's no point beating yourself up over it, as you can see how many people are affected by credit card fraud. The card companies, issuing banks, etc. are aware of this, hence there is usually no penalty. We imagine they account for credit card fraud losses in their profit and loss figures.

blizzard ent wow

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Mon, 01/18/2010 - 02:02.

The blizzard ent wow is a subscription for the online game World of Warcraft. The monthly gaming fee is $14.99 USD. Make sure none of your kids have access to your credit cards and are playing the game at the moment.

Click and buy

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Sat, 01/16/2010 - 07:29.

I just found out it is a charge from moshi monsters that i had forgotton about , thought i signed up for one month but it was for recurring payments, not fraud! Maybe your kids are using your card???

Small charges

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Tue, 01/12/2010 - 05:51.

I have also had a similar experience - 3 separate charges of around $8 each charged to clickandbuy.com in the UK. I am based in New Zealand so clearly fraudulent. My bank has refunded the charges and will issue me a new card.

Thank God

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Wed, 12/23/2009 - 16:23.

Thanks God that I never had this kind of fraud. But thank you so much for the information regarding this.

Thanks Erskine,
Free Games Website

Another victim here

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Fri, 12/18/2009 - 16:05.

I just found a small charge $7.11 on my Australian Bank credit card from clickandbuy. After reading a few sites like this it is clear some fraudsters have managed to breach the secure payments system. I have alerted the bank. Thank you for publishing information about these scams.

Hienas

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Fri, 12/04/2009 - 01:25.

3 withdrawals posted to my account for $14.99 each. Stop this immediately.

Contact your bank

Submitted by power of privacy on Tue, 12/15/2009 - 02:32.

We wish we could stop it, but since we didn't originate the charge, we can't. We're only trying to help by informing people of how to address and resolve this issue. Contact your bank for help.

Blizzard statement

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Fri, 10/30/2009 - 18:30.

I am receiving charges on my credit card from BLIZZARD ENT WOW SUB and I have no idea why they are there. Could you enlighten me?

Charges:
10/29 2 times $41.97
10/29 4 times $ 1.00
10/29 1 time $14.99

I want these removed immediately since I do not know what they are for.

Thank you.

See article

Submitted by power of privacy on Sat, 10/31/2009 - 18:02.

Read the article above please.

More clickandbuy fraud

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Sun, 10/25/2009 - 16:02.

I am informing you that I have had $7.27 debited from my business credit card under the name of Mrs [privacy filter] (Lithgow Laser Clinic) in Australia from "www.Clickandbuy.Com London GBR. I sent you an email last week but have not had a response yet. I will be pursuing further action through the legal system if I do not receive information regarding this debit.

See above

Submitted by power of privacy on Wed, 10/28/2009 - 18:44.

Please see our response above. We wrote this article to help bring awareness to this issue - but is anyone actually reading it?

Unauthorized withdrawals

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Fri, 10/23/2009 - 14:16.

£4.95 has been debited on or around 29th of each month from my bank account. I have not authorized these withdrawals and demand that they stop immediately, as of today.

I look forward to hearing from you that this action has taken place.

Contact your bank

Submitted by power of privacy on Fri, 10/23/2009 - 14:20.

Those charges are not from us - in fact, we don't collect credit card numbers. We simply provide information that is intended to help you protect your personal information.

You found us because we wrote an article about credit card fraud addressing this issue (see the article above).

We recommend you contact your bank and initiate a fraud claim. They should refund the funds and issue you a new card.

clickandbuy london charge?

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Fri, 10/23/2009 - 14:15.

Each month our credit card has an amount of around $7 with transaction details listed as 'www.clickandbuy.com london gbr gbr'.

Can you please advise what this could possibly be???

Another hit with the .clickandbuy.com london gbr

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Sun, 01/24/2010 - 03:52.

I have just noticed that my credit card is also being hit with $7 a fortnight. The only time that I have used my card on line, is when I purchased a 1 month access to mussy monsters on line. This is the only time I have used my card, without going through Paypal. So somehow these predators have managed to obtain my info through this I am sure. I know that I will be at the bank first thing tomorrow morning canceling my card.

See article

Submitted by power of privacy on Mon, 05/17/2010 - 20:15.

Read our article above.

fraudulent charges on my acct

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Mon, 10/12/2009 - 23:30.

ENT blizzard, wow blizzard.com
209. accrued POS from my acct.

anyone want to file a civil action lawsuit against this co? I'm in. also happened to a co-worker i just discovered today!

Filing a lawsuit

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Wed, 04/28/2010 - 16:48.

This has now happened to me for the third time (I have canceled the credit cards each time). I am seriously interested in filing a class action and I will begin the process. Anyone interested in participating in the process, please send your email address to ESandJWSales at gmail dot com.

Blizzard entertainment

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Mon, 01/18/2010 - 01:58.

Make sure it is not someone in your family, that is playing online games using your card without your knowing. The game cost $14.99 per month to remain activated. To stop this, you have to log on and cancel the account payment (depends on who controls the account, if you can find the person, let him/her cancel recurring payments).

hit 3 times by cc fraud

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Tue, 09/08/2009 - 23:42.

I've been hit 3 times by credit card fraud and did not realize but my card company is blocking and re-issuing me a new card. I don't no yet if i get my money back or not. It was £5.00 then two lots of £25.00. I get £55.00 a week to live on - what trash they are.

clickandbuy.com scam

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Tue, 09/01/2009 - 16:36.

www.clickandbuy.com took out £2.99 for a feeler,then two days later took a further £24.99,and now (I've just been alerted) another £24.99. All of course without permission. Will I be refunded by my bank? sy

Contact your bank

Submitted by power of privacy on Wed, 09/09/2009 - 01:15.

Make sure you contact your bank, alert them to the fraud, and then have them issue you a new card. It appears someone else is currently in possession of your credit card details and is using them fraudulently.

CC Fraud

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Thu, 07/16/2009 - 22:41.

Interesting that credit card companies used to offer "virtual" credit card numbers, that would only be good for a single use, to protect from fraud during online transactions.

I believe Visa still has such an option. But it appears that now card companies (at least mine - Chase) simply guarantees against any frauduluent activities because they're so rampant.

What I want to know is how do people get the card #'s if I'm so careful to protect them? There's no change they're guessing correctly using a random number generator is there? If that is the case, maybe card companies need to make longer numbers.

Fraud stopped

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Tue, 05/12/2009 - 04:50.

Very useful information. Thank you so much. I was charged $135 through click and buy but luckily, an agent from the fraud control dept of my bank called me, stopped the transaction, and also blocked my card.

Thanks for the warning

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Fri, 03/27/2009 - 22:19.

Thanks for the warning. I haven't given too much thought to this as far as online payment processing goes. We should have access to a blacklisted agents database. Unfortunately, most of us don't have the time to research this and end up being overcharged on credit cards.

Sites accepting credit cards

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Wed, 03/04/2009 - 19:58.

Every site that says they accept credit cards are not doing you a favor. They're just trying to get you hooked on their services (like Blizzard does with their games) and make you pay a monthly fee, even if you stopped playing. You have to contact them and let them know you're done.

Charge on Debit Card bill

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Thu, 02/26/2009 - 00:54.

I have a charge for $77.94 from ent*wow sub blizzard.com How do I get them to stop?

Call your card holder

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Wed, 04/07/2010 - 16:50.

Call your card holder and cancel the card ASAP. The business will continue to bill you and it's a fraud.

Online banking only account

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Thu, 03/11/2010 - 02:56.

Close your account immediately and open 2 more - one for everyday use and one limited to online banking.

Fraud

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Mon, 11/30/2009 - 18:58.

I have multiple charges on my account from Blizzard ent wow sub. How do I get them to stop and retrieve my money?

Contact your bank

Submitted by power of privacy on Tue, 12/01/2009 - 20:01.

Have your bank cancel your card and issue you a new one. They should also refund the fraudulent charges.

My bank is investigating a charge from ent wow

Submitted by looking for some privacy on Thu, 10/08/2009 - 20:39.

There is a $14.00 charge on my bank card account that was definitely not authorized by me! I know nothing about this website and have never ordered anything from you! I got this address from my bank. They will be conducting a full investigation into this matter. The $14.99 charge will be credited back to my account, because I did not authorize this charge whatsoever!!

Frustrating

Submitted by power of privacy on Tue, 10/13/2009 - 20:26.

We understand your frustration, we went through the same ordeal, which is why we wrote this article alerting people to the issue. As far as we discerned, the best you can do is dispute the charge with your bank - they should credit your account and send you a new card.

The charge is most likely made by someone misusing your card - or possibly having gained unauthorized access to your card number, such as with a card generator. It's a shame that this is such a frequently recurring problem.

Issue a new credit card

Submitted by power of privacy on Thu, 02/26/2009 - 16:44.

When we had this happen to our card, we had to contact our credit card company, have them cancel our card and issue a new one. It appears that someone has obtained your credit card number, or at least, has managed to guess it and open an online gaming account (that's what blizzard.com is).