A leading UK bank has stopped payments made by World of Warcraft fans after fears over credit card scams.

Halifax Bank of Scotland has halted automatic payments to the game’s operator Blizzard, because it is at the centre of an unusually high incidence of credit card fraud.

The bank does not feel Blizzard is responsible for the figures, but says the frequent use of stolen credit cards to pay for World of Warcraft subscriptions is enough to warrant caution.

“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,” a Halifax spokesman told gamesindustry.biz.

“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.”

The ban will affect all Halifax customers, as well as those of its subsidiary, the Bank of Scotland. Legitimate subscribers need to contact their bank to authorise future payments.