Ars Technica reports on unrest in the World of Warcraft Forums over accounts that have been suspended due to credit card chargebacks the users say they did not authorize. Word is users are being greeted with the message: "Access to the World of Warcraft account *********, has been temporarily disabled due to a chargeback filed against the account's past payment(s) which were billed to a telephone number via PaymentOne," but they say many users claim to not be using this payment service. Here's a bit of their detective work on this confusing situation:

Posts in the forum thread show that Blizzard is willing to discuss the unauthorized charges, but there haven't been any definite results from pursuing this course of action yet. Even stranger, though, is multiple posts stating that users have contacted their phone companies/broadband providers and are told that they have no chargebacks on their account. A quick Google search shows this isn't the first time that allegations of fraud and unexpected charges have been leveled against the company.

Another major frustration is that PaymentOne seems unwilling to help players reach a solution that doesn't involve simply paying these unathorized charges. Posts on the thread state that they've either been hung up on when they call the company or are transferred back to Blizzard. Two calls to PaymentOne seeking a comment resulted in being placed on permahold and then being disconnected.