A friend of mine did the same thing with a company because he was selling his old house and buying a new one. He sent a statement to the company handling the sale(seemingly harmless, but had his address on it). that information got out and the next person that contacted him claimed he was with said company, but wasnt. Got scammed for 20,000 dollars, almost lost the house he bought and 20k but didnt because a few of us had savings and was able to loan him the money while the fraud paperwork was handled. If we didnt, he would have missed the deadline and got screwed over. Anytime someone wants me to send something, i just think of this and say no. I dont doubt blizzard will do everything they can to keep my info safe while they have it, but there is that chance that im not willing to take. Long story short, Im just not comfortable with it.
O.O
Hopefully, your friend took people to court to defend their credit and the mishandling of their private information. In most countries, at least in the US and Canada, there are VERY strict privacy laws that all companies must follow unless theyâre willing to subject themselves to significant lawsuits. Just imagine if a company like Blizzard mishandled millions of peopleâs private informationâŚit would cost them hundreds if not thousands of millions of dollars to set straight due to the laws here.
Youâre free to choose not to provide information that Blizz technically already has on the vast majority of players, but that choice comes with consequences too.
That is not because of the company he gave the information to. Itâs actually because anything involving a house title is public information. I refinanced my mortgage, a family member bought a house, in a different state, and it simply is because that information is public other companies got it.
It has nothing to do with the information you give to Blizzard. Blizzard will not give this information away, and doesnât keep it.
There is nothing sensitive on your bills, though. It doesnât hold your SSN or any other such information.
They didnât ask for a bank statement, just a bill. Find your internet bill and send it. Thereâs literally nothing on there but your name and address. They canât do anything with your internet account number.
Now what I donât want to do is send them my marriage certificate. Ours does have personal information on it, which I donât know why, because I didnât think they did that, but⌠apparently this state did back then. So I have never changed my maiden name here. Itâs still technically my name. I even have a credit card in my maiden name. Which is attached to my Bnet account. So I call it all fine and dandy. lol
yea, thatâs a very unfortunate situation, but had nothing to do with someone getting ahold of a bill. all the info needed for that sort of scam is simply public info. i can find your name and address in the phone book and call you pretending to be from your utility company.
Or you could use a utility bill or bank statement and black out any pertinent information like your account number and balance. All theyâre interested in is your name and address.
Hey guys, im not going to change my mind. Sorry, I just dont feel comfortable.
I can change my address with any other company, government agency like the DMV ect. just by filling out a form. I dont have to send in a picture, its weird and im not going to do it.
they could do something weird⌠like pay the bill for them 
Just wanted to touch on this that you actually do need to provide two proof of residence documents to change your address on a license. The documents are the same ones Blizzard asks for, ie a bill, bank statement, etc. This is fairly standard practice actually for anyone wanting to change address with a lot of businesses.
You are very wrong about this. Changing your address with the DMV requires proof of residence, which is a lease or utility bill.
Everyone sympathizes with privacy issues. Itâs understandable. But digging your heels in and being stubborn will not get you to where you want to be. This is not a Blizzard thing; itâs a legal thing. Every company in this scenario (international addresses) must do the same thing. There are real world considerations, such as exchanging currency and local/state tax rates.
If it were as simple as just filling out a form a lot more accounts would be compromised.
Perhaps, but only if youâve already crept through all of the rigamarole of getting it all Real ID compliant. And that takes a heck-ton more than what Blizzard is asking.
In the end, youâll do as youâd like, as is your right to do. Itâs just kind of an odd hill to die on when itâs looked at and immediately discarded. Our SFAs cannot even view the attached documents when you submit it, only the working GM can as weâve had people in the past ask our SFAs (Blues like Orlyia and Vrak) to double-check what theyâve sent through. The SFAs could only see that it was an attachment, not the attachment itself. I donât even think the player can view what the attachment is once itâs sent.
Regardless of your decision, I do wish you the best.
I can understand someone being uncomfortable with sending personal information. There are so many bad actors out there. Even if youâre confident in Blizzardâs safeguards, there is still the in between. Anything is hackable, even Bliz, and all youâd get is an email saying dangit, we got hacked and your info may have been accessed. Thatâs no fault on Bliz at all, itâs happened to the best of companies (and governments!). I think thatâs more a risk to your billing info than an address change (personally).
Can enough of what youâre concerned about be blacked out and still leave enough to fulfill what Bliz needs? There is the point they already have your info, but I know that doesnât always alleviate concerns. I donât think an exception will be made (personal opinion), so itâs up to you to decide if or when youâre ready.
You can also post a suggestion that Bliz consider using a larger list of options. Suggestions in this forum arenât forwarded on to decision makers. Iâm not sure the best place for that particular suggestion, but Iâm sure others here would have some solid suggestions. No decision would be made quickly, but you could still put it out there.
There is actually a list of what is accepted as legal government ID. And when they do, they actually have the player block out parts of the ID.
As the player is only needing to provide documentation of residency, that is why theyâre asking for a bill or some sort of official letter that has their name and address - not legal picture ID. None of the account information is necessary, just really the letterhead and playerâs mailing address. This article Iâll link has a list of acceptable IDs, but then they can also ask for other means to prove whatever it is need that the staff requires.
