Ubisoft: Cancelled Keys Bought Fraudulently From Origin
Bought from EA's store Origin
Ubisoft last week deactivated copies of games including Far Cry 4 and Watch Underscore Dogs for a number of folks who had bought them from game key resellers, later briefly explaining the keys had been "fraudulently obtained". Now they've said a bit more. The keys in question were bought from EA's digital store Origin with fraudulent credit card details then sold on by resellers, Ubi have explained. EA confirmed this, and have also removed Ubi's games from Origin to somehow "protect against further fraudulent purchases", which seems a bit weird. Ubi are directing folks to their resellers to get refunds, and at least one plans compensation.
Ubi explained in a statement provided to to Game Informer:
"We regularly work with our authorized resellers to identify and deactivate fraudulently obtained and resold keys. In this case, we confirmed activation keys were recently purchased from EA's Origin store using fraudulent credit card information and then resold online. These keys may have been deactivated. Customers who may have been impacted should contact the vendor where they purchased the key for a refund."
EA confirmed the story to GI, saying they spotted the fraud then told Ubi. I'm not sure how removing Ubi games from Origin is a real fix, unless Ubi keys were somehow the only target for key fraudsters, but hey!
G2A, one of the key resellers folks had bought now-cancelled keys from, say they're looking into it (via VG247). They explained they "will check if the corresponding merchant was responsible for the withdrawal of the code", and offer compensation if that's the case, which it since seems to be. Either way, they'll give new codes or refunds to everyone who had 'G2A Shield', a guarantee which costs extra. It seems G2A have been trusting the wrong people, as they say they will "make every possible exertion to prevent this kind of procedures in the future and exclude merchants responsible for such incidents from the marketplace."
[I've updated this story's headline because it's all twisting my melon, man.]