If this is true, and if the guy really stole the keys, both of which I can't judge, I only feel my opinion confirmed: People wanted to get the best cheapes price for the game and got scammed. I am not moved in any emotional matter at all... But there's a lot of money running through those keysellers / resellers, if a game only and itself is giving off €150k, and they have thousands of them...

That is horrible, but ubi did the right thing. Store is responsible for providing the legit keys. They should do the background check for the key distributor if they care. So ppl who got scammed just make G2A to get working one or refund money. When ever I got cd keys that wouldn`t work stores have fixed the problem way or another.

Considering current refund value which is likely far from final I say: That is a lot of credit cards used. Or was that just one pretty thick? Because if you get somewhere credit information for average guy like me, you can pull from it like 150-200 games only. And once I realize (pretty soon, not after 6 months) they in reaction block those 150-200 copies, not few thousands. It looks like there was fraud indeed, but right question is: "What allowed this situation?" Did origin allow one credit card to get few thousands of copies? We call it Red Flag! It is apparent lack of cognitive computing and proof that "dumb" financial systems are not made for world we live in today.

Considering current refund value which is likely far from final I say: That is a lot of credit cards used. Or was that just one pretty thick? Because if you get somewhere credit information for average guy like me, you can pull from it like 150-200 games only. And once I realize (pretty soon, not after 6 months) they in reaction block those 150-200 copies, not few thousands. It looks like there was fraud indeed, but right question is: "What allowed this situation?" Did origin allow one credit card to get few thousands of copies? We call it Red Flag! It is apparent lack of cognitive computing and proof that "dumb" financial systems are not made for world we live in today.

Most likely I believe it to be a rather easy business model of credit card fraud. You can buy sets of 15, 50, or even hundreds of such numbers on the right forums. I'm fairly sure there's bots for such sales too, which use the database's 'stolen' credit card numbers. But, and that's where I question the methods too, is why the debit cards or payments haven't been revoked earlier... I myself have two weeks to tell my bank something's wrong at best, and I wonder if those keys were in use for months now, or if they've been bought recently (like in the last two weeks).

So UbiSoft wants to say that months after release they only now found out that some of their keys were stolen, after hundreds or maybe thousands of keys sold. Smelling Fishy to me.

So UbiSoft wants to say that months after release they only now found out that some of their keys were stolen, after hundreds or maybe thousands of keys sold. Smelling Fishy to me.

They most likely chose the lazy way of finding out what keys were "stolen" by waiting for them to be activated. Its not like Ubi cares about its customers.

I wonder if those keys were in use for months now, or if they've been bought recently (like in the last two weeks).

I can give you an answer concerning my key upon that. For the last two weeks.

They most likely chose the lazy way of finding out what keys were "stolen" by waiting for them to be activated. Its not like Ubi cares about its customers.

I'm wondering how you imagine things working at Ubisoft's offices. In your mindseye you see a salesperson walking down the aisle in an office, long rows of computers to the left and right of her. Suddenly she pauses, eyeing a terminal suspiciously. She picks up the monitor and shakes it, listening carefully. "There are no licence keys in this terminal," she shouts. "Get me security now!"

I can give you an answer concerning my key upon that. For the last two weeks.

Thanks for the info. I just meant, maybe they keys were (ilegally) bought two weeks ago, then sold to the keyseller site, and somewhat close to two weeks of time, the owner(s) of the debit card(s) noticed his/her/their problem and revoked the payment, and so it came to be known to be a fraud. That's what I thought of it, very vaguely tried to make any sense of this.

I only have one question: If keys were purchased via stolen money (credit cards and such), will the money be returned by all the involved parties, including Ubisoft, to the entities that it was stolen from?

I'm assuming EA sold the keys back to Ubisoft when all this kicked off as Origin no longer sells them. The only people to lose out on this are the key sites who got ripped off by the Russian guy.

I'm confused at how you can even do this with Origin. Don't you need an Origin account to buy a game from them? And then doesn't the key automatically register with your account? I didn't know you could buy multiple copies of the game from them and they would just give you the keys.

I'm confused at how you can even do this with Origin. Don't you need an Origin account to buy a game from them? And then doesn't the key automatically register with your account? I didn't know you could buy multiple copies of the game from them and they would just give you the keys.

I've bought Steamworks games on Origin, it does show in your account but it's a Steam key you receive. I'm guessing it's the same with Uplay keys. Multiple copies I don't think so, but maybe multiple accounts using the same credit card.

I only have one question: If keys were purchased via stolen money (credit cards and such), will the money be returned by all the involved parties, including Ubisoft, to the entities that it was stolen from?

Thing is magical... If someone gets to your credit card and purchases anything with it, you basically have certain amount of time to involve your Bank. ->If you manage to find it in time frame (based on your insurance) you get back money from bank. - Selling company will not be asked to return money they got from thief. - Police looks for thief. ->If you don't manage to find it in time frame (based on your insurance) you your insurance is for nothing and your account will remain empty. - Selling company will not be asked to return money they got from thief. - Police looks for thief. That is how it is in most countries. If you don't even have your cards ensured, you have no chance of getting your money back unless police gets thief and money from him. Company selling to fraudulent thief in any case keeps money. This is how Banking operates in most of countries unless local law says otherwise. Why? Because If someone takes your money on street and you do not have magical insurance, you are not going to get your money back. Anyway This raises question why (or if) UBI returned money to those damaged (Bank/card owners) this is where insurance should come in. And decided to cause damage to nothing suspecting game users.

Thing is magical... ... Anyway This raises question why (or if) UBI returned money to those damaged (Bank/card owners) this is where insurance should come in. And decided to cause damage to nothing suspecting game users.

This. Customers that payed for keys get stripped of the keys, but company that stripped the keys get's to keep the money. The question is then why did they stripped the keys if they keep the money? There can only be one answer to that...

The merchant (in this case EA) is the one responsible for refunding the person who had their card details stolen. Not the card company, especially when the CD key sites are claiming the original merchant should of done more. We don't know if EA claimed that money back from Ubisoft though.

EA or Ubisoft should step up and be the heroes and give these people new keys. This kind of thing could do wonders for their image

EA or Ubisoft should step up and be the heroes and give these people new keys. This kind of thing could do wonders for their image

Not sure I understand why, nobody forced people to buy the keys from a different source....

They have essentially been caught handling stolen goods and will be getting a refund. Why should they then get a free game?

Not sure I understand why, nobody forced people to buy the keys from a different source....

This is pretty insulting to anyone with even a drop of sanity. Chain which shows how products moved over: UBI>Origin>Thief>3rd-party store>end user Chain which shows how dirty money moved over: Fraud Credit card victim>Thief>Origin>UBI Chain which shows how clean money moved over: end user>3rdparty store>Thief Who made originally profit: UBI, Origin, Thief, 3rd-party store Who can take damage: Fraud Credit card victim Origin At what condition can each party take damage: Fraud Credit card victim : If they did not contact their bank in contractual time. ?Origin?: If "Fraud Credit card victim" blocks its card in time, transactions get ?invalidated? and keys should have been immediately revoked therefore "end user" never activates game. Who of all parties had chance and ability to know they are dealing with fraud? Only Origin as they have access to data showing validity of transactions. Who did not made profit? 3rd party stores took stand and are refunding customers. And Yes, they are taking damage as Thief is gone by now. My questions are: Why in the 1st place honest, paying "end user" gets punished? If "Fraud Credit card victim" had insurance, does it get money from UBI or from insurance company? (in case of theft you get money from insurance company and that gets money from Thief if police recovers it) If UBI is blocking keys, who are they returning money to and why? If UBI is not refunding, why are they blocking keys? Now who made final profit? Thief for sure. UBI? Origin? Hard to say if they returned money to "Fraud Credit card victim" who apparently did not block cards for very long time. This thing is mess and requires a lot of questions asked and answers too. And quite big scheme connecting each parties which came to contact with goods. Parties which dealt with fraud money. Parties which dealt with clean money. And for each party and connection there is most important thing: What does the law and their respective contracts say. Apparently if "Fraud Credit card victim" had no insurance at all, there is no obligation from UBI to return money and this party is to take damage. If "Fraud Credit card victim" had insurance and noticed bank in contractual time, it should be refunded from insurance company. Insurance company should get money only from thief.