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'Factorio' is another game that was being hit by key scammers

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In another case of scammers trying to buy keys with often stolen credit cards to sell on websites like G2A, the developers of 'Factorio' have written about their experience with it (and other stuff too).

To recap, here's how it all works:
- A purchase is made on a developers website using a stolen credit card, hacked paypal etc.
- The purchaser sells the key on the grey market within a couple of days.
- Some weeks later the owner of the credit card notices, and issues a chargeback to the developer.

This happens to a lot of developers and more and more are speaking out about it. Those effectively stolen keys end up on grey-market stores like G2A.

Samsai and I have both written about this before, but here's a point we never considered: When the chargebacks happen, the developers end up getting an extra charge. As the Factorio developers have explained:
QuoteOn our side, the cost is very large, each chargeback costs roughly $20 in fines, effectively a negative sale, and we were seeing upwards of 10% chargebacks on our website transactions. Also each chargeback notice had to be handled on a case-by-case basis, at one point I was spending 12 or more hours a week dealing with individual purchases.

That's a lot of time and money wasted because of, for lack of a better word right now, assholes.

This is something I've seen people say constantly about it too "just revoke the keys!", they speak about that as well:
QuoteA common saying I hear is that this isn't a problem, because 'The devs just revoke the keys', well that simply isn't true, we don't get notice of a fraudulent payment right away, it can take upwards of 8 weeks for the chargeback to be issued, at which time the key is obviously going to be already sold for profit and forgotten. We still revoke these keys, often to the dismay of the purchaser.

The developers did find a solution, as they have ended up going with the Humble Store widget as it has built-in fraud prevention.

This is why I only ever buy from itch.io, GOG, Steam or Humble Bundle/Store.

By doing so I ensure the developer and the store service get correctly paid. There's probably a few other legitimate stores out there, but I don't bother with any of them. I don't need to, as all of those sites constantly do massive sales I have no need to go elsewhere. Just the other day I picked up another copy of Mad Max for only about £5 from a Humble Store sale!

Just something again to keep in mind before you go buying those $1 keys from random websites.

If you haven't ever played Factorio, I can highly recommend it. I wrote some previous thoughts up on it here.

Thanks for the link fedso! Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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22 comments
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Linas Jan 18, 2017
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Once in a while I also buy from Indie Gala and Bundle Stars. As far as I know, they are legit stores (right?), but I have heard that they don't sell Linux keys, even if they list Linux as a platform. Can anybody shed some light on that?
Eike Jan 18, 2017
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Quoting: LinasOnce in a while I also buy from Indie Gala and Bundle Stars. As far as I know, they are legit stores (right?), but I have heard that they don't sell Linux keys, even if they list Linux as a platform. Can anybody shed some light on that?

http://www.epicbundle.com/official-steam-reseller says they are official Steam resellers. Didn't find info from Steam/Valve itself.

But they are selling "Windows keys", which does not mean you can't play under Linux, but does mean that whoever is getting or counting money won't see that you're a Linux customer. This has been explicitly said by Feral:
https://www.gamingonlinux.com/forum/topic/2314?page=1
psymin Jan 18, 2017
Looks like G2A has the keys for about $18. That is only $2 less than the normal price of the game. Not worth the hassle and risk. Both to the buyer and for the game company.
Linas Jan 18, 2017
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Well, damn. I just assumed that if it says Linux on the package, it's a Linux key. Do we have a whitelist of shops that actually do sell proper Linux keys?
tuubi Jan 18, 2017
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You don't need a whitelist. Just stick to Steam, GOG and Humble or buy direct from dev.
wintermute Jan 18, 2017
Quoting: tuubiYou don't need a whitelist. Just stick to Steam, GOG and Humble or buy direct from dev.

Thanks for the whitelist ;)
Eike Jan 18, 2017
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Quoting: tuubiYou don't need a whitelist. Just stick to Steam, GOG and Humble or buy direct from dev.

... like Feral and Aspyr. If you want a game ported by them, optimally buy it from their respective store.


Last edited by Eike on 18 January 2017 at 5:42 pm UTC
tuubi Jan 18, 2017
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Quoting: Eike
Quoting: tuubiYou don't need a whitelist. Just stick to Steam, GOG and Humble or buy direct from dev.

... like Feral and Aspyr.
Aspyr doesn't have a store anymore, right?
Linas Jan 18, 2017
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Quoting: tuubiAspyr doesn't have a store anymore, right?

Isn't that MacGameStore and WinGameStore?
tuubi Jan 18, 2017
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Quoting: Linas
Quoting: tuubiAspyr doesn't have a store anymore, right?

Isn't that MacGameStore and WinGameStore?
No, it was GameAgent.
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