"igazor;c-16389225" wrote:
Afraid I have some different advice to offer. Over the past couple of years now, EA has begun mass deactivations of Origin codes purchased from unauthorized resellers for which EA was never paid or a chargeback scheme was used by the original bulk purchaser which means essentially the same thing. Not just for TS3, but hundreds if not thousands of players have been affected, there were dozens of threads here many of which have since been combined by the moderators and tons of them still active and being started on the Answers.HQ board.
The players don't really know what's happening when their game or EP/SPs get deactivated, they just suddenly stop showing up in Origin and not because of the typical instability of the platform. Investigations with customer service, which is not the same department as loss prevention, can take weeks or longer to reach resolution, and often enough the answer is sorry, you do not own the rights to run that pack. Then it becomes a struggle for them to get their accounts unlocked so they can repurchase through Origin or an authorized reseller.
https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/faq/where-to-buy-ea-games-v2
I understand the desire/need to save money, but there is definitely a risk involved.
This. So much this.
Think about it this way: Why would someone sell things for a loss?
There are 2 main reasons:
1. Loss leader. They sell one thing for a loss hoping to get people to buy items in the store that have a higher profit margin. This is why sodas are constantly on sale at grocery stores and alternate brands. Soda on sale is sold for a loss. Especially when they do those buy 2, get 3 free promotions.
2. They obtained the key with a stolen card so any money they earn is profit. They don't get hurt when the actual owner of the card gets the charges charged back. They don't lose the money that the people who bought those stolen keys gave to them. Because it usually takes more than the 30 days for people to realize what's happened and by then it's too late to do a charge back of your own.
Taking a look at the site shows that they have nothing that's not on sale or way below retail value. And they are out of stock of some items. If they were a legit place, why are they out of stock of keys? Which means it's not reason 1.
Now some people may not get hurt by buying from those sites, but they may have gotten keys that were obtained from someone who doesn't pay attention to their credit card statement before paying it off.
Seeing as how it was affecting the player's Origin account, is however much the discount is on Island Paradise really worth the risk that the site isn't legit and that you bought a stolen key? You don't just lose the saves you played with it if they deactivate it. You lose your entire Origin account.
IMO: If you have to ask is it a scam, it probably is.
