Stolen Product Code

When you put the code online like that it's no wonder it gets stolen.

Try taking a different picture, maybe with your Origin account name logged in, in the background.

You do have to go back to talking with EA about this, as we can't look in to your account. 

---

I'm trying to register my game but it says the serial code is invalid/already used

Depending on the situation the solution to this may vary.

You bought the game on Origin
If you bought the game on Origin, it's not necessary to register the code anywhere. Download the Origin Client here: http://origin.com/download, login with the same email you bought the game with and find the game in the My Games tab within the Origin Client to download. You don't need the serial code.

You bought the game on DVD and the box was sealed
Make sure you typed the code right. The following letters look very similar and are easily mistaken for each other

• 0, O and D
• 8 and B
• Z and 2

If it still says it's invalid, try taking it back to the store you bought it from and exchange it. If they are not willing to do that, contact an EA Game Advisor with proof of purchase ready.

You bought the game on DVD and the box was not sealed/it's a used game
Used games cannot be re-registered. Take it back to where you bought it and get a refund.

You bought a key from a key seller
Contact the key seller for a replacement. If you bought the game from a unauthorized seller, it's possible that EA blocked the key if they were bought fraudulently by the seller. You're better off to only buy from authorized sellers.

You have already registered the game yourself and are trying to reinstall the game
The game does not need to be registered again. Login in the Origin Client with the Email/PW you first registered the game on and download and install the game from there. The game only needs to be registered once and you won't need the code again after your initial registration. This is true for both the DVD and the download version. You can skip the activation step on reinstalling.

Source: http://answers.ea.com/t5/The-Sims-4/FAQ-Serial-Codes-Game-Activation-and-Download-Issues/td-p/4228232

Considering we opened the sealed box yesterday to install the game and the product code was already used I don't think posting it online is any use to anyone who wants to steal it. We cant return the game as we bought it from Australia last year while on holiday from Big W which doesn't have a retail chain in New Zealand. So I thought that there might be a way to track down the person who is using it as the EA customer service person could see the account that was using this product key.

Seems you are encouraging piracy by protecting this guy who's using our product key and leaving us with more or less no options even though we have paid for the game and its product key legitimately. Also you don't need to look into our account to find anything out as we just downloaded it yesterday to install sims which obviously didn't work and we cant give anyone the details of the account it was used on as the product key was obviously unlawfully used as it should be unique to our game so we have no clue who's used it. Surely if you were serious about piracy you would look into cases like this but I guess when your such a big company you don't really care about the few consumers that do the right thing by buying the game legitimately and get screwed over. 

The problem is, you have an photo of a box. Which you could've copied from internet or whatever. Or even bought the game second hand from someone else.

So you need to proof that you own the game, normally you would do that with an receipt of the store where you bought it. 

If you don't have that, it's getting harder and harder to proof. You could check if you paid for the game with something else than cash, and look up the date and time you bought the game.

After that you could contact Big W to ask them if they can send you that receipt as you need it to proof you own the game. 

If you have found that, make a picture with all the information EA needs to confirm you bought this game legally, and it's yours.

I understand your frustration fully, sadly this world has a lot of people that can't afford or aren't willing to pay for games and try to rip off companies like EA on a daily basis.

EA can't see if the person using your code got it legally or not, so they can't just take their code out of their account.

I would really like this answered too because I have the same problem however all they're saying is that I'm stupid for forgetting the email I used to register it even though I only use one email for Origin.  But how can I have  a separate account to install an expansion pack without the Base game is beyond me f**ING EA owe me a product code 

@CharlieRose129

If you bought a game on Origin you just need to login to Origin with the account you bought the game on. You can then find the game in your Game library where you just need to click it to install and play. If you bought the expansion on another account you need to contact EA support to have them merge the two accounts. You will of course need to provide some evidence that you own both accounts. Here we can not help with account issues.