TSTO Tips now promotes a third-party cheating scheme

I too am surprised at the amount of 'well done TSTO for finding this' comments, without mentioning your valid points above. I for one am not using this method, but goes to show easily people are duped into giving personal info away. This should be escalated to EA.

Tried to contact EA and TSTOTips... got no where with both. Can't believe the actual maker of TSTOTips posted this site and is promoting it. EA is well aware of his site and I can't believe the information hasn't been pulled yet

Just wanted to say I am very confident that the TSTO blog / website has indeed been hacked. It's going to cause a lot of people and probablty EA some grief.

The man who started it 'Mr. TSTO tips' went on a break for a number of weeks after recieving hassel from users having started a debate on the US gun laws after in-game text mentioned it.

Yesterday that 'users' came back to the blog and without so much of a hello I'm back started pluging gamezino. It is clerarly a cheat / hack which has always been the one thing that blog / website stood against. I can say this as a 3 month + daily reader.

All the comments from 'readers' appear to be highly, almost over the top positive with 2 different users posting the same post verbatim. The site is clearly being used as a promotional platform.

None of the regular users are getting their posts past moderation and are as such being silenced from blowing the whistle. I forsee many many people giving away both their usernames and passwords plus lots of money to that scam site.

All I can do is hope the REAL Mr. TSTO grabs control back and that EA try to battle that scam as much as possible. if hardcore users who purchase donuts from EA gets scammed, EA will probabaly loose money which could affect the sustainability of the game.

Long story short ............ stay away from gamezino but dont be too harsh on tstotip.com I am confident they have been hacked and have no part to play in any of this.

Keep tapping!

I was very surprised about this at first as well.

Then I thought about if for 3 seconds and it all made sense to me.

It IS legal because EA is still getting paid in-full for the content being provided. Consumers get a discount, but that's because buying in bulk, the middle man gets a price break. Nobody is being cheated out of any money. In fact, in order to get these items, they go through the in-game store and pay the price that EA asks for. How is this illegal?

I'm not in favor of hacking the game, but that's because you get stuff for free that is intended to be paid for. THAT would be stealing. Jailbreaking a phone or device is not illegal. It voids warranties because it's not how they're intended to be used by the manufacturer, but it's not illegal. Then again, I don't know that they're even jailbreaking their device(s). So that may be a daring assumption.

My only issue with this is the trust issue that arises. In order to provide the service, you have to give them complete access to your town for roughly 24 hrs. I cringe at that thought, considering the money I've put into this game.

Otherwise, I really don't have a problem with the business. Apple isn't getting cheated (or ripped off) of any money, EA isn't getting cheated (or ripped off) of any money, and people are able to get items they haven't been able to get access to.

If there is any legal options, someone would be able to show damages. In this case, someone (whether it be Electronic Arts or Apple) would be able to show that they are not getting paid accordingly for their product(s). Where in any of this is that happening?

I see no legal issue here.

AlterBlackbird79 wrote:
It IS legal because EA is still getting paid in-full for the content being provided. Consumers get a discount, but that's because buying in bulk, the middle man gets a price break. Nobody is being cheated out of any money.

Apple does not give discounts to bulk purchases of iTunes gift cards. Period. Google it or check Apple's website. If someone is reselling bulk iTunes cards at a discount, they were obtined somewhere other than Apple, and likely in an illegal manner (credit card scams, hacked iTunes accounts, possibly even a cracked algorithm). With all the fraud that is going on, it's hard to believe this is legit.

supertuffy wrote:

AlterBlackbird79 wrote:
It IS legal because EA is still getting paid in-full for the content being provided. Consumers get a discount, but that's because buying in bulk, the middle man gets a price break. Nobody is being cheated out of any money.

Apple does not give discounts to bulk purchases of iTunes gift cards. Period. Google it or check Apple's website. If someone is reselling bulk iTunes cards at a discount, they were obtined somewhere other than Apple, and likely in an illegal manner (credit card scams, hacked iTunes accounts, possibly even a cracked algorithm). With all the fraud that is going on, it's hard to believe this is legit.

You're totally right. Although it's always possible that someone else obtained them from Apple (at the end of the day, ALL iTunes gift cards come from Apple) and then turned around and sold them however they saw fit (which is not illegal).

HOW this other (I'll call them) "supplier" got these gift cards could be questionable (like you suggest), on the other side, they could also obtain them completely legitimately. That's a question I don't know the answer to. I just know that they don't say that they got the gift cards FROM Apple. They really don't have to tell us how or where they get them at all.

There may be other legalities in play that I'm not aware of, and they could possibly be violating them if they exist. Looking at it on the surface, there appears to be no wrong doing by GameZino, nor does there appear to be any damage being done to either companies, financially speaking.

If there's any wrong doing or illegality in any of what they're doing, they won't be around for much longer. The more the spotlight shines on them, the stronger the microscope. If they're breaking a law, they'll be taken down. If they're acting within their legal bounds, they'll be here for as long as they can keep their business going. :)

It'll be interesting to see what (if anything) comes from this.

There is only one highly reliable source to get discount donuts from ..... his name is Gil Gunderson:)

Maybe EA could 'combat' this potential scam by brining our very own Gil back with an offer? Maybe Gil's been paid in old iTunes gift cards after FINALLY selling something!

Happy tapping

mexican-duff wrote:
There is only one highly reliable source to get discount donuts from ..... his name is Gil Gunderson:)

Maybe EA could 'combat' this potential scam by brining our very own Gil back with an offer? Maybe Gil's been paid in old iTunes gift cards after FINALLY selling something!

Happy tapping

AWESOME! THAT'S an idea! And a GREAT one!! :lol: