Don't buy mogstation items from 3rd parties.

[BiffWellington]

I would think that this would be a matter of common sense but...obviously they need to warn certain people.

Different MMOs can often have very different rules regarding this sort of thing. In Everquest II, for example, you could buy pretty much anything from another player with cash. You could even buy someone's character! Or sell your own characters. It was all totally legal. I've never seen anything like that in any other MMO, although I do remember Diablo III (which I know is not an MMO, but still...) letting players buy and sell gear for real money. You try anything remotely similar in most games, though, and you will be banned.

With that in mind, I could easily imagine some other MMO entering into partnerships with third-party entities like that. Someone coming here from such an MMO might not be aware that SE doesn't do this.

My initial gut instinct is, yeah, of course that's not legitimate, but I can still imagine someone who does have some common sense falling for a scam like this, due to having a similar experience legitimately in some other game.

I appreciate Dustytome's warning, and think it is quite timely.

[Awha]

While I personally do not have much of an issue with the mogstation pricing, I would be lying if I did not understand the temptation to use a 3rd party site. I do hope people fight said temptation would be a shame to have action taken towards an account for saving some money on mogstation.

Hope this info gets spread around.

[Clover_Blake]

All that wasted money that won't be used for the creation of new content...

It makes me extra mad to think that, wherever you go, there's going to be thieves and scammers everywhere.

[linay]

What I don't understand is why or how SE allows the item gift codes to be registered to multiple accounts. How were the items illicitly obtained in the first place?

[KageTokage]

What I don't understand is why or how SE allows the item gift codes to be registered to multiple accounts. How were the items illicitly obtained in the first place?

Credit chargeback fraud.

It gets abused by money launderers constantly, particularly the RMTers who use it to create their bot armies while evading the fees for the base game.

[linay]

Credit chargeback fraud.

It gets abused by money launderers constantly, particularly the RMTers who use it to create their bot armies while evading the fees for the base game.

Well, that still doesn't explain why SE is giving out codes that can be used on multiple accounts. Let's say a person disputes the charge, wouldn't SE be notified that they're not getting paid and would therefore invalidate the code? Furthermore, after the code has been used on one account, shouldn't it no longer be usable on other accounts?

[Iscah]

Does Square Enix give out "reusable" codes though? What actually happens when the second person enters the same code to be redeemed?

I would assume they just get a "this code has already been used" error. It's not SE giving out duplicate codes, it's the scammers.

Either that or, as I said earlier, if the third-party site is giving out genuine codes for less than the original purchase price, then they're probably stealing the credit card details of people who buy from them. There's only one supplier of the original codes, and that's Mog Station - so someone has to purchase the code at their fixed price, whether it's you or them.

[linay]

Does Square Enix give out "reusable" codes though? What actually happens when the second person enters the same code to be redeemed?

I would assume they just get a "this code has already been used" error. It's not SE giving out duplicate codes, it's the scammers.

Either that or, as I said earlier, if the third-party site is giving out genuine codes for less than the original purchase price, then they're probably stealing the credit card details of people who buy from them. There's only one supplier of the original codes, and that's Mog Station - so someone has to purchase the code at their fixed price, whether it's you or them.

According to the announcement:

Upon investigation, we have found that illicitly obtained items are being resold on unauthorized marketplaces and reseller websites, and then ultimately being registered to multiple player accounts.

[Iscah]

According to the announcement:

Depends how you interpret that statement. I took it to mean that multiple people were given the code, then discovered they couldn't redeem it and contacted SE support.

I'd be very surprised if the codes could actually be successfully redeemed multiple times. That seems far too big an oversight to have gone unknown and unfixed all this time.

[linay]

Depends how you interpret that statement. I took it to mean that multiple people were given the code, then discovered they couldn't redeem it and contacted SE support.

I'd be very surprised if the codes could actually be successfully redeemed multiple times. That seems far too big an oversight to have gone unknown and unfixed all this time.

Indeed, but I don't see how else you can interpret "registered to account" when talking about codes. If the code hasn't been redeemed, or can't, then it shouldn't be registered to your account.