ZeniMax Deactivating Fraudulent TESO Keys

ZeniMax Online has decided to take a rather drastic measure against grey market websites, websites that aren’t authorized sellers and are rarely transparent about the methods they use to obtain their keys (I recommend reading this detailed piece on the subject from Polygon, if you want more information). The developer has announced on the official forums for The Elder Scrolls Online that today it would deactivate all fraudulent keys – fraudulent because, ZeniMax is keen to stress, they are usually obtained with stolen credit card data – and offered some information on where to buy legitimate keys.

Here’s from ZeniMax’s official statement:

We’ve recently seen an increase in the sale of fraudulently obtained digital game keys for The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited.

We want to remind gamers to shop wisely and only purchase online keys from a reputable source. Fraudulently obtained keys obtained via Steam and then re-sold via third-party websites is a violation of both our and Steam’s Terms of Service. We will be deactivating all game accounts created with such stolen keys starting on Tuesday, May 26th. Affected users will receive an email with instructions on how to regain access to their game account via a valid game purchase.

The companies selling stolen keys make a practice of using stolen credit cards, or misappropriating credit card information from their own customers to buy codes from legitimate retailers. Often these companies have the lowest price available anywhere for the digital item they are selling. Customers who purchase from these vendors are at increased risk for identity theft.

Extreme discounting below the published prices on our website may be a clue that the digital key purchased for the game may have been fraudulently obtained.

This is very unlikely to please the players affected, many of whom were no doubt unaware that the keys they bought were fraudulent, and I think the issue could certainly have been handled more tactfully, but we are still talking about keys that were obtained through very likely illegal means. Hopefully most players affected will be able to get a refund from the websites that sold the keys to them.

Spotted on Destructoid.