An Interview with G2A on Combating Future Cases of Fraud

We took the recent controversy surrounding G2A as an opportunity to ask the company some important questions about the future of the storefront. Not so long ago, G2A publicly admitted to accidentally selling stolen game keys on their storefront. We asked them what they were planning to do to combat fraud in the future.

An Interview with G2A on Combating Future Cases of Fraud Cover

G2A have recently come under fire for admitting that stolen game keys have been sold on their storefront. After an investigation conducted by indie developers Wube Software and G2A themselves, it was revealed that 198 stolen copies of their game Factorio were indeed sold on the storefront. This proceeded in G2A keeping their end of the bargain, by compensating Wube Software tenfold, a figure which ended up being nearly $40,000.

Now that you’re all caught up, G2A’s head of communications (Maciej Kuk) kindly gave us the opportunity to ask any questions we had regarding the controversy, including what efforts were being made to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again. Below are the questions we asked alongside the answers from Kuk:

What steps are you planning to help combat future fraud on the storefront?

Maciej Kuk: “Over the last few years we have taken extensive steps to beef up our seller verification process, leveraging proprietary AI technology, and human expertise, to ensure we are protecting our users. For a major online marketplace of digital products, we are proud of achieving an industry-leading fraud detection rate. But for us it’s still not good enough. We are fully determined to eradicate the sale of any illegitimate keys from our marketplace. It is this determination that means we continue to invest significant sums of money towards developing new anti-fraud technology. It is also why we have over 100 specialists monitoring the G2A Marketplace to ensure that auctions and transactions are safe and secure. And it is why we have strict AML/KYC processes for verifying network of sellers.”

Can developers still come forward and claim compensation for suspected stolen keys sold on G2A?

Maciej Kuk: “Yes for sure. We are always keen to connect with, and work with developers on any number of topics – and we do that on daily basis. Just today we got a question from developer about thousands of keys that he thought fell into the hands of some fraudster. We checked our database, thankfully, not a single key appeared on G2A…We have an open line to developers through our G2A direct programme – and encourage anyone in the community to get in touch (as Wube did) and let us know if they have a suspicion some of their keys were illegitimately traded on G2A marketplace.”

Factorio developers Wube Software were compensated tenfold for the stolen keys sold on G2A.

Factorio developers Wube Software were compensated tenfold for the stolen keys sold on G2A.

What proof can developers acquire to help their claims of compensation?

Maciej Kuk: “If a developer would like to ask for a compensation for chargebacks, they need to provide us credible data about the chargebacks, their cost, and the proof of the fact these chargebacks were connected to certain keys. What kind of proof exactly – that depends on the systems they’re using and we will be happy to work with them to come up with a solution that works for all parties.

What efforts are being made to help restore your reputation amongst the public?

Maciej Kuk: “G2A has over 20 million happy customers all around the globe. Thanks to the platform million keys for games go to the gamers every month, and they can be happy about saving money on great legitimate titles. Those who couldn’t afford to pay full prices thanks to G2A don’t need to torrent the games, they can play safely and legitimately. G2A’s reputation among our clients are very good. They prove it both when we ask them directly in many surveys, and with their own money they spend on the platform. To those who are afraid that there are illegitimate keys on our marketplace: we can assure you we’re doing all in our power to prevent such situations. And we’re doing exceptionally good, as our data shows only 0,02% of keys may be (but not necessarily) illegitimately acquired. And even in these extremely rare situations G2A fully compensates its clients with money back guarantee.With all that said we’re constantly open for feedback on how we can do better, and make our platform even more convenient for our clients. Every day hundreds of people works tirelessly to make G2A better.”

From the answers we received, it seems like G2A may have learned a harsh lesson. They seem fully committed to tackling future cases of fraud and willing to work with developers who feel like they may have had stolen keys sold on the storefront. Developers can still contact G2A for compensation if they have adequate proof and feel they have been wronged. Hopefully, for every party involved, something like this won’t happen again, or at the very least it’s dealt with appropriately and reasonably. 

1 Comment

  1. Avatar photo

    Will continue buying G2A games… don’t care about the little SJW nonsense. It’s all a joke. Great job G2A. Keep us laced with good deals and we’ll keep buying. They can cry all they like no one cares.

    Reply

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