Beware the Bogus Battlefield Beta Keys

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
45,698
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Beware the Bogus Battlefield Beta Keys


Shooter fans are being warned about a Battlefield 3 [http://www.amazon.com/Battlefield-3-Limited-Pc/dp/B002I0HJZO/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1304975122&sr=8-3] "fan site" selling fake beta keys and hacks that's run by a guy who's been involved in at least two other BF3-related scams in the past.

There are a lot of jerks on the internet and one of them is apparently running bf3nation.com, the self-proclaimed "Number One Battlefield 3 Community." The site offers Battlefield 3 beta keys to "Premium subscribers," but there's just one problem: they're fakes. I'm not willing to pursue the process far enough to find out whether or not any sort of "key" is actually provided, but clicking the link to get one leads to MyOnlineRewards.net (for the Canadian link, at least; separate links for the U.S., U.K. and Australia are provided but none of them work from my location) and a request for an email address, which is where I put on the brakes.

According to BF3Blog.com [http://bf3blog.com/2011/05/ea-tries-to-shut-down-battlefield-3-fan-site/], the site is not only selling fake beta keys but also fake Battlefield 3 hacks, which you would think might raise a red flag with prospective customers since the game isn't actually out yet. The site says BF3Nation is being run by the same person behind the "infamous" battlefield3-beta.com website, which EA also issued a warning about, and who ran a fake Battlefield 3 voucher offer in order to harvest email addresses.

EA actually tried to shut the site down [http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/battlefield-3/1400562-ea-battlefield-3-infringement-notice-has-ulterior-motive.html] over the weekend with a DMCA takedown notice but was apparently thwarted, possibly because its claim that the site contains content "that infringes copyrights owned or controlled by EA" is blunted by the fact that the publisher freely provides that material for fan sites to use. Whatever the reason, BF3Nation is still kicking and still offering keys, so consider yourself warned.

Battlefield 3, by the way, is expected to come out in late 2011 for the PC, Xbox 360 and, assuming the PlayStation Network is fixed by then, PlayStation 3.


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Apr 28, 2008
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Who the hell would pay to beta test?

I mean yeah, we do it for Bethesda and Obsidian games, but still!
 

Hybridwolf

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Aug 14, 2009
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Battlefield 3, by the way, is expected to come out in late 2011 for the PC, Xbox 360 and, assuming the PlayStation Network is fixed by then, PlayStation 3.
And I thought I was a pesimist...

OT: This sort of thing never surprises me. The sad thing is, the only reason it works is because people are greedy, foolish, or just desperate. So when an offer like this is made, common sense dives out of the window. All I have to say to anyone who dives headlong into these deals is if sounds too good to be true, it is.
 

Agent Larkin

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Apr 6, 2009
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I say we find the guy responsible.

Then we roll him up in a blanket and throw him off a cliff.
 

Pebsy

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Jun 12, 2008
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Agent Larkin said:
I say we find the guy responsible.

Then we roll him up in a blanket and throw him off a cliff.
your to generous, i'd lace the blanket with barbed wire
 

Jonny49

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Mar 31, 2009
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May as well buy the Beta key from a store, you get a free Medal of Honour game with it too!
 

Waaghpowa

Needs more Dakka
Apr 13, 2010
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Huh....That looks like the logo from Curse.com. I do remember them advertising beta access for games in the past.
 

McMullen

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Mar 9, 2010
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danpascooch said:
Wow, that's like, the one time I think a DMCA takedown is justified.
danpascooch said:
Wow, that's like, the one time I think a DMCA takedown is justified.
So, let me get this straight: The DMCA is broad and vague enough to put mod makers, fans, and artists in legal jeopardy, but won't do anything to stop phishers, spammers, and potential identity thieves?

Dear Congress: You are an embarrassment to the very concepts of justice and law.
 

zombflux

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Oct 7, 2009
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Or perhaps they are real and the big corporations trickled money down to the games media to say that theyre fakes. Yeah, I think that's clearly what's going on here.
 

devilmore

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Nov 18, 2009
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WaaghPowa said:
Huh....That looks like the logo from Curse.com. I do remember them advertising beta access for games in the past.
That also cought my attention...though the normal curse logo doesn't have that dragon face. Pretty sure one of their logos (curse client?) does.
Pretty sure he just ripped it off though, there's nothing on the Curse website.


Or to quote the Website:
Available Game Keys:
No game keys are available at this time


/edit:
Eh, Yep, the Logo for their Premium Membership has thta dragon face. That's probably why he used it for his site...
 

bf3online

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May 10, 2011
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Hi,

I'm sorry, but the referenced source of your article is not the original source of the investigation. BF3Blog stole the content from our article (referenced below) and the work we did to uncover the scam.

http://www.battlefield3online.com/battlefield-3-news-announcements/423-ea-battlefield-3-infringement-notice-has-ulterior-motive.html

I would appreciate if you could amend your article to reflect this.

References:

http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/battlefield-3/1400562-ea-battlefield-3-infringement-notice-has-ulterior-motive.html
http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/5691835.page
http://www.reddit.com/r/battlefield3/comments/h5qgc/ea_battlefield_3_infringement_notice_has_ulterior/

Regards
Morgan
The Battlefield 3 Online Community
 

NLS

Norwegian Llama Stylist
Jan 7, 2010
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devilmore said:
WaaghPowa said:
Huh....That looks like the logo from Curse.com. I do remember them advertising beta access for games in the past.
That also cought my attention...though the normal curse logo doesn't have that dragon face. Pretty sure one of their logos (curse client?) does.
Pretty sure he just ripped it off though, there's nothing on the Curse website.


Or to quote the Website:
Available Game Keys:
No game keys are available at this time


/edit:
Eh, Yep, the Logo for their Premium Membership has thta dragon face. That's probably why he used it for his site...
Plus the whole website looks exactly the same, probably just copied the theme and changed a few colours here and there.