Hi,

I attempted a trade yesterday with someone from Luxembourg. I went first with my german Call fo Duty: Black Ops 2 steamkey, which he activated in his account. But then he claimed that he cannot start it and only get a text that it cannot be played in his country, and he refused to keep his part of the bargain.

So my question is, is the game really regionlocked in Luxembourg or was i just scammed?

11 years ago*

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11 years ago
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well, it´s a german version, but 100% uncut afaik

11 years ago
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11 years ago
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i think my code should belong to this one: http://steamdb.info/sub/16777/

it says the territorycode is USA, but what does that mean in regard to Luxembourg?

11 years ago
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It means nothing. There is no region lock.

Also if it activates to account without VPN, you can play it.

11 years ago
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The only region locked version I know of is the RU/CIS one. If you traded him a German key, it should be fine. You most probably were scammed. Keep all logs from the chat where the trade occurred, with screenshots and a valid profile link (Steam ID64). Report him to http://steamrep.com/ and to Steam support too.

Just to make sure all is fine, tell him you are going to report him if he doesnt keep his part of the deal. If he still shows no respond, do report him where I mentioned.

11 years ago
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I guess you should read below!

11 years ago
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btw i still have the retailbox of the game. is there a possibility to at least get steam to remove it from that guys library with this as proof? i guess not, or?

11 years ago
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Do you have the bill of the retailbox?

11 years ago
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yes,i have the bill

11 years ago
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OK, if you want to let it remove from his library it is good that you still have the bill. so you can proof for 100% that you bought it on your own.

11 years ago
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I suppose you can too, write to Steam support with chat logs, say you got scammed, they will (probably) ask for a screenshot of the key and the bill probably.

I have some bad news tho - I think in previous cases like that Steam remove the game from the scammers account, but they dont let you use the key again. So you might lose the game, the only difference will be the other guy wont have it too.

11 years ago
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Contact support with the neccessary details, and you can probably get it on your account and removed from him.

11 years ago
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Hard case, but if they look into the chat log, i think you will be owned because they say dont do shit like that, sorry buddy. You could always report him as a scammer but even then i dont know if it will help.

11 years ago
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Report him at least, but this sounds like you got scammed

11 years ago
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Also you can try to monitor if the game is being played or not.

11 years ago
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did that, so far it´s in his acc but was not played yet

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As i can see this is not full screenshot, so maybe he have some game in library which he cannot play, but use its "error message" in scam purposes.

11 years ago
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seems fake

11 years ago
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this is so fake!

11 years ago
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does someone know if this error can be legit after a succesfull activation: error

11 years ago
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For starters, it doesn't look legit. As a scammer using this specific method, he could have made that long in advance in case you wanted to see proof. I myself have never heard of, or seen that sort of message prompt when trying to play a game.

11 years ago
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Yes, the same thing happened with the japan keys of hitman: sniper challenge, can be activated but not played outside of japan :)

11 years ago
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Thanks, googled and found what real error looks like:

Clicky

Very different indeed.

11 years ago
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And as I'm webdesigner, I also saw the:
badly centered text and button, blue background, different buttons on "CLOSE" and the text, or the text is just rendered in different ways (which is IMPOSSIBLE on Steam, so = fake). Also the screen isn't full screen size. So you are scammed.

11 years ago
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I'd be very suspicious:

  1. That doesn't look like Steam on background (could have moved window, but why also cropping is very tight)
  2. Intially seems to be centered, but is sligtly to left
  3. That error doesn't appear in Steam language file
  4. (Possible real error: "This game was activated with a product code that is valid only in a specific geographic region. Since you are not currently in that region, %game% is not available to play.")
  5. Fact that all other games don't activate if not in correct region
11 years ago
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5 is wrong. That's only true for entries in the steamDB that have an "allowactivatefrom" flag set. Then there's also "allowrunfrom", which can restrict where you can run a game from. Without either of these flags set, you can activate / run any game from any region, anywhere. That's why there's so many RU traders trading games to people for cheap - 99% of the time, there's no run or activation restriction set, so people can buy / use RU copies of games.

11 years ago
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Someone could use a VPN to activate a game then try to run it without it, that would give the geogrsphic region error. I got it with XCOM:EU whrn they changed the restrictions after people had activated the game on their account. (They finally ended up removing the restriction on the pre-order due to buyer's backlash.)

11 years ago
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I'd say the chance of that message being fake is 99.9%. A Steam message about a region lock would not say "unfortunately".

Either way, there is no doubt you got scammed. Even if the scammer went to absurd lengths to convince you otherwise. They had you go first, took your key and didn't give you anything in return. There's no denying that.

11 years ago
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You said you had the box - so you got a retail copy, right? Here are links to all possible retail DE copies of BO2:

**1. http://steamdb.info/sub/16751/

  1. http://steamdb.info/sub/16777/
  2. http://steamdb.info/sub/16756/
  3. http://steamdb.info/sub/17161/**

If there are no flags set for "allowactivatefrom" or "allowrunfrom", there's no restriction on, well, activating or running a particular game. So, your version should entirely work wherever he is.

His story is bullcrap, and his error message fake. The font is off, the button and text aren't even centered properly, and Steam doesn't even have that error message in its' programming.

Before you traded with this guy, did you check his Steamrep / Steamtrades profile out? Do you still have your chat logs with him? He needs to be reported with screenshots of the full chat logs on Steamrep, and left negative feedback on Steamtrades describing the situation (with links to image files if possible) so others don't get screwed by this guy.

11 years ago
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Also contact Steam Support with proof of your purchase (pictures of the box with CD key and the bill from purchase), link to Steam profile of the user who you traded with (include screenshots of chatlogs or other means of communication if possible). Steam Support should then based on your information, revoke the CD key and with it the game from the scammer's account.

11 years ago
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germankeys work everywhere the only thing they can have is a cut. so i would say scammed.

11 years ago
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Not for all games. Each game must be first checked in the steamDB, before making such assumptions.

11 years ago
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You got scammed for sure. I live in Luxembourg and I can assure the only game that was resion locked for a while here was only Dota2.

11 years ago
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Great news guys, it wasn´t a scam, he had his library entry deleted through steamsupport, and i was able to activate it on my account :D

Thanks to all who tried to help me :)

11 years ago
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whaaat? first, the key started working after it was removed from his account? O_o And second, Steam support did that in just a day or two? How can this be! D:

11 years ago
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Eh well. I am also curious here xD

11 years ago
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Probably he did not activate his cd-key, and when he was suspected as a scummer returned cd-key back

11 years ago
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+1

11 years ago
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highfive!

11 years ago
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So you didn't report him on Steamrep, did you?

11 years ago
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he tried to screw you man...

11 years ago
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or you know, your german key is locked...

11 years ago
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CoD BO II Retrail isn't region locked, in fact low violence keys are almost always region-free. Also once a retrail key is used, it's used, I think something is fishy here.
Außerdem noch was zu lesen für dich damit du beim nächsten Mal besser Bescheid weißt ;)

11 years ago
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Closed 11 years ago by Tribok.