Russian criminals may be using the TF2 in-game economy for money laundering.
136 replies, posted
And also a pretty [I]disturbing[/I] look at how serious business the TF2 economy is. They've got graphs and everything!
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/8k2m3.png[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/0Ea8q.png[/IMG]
[QUOTE]Here are the conclusions from the suspicious group.
We all know that Mann Co Package is grant for every USD$20 of purchase from Store. They had 14-17 Packages, so they "spent" USD$280-$340 on Keys using each account.
All the involved accounts in this group were created at least months ago.
The accounts were Free-to-Play (Per my replication of Valve's database in May 23, 2012)
No weapons/hats stayed in these backpacks.
They sometimes open the Mann Co Packages or just give them away to Buds sellers.
Usually no Keys/Buds were left behind.
The proven accounts NEVER signed in at TF2 Outpost. However, they do look for Buds sellers there.
They refer each other to the largest Buds sellers on Outpost
So it is reasonable to believe that this is a group that is worthy of our attention.
From the script I made, the Group
-Has 65 Members
--Of which 30 has Public Backpacks
---Of which 23 are Premium
----Of which 6 has Keys left
-----Of which 6 has Mann Co Packages left
---Of which 7 are Free-to-Play
--Of which 35 has Private Backpacks
You can imagine the impact of this group if they inject thousands of Keys into the market every week by suspicious means.
[/QUOTE]
[B][QUOTE]tl;dr A group of Russians bought >5,000 Keys from Store today using illegitimate credit cards and bought few hundred Buds from TF2 Outpost at an ridiculous price of 28-30 Keys (The average yesterday was 25.5 Keys). They have been doing this for quite a long time and their activity today is alarming. [/QUOTE][/B]
[B]you should probably read the sources since they're badly formatted walls of text[/B]
[URL="http://forums.steamrep.com/threads/today-i-discovered-that-there-are-tons-of-keys-with-doubtful-origin-injecting-into-the-market.14096/"]source 1, steamrep[/URL]
[URL="http://www.reddit.com/r/tf2/comments/134u4d/1111_key_injection_and_economy_manipulation/"]source 2, reddit[/URL]
If this isn't the right section because it isn't a news article then move it.
fuck, it's always the goddamn russians
[img]http://wiki.teamfortress.com/w/images/thumb/0/08/Heavy.png/250px-Heavy.png[/img]
I bet this fucker is the head of this entire thing too
God damn Russians are smart.
I'm sorry but I can't take this seriously.
as someone who stopped playing Team Fortress 2 just after the Mann-Conomy update, the fact that these keys, apple earbuds, and metals have real world value and are all a part of a convoluted economic system boggles my mind.
i quit that game when the unusual shit started getting out of hand
it's honestly like the fucking red scare in that game, nobody wants to trade with russians
Scary that something as innocent as TF2 trading has been used for laundering/suspicious means.
[QUOTE=.FLAP.JACK.DAN.;38443842]Scary that something as innocent as TF2 trading has been used for laundering/suspicious means.[/QUOTE]
I think it was said somewhere that the entire TF2 economy is worth millions of dollars, so it was obvious someone was bound to make a cash grab.
So how exactly do you make money off buying keys?
[QUOTE=ccg;38443816][img]http://wiki.teamfortress.com/w/images/thumb/0/08/Heavy.png/250px-Heavy.png[/img]
I bet this fucker is the head of this entire thing too[/QUOTE]
Well, he IS a mobster, after all.
[img]http://wiki.teamfortress.com/w/images/thumb/6/6e/Black_Market_Business_set.png/200px-Black_Market_Business_set.png[/img]
Really shows how far TF2 has fallen, both in game quality and in community.
And psst to the OP, the original writer of his findings posted to a different subreddit, that /r/tf2 post is redundant to include as it just links to source #1. [url]http://www.reddit.com/r/tf2trade/comments/132pen/psa_a_group_of_russians_bought_5000_keys_from/[/url]
[editline]13th November 2012[/editline]
[QUOTE=OvB;38443855]So how exactly do you make money off buying keys?[/QUOTE]
People are willing to pay for high-value items such as keys, refined metal, earbuds and Bill's hats, as well as unusuals through PayPal. Risky, but the risk can be reduced with a middleman.
[QUOTE=OvB;38443855]So how exactly do you make money off buying keys?[/QUOTE]
by trading them for those hipster apple earbuds
i sitll dont understand the value behind those shitty earbuds........ is it just a random item that the community unanimously decided to trade as currency?
[QUOTE=DinoJesus;38443862]Really shows how far TF2 has fallen, both in game quality and in community.[/QUOTE]
If you ignore the cosmetic items it is actually still a fun game and is still a balanced game.
I remember when TF2 was just a class based shooter
Now it has a bigger economy than Greece and the Russian mob are using it.
Christ Valve, you struck gold.
[QUOTE=.FLAP.JACK.DAN.;38443914]If you ignore the cosmetic items it is actually still a fun game and is still a [b]balanced[/b] game.[/QUOTE]
Fun? For some people. Balanced? Lmao.
[QUOTE=.FLAP.JACK.DAN.;38443914]If you ignore the cosmetic items it is actually still a fun game and is still a balanced game.[/QUOTE]
sure, if you're willing to follow TF2 news all day reading up on the latest overpowered shitty ~~promotion~~ items that gets added to the game every day.
[QUOTE=OvB;38443855]So how exactly do you make money off buying keys?[/QUOTE]
People buy keys off traders for ~$1 IIRC.
Although, in this case it looks more like they've got a shitload of keys, traded them for earbuds, then sold the earbuds for IRL money.
[QUOTE=DinoJesus;38443862]Really shows how far TF2 has fallen, both in game quality and in community.[/QUOTE]
It's still hella fun to play, but the whole trading shit has gone way out of hand. I don't even try trading because all the sudden earbuds and bills are pretty much currency and everythings down to a science that usually ends up in someone getting assfucked.
Anyone who says TF2 is a bad game is either blind and lets hats and trading ruin the game for them, or has never liked TF2's gameplay to begin with.
The gameplay is still fun and excellent, it's just different now. The items could be more balanced but nothing is essentially OP that it makes games one-sided or anything. I stopped playing it regularly because I find the gameplay to be generally boring now, but that doesn't make it bad at all.
[QUOTE=mixshifter;38443940]Anyone who says TF2 is a bad game is either blind and lets hats and trading ruin the game for them, or has never liked TF2's gameplay to begin with.
The gameplay is still fun and excellent, it's just different now. The items could be more balanced but nothing is essentially OP that it makes games one-sided or anything. I stopped playing it regularly because I find the gameplay to be generally boring now, but that doesn't make it bad at all.[/QUOTE]
Because getting annoyed when a quarter of your team is too busy discussing a trade to even play is blind hatred.
[QUOTE=OvB;38443855]So how exactly do you make money off buying keys?[/QUOTE]
They're buying earbuds for a few keys over the "average market price" and reselling them for cash. They're not making a profit, though, other than the money being laundered.
[QUOTE=DinoJesus;38443955]Because getting annoyed when a quarter of your team is too busy discussing a trade to even play is blind hatred.[/QUOTE]
That largely depends on the server. The servers I play on have practically zero trading talk, and even then, at most it's only one person.
Its not a bad game, but it sure is boring as hell and every update is half-assed and always have something to ruin it. Valve doesn't even care for gameplay and only care about looks, this halloween event was a great exemple of that. Wait, lemme change that, not Valve just the terrible team they put to work on TF2 now.
well tbh i don't think tf2 itself is to blame
[QUOTE=SPESSMEHREN;38443902]by trading them for those hipster apple earbuds
i sitll dont understand the value behind those shitty earbuds........ is it just a random item that the community unanimously decided to trade as currency?[/QUOTE]
It's a limited edition item that was sorta hard to get back then so there's a limited amount of them to avoid inflation, and the value is steadily increasing.
[QUOTE=latin_geek;38443958]They're buying earbuds for a few keys over the "average market price" and reselling them for cash. They're not making a profit, though, other than the money being laundered.[/QUOTE]I would say there is profit look, where the money to buy the keys originally came from.
[QUOTE=Garbor 0.1;38443966]Its not a bad game, but it sure is boring as hell and every update is half-assed and always have something to ruin it. Valve doesn't even care for gameplay and only care about looks, this halloween event was a great exemple of that. Wait, lemme change that, not Valve just the terrible team they put to work on TF2 now.[/QUOTE]
This thread isn't really about discussing how much you abhor Valve, go to some other thread and do that no one wants to read your complaints here when they aren't relevant to the OP.
This has gone too far.
Also you can check the prices and stuff publically [URL="http://tf2finance.com/"]here[/URL] A pair of Earbuds is apparently worth 32 US dollars, or 26 keys (a 65 dollar value)
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.