Humble Bundle clarifies fraud policies

Following the recent drama between G2A and Tinybuild over third-party key sales, Humble Bundle has decided to clarify its policies regarding fraud in the game market.

"The most common approach is to buy as many keys as possible using a stolen credit card, and then resell them elsewhere for a profit. Over the years we have invested heavily in our anti-fraud technology to keep everything running smoothly," it explained in a blog post.

These steps includes use of methods like SMS verification and Captcha, as well as manual reviews by the customer service team, use of an anti-abuse startup called Sift Science and if all else fails, key cancellation.

"We're diligent about canceling orders and the included digital goods when the rare transaction slips by us. Sometimes we find related transactions during a manual review, or even more rarely, a purchase results in a chargeback. When that happens, we cancel the order, revoke the download page and the Steam, uPlay, or Origin keys associated with that order. We send those keys back to the developer or publisher, and to the platform owner (Valve / Ubisoft / EA). The person holding that key loses access to the game. If they purchased it from a reseller, that means the reseller's reputation is diminished."

Humble Bundle said fraudulent transactions make up just a "tiny fraction" of its sales.

This kind of transparency is hugely helpful for developers, even if they're not selling through Humble Bundle it gives them an idea of the standards they can expect from other key distribution sites.