$50 Virtual Game Card Exploit?

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I told you about purchasing virtual game cards and the benefits of doing so over regular game cards here. You get loot items, more Reward Points and Loyalty Points than you would through a store bought card or purchasing Reward Points in the Marketplace. These bonuses are proof that Zynga prefers this method of purchase as it bypasses the 30% cut that Facebook takes when you buy Reward Points through the Marketplace.

In addition to loot items and additional Reward and Loyalty Points, there are also more options available with Virtual Game Cards than there are with store bought Game Cards. Virtual Game Cards can be purchased in $50 increments where the store bought Game Cards are available only in $10 and $25 increments. If you want to try this method of Reward Point purchasing out, go here. The only drawback is you have to wait to get your confirmation code.

Game Cards are a hot commodity in the trading world. Most of the trading sites allow the trading of Game Cards for loot items. It's unclear what Zynga's stance on this is. David Reedy of Kingpin Trading Market and myself requested input from Zynga via the PAC but have yet to get a definitive answer. Here are the most recent trading ratios for Game Cards taken from the Elite Traders Club Ratio Guide.

Elite also says that Game Card trading is risky and there are strict guidelines for doing so (1).

Recently the admin of the Elite Traders Club have noticed that there is an unusually high amount of $50 Virtual Game Cards hitting the trading market. It's also been noted that they are being sold on the Black Market for $35. Because of this, they have banned the trading of them until more is known. It is suspected that there is credit card fraud or an exploit of Virtual Game Card purchases (1). I know there was an issue that involved manipulating the payment gateway with firebug/tamperdata. It was reported to Zynga months ago by one of my computer savvy friends. It's unclear if the influx of Virtual Game Cards in the market comes from this exploit or if a new one exists.

Mark Ryan, an admin of Elite, attempted to ask Zynga if they knew anything about this issue. Customer Support wasn't the best place to do this. He was told to report it to mafiainsidertip@zynga.com which is an e-mail that allows any player to anonymously report sensitive issues to Zynga. Here is the chat transcript mentioned above. Hopefully Zynga will seriously look into this matter as it has the potential to severely "unbalance" the playing field.


Marjorie A.: Hello Mark! I am a Zynga Customer Support Representative. How can I help you today?
Mark: Yo Marjorie :) needs some help and hopefully you can report ASAP
Mark: there has been a increase on 50$ Game cards (307rp) on trading wall etc... i asked around about it and it seems some of them are hacked cards
Marjorie A.: What seems to be the problem?
Mark: some how they are getting em i don't how :( cant find that out no one will tell me , but some people told me on them $$$ sell sites are selling them for as low as 30$
Mark: before people used a payment glitch the could buy 50$ game card and change the payment to a different price but zynga fixed that, it was few months back ,but now seems they got new way and only the 50$ (307rp) cards :(
Mark: i seen it over last few days they rising in numbers from people spreading them out, i know Game card to loot trading is frowned on by zynga but it minor problem to people cheating and stealing
Mark: just wondering could you get the team to check it out asap , i think there is some thing fishy going on , sorry for spellin its 04:30 here :(
Marjorie A.: I understand that you're having an issue with purchasing Game Cards, am I correct?
Mark: no im reporting that i think some people are hacking/ or making/ or stealing 50$ game cards (307rp) only
Marjorie A.: As I understand, you would like to report people who's selling Game Cards worth 307 reward points for $50, right?
Mark: :s some people trade game cards for loot or sell them etc but the 50$ game cards are increasing in numbers are trade sites/cash sell sites/ black market
Mark: these cards are been sold for less then 50$
Mark: by these people
Mark: so i asked some friends about it and why it was happening
Mark: they said them cards are hacked cards or got via a glitch some how
Mark: im asking you to report so your team can check it out ASAP
Marjorie A.: We really appreciate your time bringing this to our attention, Mark.
Mark: i think people are stealing from zynga which ruins this game even more
Marjorie A.: Would you be so kind to send this information to mafiainsidertip@zynga.com
Mark: does this even get looked at ?
Marjorie A.: We have a different department who handles this kind of concern.
Marjorie A.: But I will raise this to our team as well.
Mark: so coming here was no good
Marjorie A.: We really appreciate it, Mark, however we have a different department who handles this concern.
Mark: okies, seems like im going to be sending a mail to a bigger pile of mail ty for your time all the same

Article written by Jennifer Patterson, Creator of the MW Loot Lady Blog, The Mafia Wars Loot Lady Facebook Fan Page and Co-Host of The Informant Podcast. All material is protected by copyright law