On Friday morning, G2A, the controversial digital marketplace that sells everything from video games to gift cards, announced it had cut ties with website MysteryBrand.net. In a statement to Newsweek, a G2A PR representative said "Mystery Brand was one of G2A Pay's merchants for a few months. We terminated the agreement with them, as they violated our terms and conditions." G2A Pay is a service that accepts payment methods and currencies from all over the world, and charges a service fee on those transactions. Update: A G2A representative told Newsweek that the deal was terminated because ""we recently discovered they made changes on their site, and also changed their business model, without notifying us."
The G2A Pay logo that was featured on the Mystery Brand site for months has been completely removed, along with an option to purchase the gift card. Mystery Brand went under the name "giftservice" on the G2A Pay website, which has been deactivated. The page still shows how many gift cards were purchased, with dozens of 50 and 100 dollar transactions made during November and December, after YouTubers like Connor TV, Jake Paul and RiceGum released their infamous MysteryBrand sponsored videos. These content creators have a younger fan base, who might fall for the website and it's addicting gambling nature.
MysteryBrand.net is a website where users can buy loot boxes containing real-world items. There are boxes themed for women, Apple products, Supreme gear and dozens of other IPs and popular brands. Users can pay $3.99 for the "Popular Lite" box and supposedly have the chance to win a Lamborghini, trips to Paris and expensive watches. The drop rates for these items are minuscule at best, with most users instead winning mini USB lamps and calculator watches.
G2A has drawn criticism in the past. In 2016, developer Tiny Build claimed the marketplace sold fraudulent codes for games it created. This gave rise to a "gray market" of games, where users could essentially sell a key on G2A, refund it from the site they originally purchased it from and then make a profit. The site does offer G2A Shield, a fraud prevention warranty, but that costs one Euro a month for a level of security that's a given for digital purchases made elsewhere.
G2A has endorsed some other shady sites in the past. Examples include"topcscard.com" and "galaxydrop.top," which essentially did the same thing as Mysterybrand.net, allowing users to gamble for prizes, but these controversies didn't receive the same level of publicity and backlash. Some online sleuths have claimed all three sites are connected, with G2A originally selling gift cards for all three sites under the same web page.
