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Take-Two going after more Grand Theft Auto V beta scammers, additional complaints filed

Grand Theft Auto V Beta

In February, Take-Two Interactive won a dispute over the domain getgtavbeta.com, which was followed by a win over betagtav.com, a phony website that claimed to have beta keys to the game.  Now, Take-Two has a total of four open cases over Grand Theft Auto V related domains.

This week, complaints were filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) over gta5betacode.com (Case Number: D2013-0490) and grandtheftauto5beta.com (Case Number: D2013-0489).

While grandtheftauto5beta.com does not resolve to a web page at the moment, gta5betacode.com (screenshot above) is a full-fledged website, complete with a Facebook page that has over 1,000 likes and a YouTube account.

How does the scam work?

People who visit the website are first instructed to help unwittingly spread the scam through Facebook.  If you scroll to the bottom of the page, you can see the steps.

GTA V Beta scam

If you click the “Get Your Key!” button, you’re taken to another page that has you pick a console.

After you select a console, the final page is shown that tries tricking you into downloading a file to your computer.

If you don’t think people still fall for these absurd and obvious scams, take a look at the website’s related Facebook page.  At the time of this story, it has over 1,300 likes.

GTA 5 Beta Facebook page

This case will be another slam-dunk for Take-Two.

Gta5betacode.com is owned by a resident of Pennsylvania, who first registered the domain in January 2013.

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Disputes News Video Games WIPO

Take-Two wins another dispute over a Grand Theft Auto V beta domain, 3 more to go

Grand Theft Auto V Beta

Take-Two Interactive has won a dispute over the domain betagtav.com, a name that was registered back in 2011 shortly after Grand Theft Auto V’s official announcement.  The game is set to be released in September 2013.

Last year, the domain owner launched a website on betagtav.com that claimed to have beta keys to the game.  Of course, the website was a fake.  But it wasn’t the only site on the internet issuing fake beta keys.  There were and are others.

At the beginning of 2013, Take-Two filed five separate complaints with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) over ‘GTA V Beta’ domains.

In February, it won a dispute over getgtavbeta.com, but there are still 3 more cases that are active and undecided.  The cases involve gtavbeta.net, gtavbeta.org, and  gta5downloadsecure.com.

You can see a screenshot below of betagtav.com from 2012.  The web address currently redirects users to Rockstar Games’ official website.

Grand Theft Auto V Beta

Expect to see more complaints filed over beta domains in 2013 as scammers continue to prey on unsuspecting fans of popular video games.

Last year, Microsoft took control of the domain names Halo4Beta.biz and Halo4Beta.net, after filing similar complaints.

Talking about this story: Examiner.com