One thing that has long plagued the ever-popular Fortnite is security issues. For a while now, Epic Games has publicly emphasized that players should be using multi-factor authentication for their accounts, and of course advises fans not to purchase V-Bucks anywhere but official channels. Naturally, people want to save a buck on V-Bucks, and third-party sellers are certainly popular. But just in case it isn’t obvious, a new report suggests buying from anyone other than Epic Games puts customers at risk of participating in money laundering schemes.
This report comes from The Independent, in collaboration with cyber security firm Sixgill. The long and short of the matter is that multiple operations out of places like China, Russia, Spain, and some English-speaking locations are using a combination of the dark web and Fortnite to clean up dirty money. Basically, after doing things like stealing credit card information, V-Bucks are purchased in Fortnite with the “dirty” money, then cleaned up by selling those V-Bucks online.
According to Sixgill, Epic Games’ security measures are surprisingly weak, and not much is being done to combat these illicit practices. It’s hard to say exactly what’s going on, but since Epic’s public-facing material focuses mostly on preventative measures, perhaps combating these practices is exceptionally difficult. Either way, the report suggests that hundreds of thousands are generated in Fortnite items sold on eBay alone, and the activity in dark web locations, largely fueled by cryptocurrency purchases, are much harder to estimate, but have grown in proportion to the game’s popularity.
Source: The Independent