Online gaming is a huge industry where players invest money in virtual goods monetized in various ways. With the surging popularity of the industry, fraudsters are targeting gamers with a wide range of scams. Account takeovers, payment fraud, and high-risk transactions are some threats operators face today. But detecting and blocking them as quickly as possible can save your business.
Phishing Scams
Phishing is social engineering used to obtain sensitive data, including login passwords, credit card information, and other private information. Criminals typically send unsolicited messages via email, instant messaging (also known as ‘vishing’ or smishing) or other electronic message platforms to trick victims into clicking a malicious link. It can then lead to the installation of malware, the freezing of your system as part of a ransomware attack or the disclosure of personal information. Phishers usually employ a sense of urgency to get you to click the link, such as telling you your account has been compromised or that you need to verify your identity for online gaming fraud prevention.
However, scammers can also forge legitimate-looking links to login pages or websites to capture your data. Always check the legitimacy of a website or link by searching its name or address online. Legitimate sites will use ‘https:’ instead of ‘HTTP:’ at the URL’s start and will have a closed padlock icon in your browser window. Remember that scammers constantly change their tactics to take advantage of current events. To ensure your staff is protected, educating them about new phishing attacks and having regular refresher training is important. It will help them spot the differences between a genuine and fake site, such as looking for an official logo or a website address that begins with ‘https:.’
Mobile Gaming Scams
Gaming is a huge industry, with players spending billions yearly on in-game purchases. That popularity makes it a prime target for fraudsters, constantly seeking ways to exploit gamers’ desire for cheat codes and power-ups. One of the most common mobile gaming scams involves fraud farms, where cybercriminals create a fake version of a popular game to infect gamers’ devices with malware that can spy on their private messages or log keystrokes to steal passwords and login details for online accounts such as a bank or credit card portals. The malware can also purchase in-game items using the victim’s credit or debit card.
Children are also vulnerable to these mobile gaming scams, as they can be encouraged to share their parents’ credit cards with strangers via chatrooms, where they may be offered in-game currency or items for a fee. Cyberbullying is also an issue, where children are bullied by other gamers who have access to their online profiles and may use these to threaten or humiliate them. Businesses offering gaming services can prevent these scams by implementing a fraud prevention solution with device intelligence technology that identifies unknown users and flags risky behavior. It reduces customer friction at login, challenges anomalous behavior with MFA, and helps businesses eliminate costly account takeover attacks and chargebacks.
Account Takeover Scams
Fraudsters who break into account-based websites have a lot to gain. They can harvest email addresses, passwords, credit card information and more. These data points are valuable for fraudsters looking to commit unauthorized transactions or sell stolen logins on the Dark Web. Unlike malware and phishing attacks, which take more time and effort to set up, account takeover fraudsters often use credentials published or purchased on the Dark Web to attempt logins in bulk. These attempts are known as ‘credential stuffing,’ it is one of the most common methods fraudsters use to break into e-commerce accounts.
Once fraudsters have access to an account, they are often quick to change critical details that need to be changed for the legitimate owner of the bill to get back into it. Tracking these changes triggered by security alerts can provide insight into account takeover activity. Also, look for suspicious activity, such as a sudden increase in password reset requests or purchasing loyalty points. When an account is taken over, it can strain customer relationships. Customers will likely blame the company for lenient security that allowed the fraudster to steal their account. It is also important to avoid high-friction authentication processes that frustrate users and can slow down the speed at which they can access their accounts.
Child Scams
Kids, especially teens, spend much time playing video games on desktop computers and gaming consoles. As a result, they make great targets for scams because of their access to personal information. They may use a gaming platform to interact with friends worldwide or share in-game content and experiences through messaging features and the ability to share screens. It can create casual friendships that can be used to trick kids or sell their personal information, and they may not be able to tell whether someone is in-person or online.
Children are a target for identity theft and other fraud, such as extortion, phony contests and scholarships, social media fraud, and online retail fraud. These crimes can cause financial losses and emotional distress for kids and their families.
Cybercriminals know that kids often have the most personal information, such as their name, address, phone number and even their Social Security Number (SSN), which can be sold for a significant amount of money on the dark web. Kids can also fall victim to phishing schemes or other fraudulent activity on gaming platforms by sharing their passwords with others or providing PII in response to surveys or giveaways. Educating kids on the dangers of giving out information online is a good start. It’s important to teach them that the only people who should have their Social Security number are family members and government agencies and that they shouldn’t give it out to others unless necessary.
