Are you one of those who love to play real-money games online? Well, if yes, then there is something that you must know before you move on to your next game. While it is common to see gaming frauds taking place, often gamers ignore them. Let’s talk about the most common types of scams that take place in the online gaming space.
Common frauds
Account switching: In this type of fraud, a player exchanges his login credentials with another player, and the latter participates in tournaments using the former's account. Yash Pariani, CEO and Founder at House of Gaming, explained a recent example of the same where at a women-only gaming event hosted by the company, a male player logged in from a girl’s account and won the match. Later the decision was overturned.
Account Takeover: Good users face the risk of losing funds as a result of bad actors unlawfully accessing their accounts. Fraudsters use bots and human sweatshops for account takeover of genuine online gaming user accounts – especially those with big money – and to farm in-game assets so they can be resold for hefty profits. Account takeover can also take place through bad bots.
Fake Identity: Players register with forged identification papers. Minors impersonate legal users by giving false information. Popular games Fortnite and League of Legends have been plagued by fake users, spam, and scams, resulting in fraudulent charges to legitimate players and stolen accounts sold for big profits.
Promo Abuse: Sometimes, players also construct numerous fake identities or real stolen identities to benefit from gaming promotions and giveaways more than once, exceeding the limits set per legitimate user.
Underage gaming: Shubhodip Pal, CEO, Co-Founder of gaming platform Googly believes that underage gaming has also plagued online gaming. Despite age restrictions, minors often end up playing real-money games using a fake identity. It has become commonplace due to the absence of robust age and identity verification mechanisms.
Money Laundering: Criminals may use virtual currencies within games to launder money obtained through illegal activities, such as drug trafficking or human trafficking.
Phishing Scams: Scammers may send emails or messages that appear to be from the game's developers, asking players to provide login credentials or other personal information. Kriti Singh, chief of staff at research and public policy think tank The Dialogue says that phishing attacks have become so common these days. “We have seen many cases recently where the scammer sends the user an email stating that their gaming account will be closed if they do not verify it. The information is stolen when the user attempts to verify the account by.”
Fake Websites: Fraudsters may create fake websites that appear to be official game sites, but are designed to steal login credentials or other personal information. For example, early in 2020, a scam involving the now-banned online game PUBG Mobile arose in India where scammers set up phoney websites and social media accounts which advertise free in-game cash (PUBG UCs) and other benefits.
Large-scale gaming Scams
E-Nuggets Gaming Scam: One of the scams was the E-Nuggets Scam which was based on a gaming application and offered a host of real money games. Initially, the users could access their app wallet which would receive incentives for adding money to it. But after it reached a sizeable amount, the user was not able to do any transactions or have any access on the pretext of account upgradation. Consequently, the data followed by the user account was deleted. During the investigation, Rs 32 crore in bank accounts and Rs 14.53 crore in crypto-currency were seized.
Mahadev Scam: Another similar case was the Mahadev Scam, where they offered small deals to the users on account of downloading the app. Once a user commits huge amounts, similar to E-nugget, they disabled the accounts. According to police reports, Rs 405 crore was transferred from 26 fake accounts in 10 banks to other bank accounts.
PUBG Mobile Scam: In 2020, a PUBG Mobile scam was reported in India where fraudsters promised players UC (in-game currency) at a discounted rate. Victims were asked to transfer money to the fraudsters' bank account or Paytm account, but they never received the promised UC.
Dream11 Scandal: Dream11 is a popular fantasy sports platform in India. In 2019, a scandal broke out where a Dream11 user claimed that the company was involved in insider trading. The user alleged that Dream11 employees were using their knowledge of user data to win contests on the platform.
How to identify
Here are quick tips to identify gaming scammers:
Where feasible, enable two-factor (2FA) or multi-factor authentication (MFA), and change your account password regularly.
Install a security solution that will identify and block malicious software and alert you about phishing attempts.
When using communal or public computers, log out of your account.
Apps and extensions can be obtained from the main website.
Don't give out your identity or financial details to someone you encountered in a game chatroom.
Purchase in-game items from approved vendors.
Any suspicious behaviour should be reported to the gaming platform.
At the same time, it is important for gaming applications to get themselves KYC compliant and complete end-to-end KYC for users accessing their platforms.
“Keeping up with the ever-evolving state guidelines with robust identity verification solutions is crucial for all well-meaning gaming platforms. Even a minor delay or oversight can invite heavy penalties,” says Arjit Bhargava, Senior Vice President, AuthBridge Research Services.
So, all the gamers out there, it’s time to be wary of scammers and secure your game before you lose money.
