Fortnite is being used to launder cash

Fortnite is a very popular video game that is currently being enjoyed by at least 200 million players, both children and adults. Sadly, such popularity also comes with dark parts. In this case, we are talking about online criminals who use the game as a platform for money laundering.

According to an investigation by The Independent, this is who the aforementioned criminals operate: "Stolen credit card details are being used to purchase V-bucks – the virtual currency used to buy items in the game – from the official Fortnite store. By selling V-bucks at a discounted rate to players, the criminals are effectively able to “clean” the money."

Additional research by cybersecurity firm Sixgill revealed that the money laundering operations are being conducted worldwide in multiple languages. These languages are Chinese, Arabic, English, Russian, and Spanish. For now, it is still unclear how large is this operation, but Sixgill discovered that Fortnite items grossed over US$250,000 in a 60-day period last year on eBay alone. Obviously, those involved in this operation are also using other virtual stores to sell their dirty V-bucks.

Back in October, Malwarebytes discovered multiple data-stealing malware and cryptocurrency-stealing malicious code in attacks targeted at Fortnite gamers. During the same month, ZeroFOX came up with no less than 53,000 alerts for Fortnite-related scam attempts.