Want that cheat item? It's going to cost you.
Gamers are no strangers to scams, malware, and hacks. There are many cases where malicious actors will use people's love of video games to steal personal information and even money from unsuspecting victims. Even the biggest names in video games are not immune from these attacks.
Way back in April of 2011, hackers infiltrated the Sony PlayStation[1] network and stole personal information from players' accounts, causing Sony to shut down the entire network for 23 days[2].
In January of 2014, video game giant Blizzard Entertainment identified[3] a fake website, which looked like its own Curse Client add-on manager, that installed Trojan malware onto gamers' computers with the intention of stealing account information and passwords. In April of this year, a type of malware[4] called "PUBG RansomWare," which encrypted users' files until they played the popular game PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds for at least one hour, was discovered.
The latest malware attacks that steal gamers' personal information comes disguised as offers for cheat items and freebies for the popular online battle royale video game, Fortnite, according to a blog post[5] from Christopher Boyd, intelligence analyst at Malwarebytes Labs.
"Among all the gluttony of scams there hid a malicious file ready to steal data and enumerate Bitcoin wallets, for starters," he writes.
According to Boyd, this malware was discovered by watching YouTube videos that offered free season 6 passes and a free Android version of the game – even though players are not charged to download the game on any platform[6]. These videos also reportedly offered free cheat items, wallhacks, aimbots, and offers for free "V Bucks," the currency used to buy season
