Fortnite scammers cashing-in on the popularity of survival shooter have made almost $1 million (£760,000) in revenue to date, new research shows
Malicious websites trick fans of the video game into clicking on advertisem*nts or filling out bogus surveys in the false hope of generating free V-Bucks – the digital currency used in the title.
Although Fortnite is free-to-play, players have to pay for V-Bucks, which can be used to buy new outfits and weapons inside the video game.
Security experts have warned players to exercise caution around websites that claim to have free V-Bucks – as these are usually elaborate ways to generate advertising revenue, or siphoning personal data from visitors.
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Fortnite scammers are cashing in on naive gamers and have made almost $1 million (£760,000) so far. Cyber-security experts have found fans of Fortnite are being duped into clicking on adverts on suspicious websites in the false hope of getting free V-bucks
Researchers identified sites that lured players as 'V-Bucks generators'.
These websites appear to be legitimate and ask users to complete a variety of steps, which can include signing-up to other sites and clicking through a number of ads.
All of these steps are bogus, with the scam site's only goal to get Fortnite players to click through as many adverts as possible to generate revenue for the site owner.
Despite the promises of free in-game currency, the players are left with nothing to show for their efforts.
Worse still, they may have handed over sensitive personal information to cyber criminals.
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According to cyber security firm Imperva, who first reported the scam, the fraudsters often target Fortnite and other games that offer in-app purchases, such as World of Warcraft andCounter-Strike: Global Offensive.
The popularity of Fortnite, and its popularity among younger gamers, means it has become a popular target for hoaxes and scams.
Imperva writes: 'Ideal targets for these types of scams include players of "freemium" games, where you can play for free, but some premium additions (such as virtual money or skins) can be bought with real-world currency.
'Everyone wants the premium kit, but no one wants to pay for it.
The V-bucks generator asks for a username and how many V-Bucks the users wishes for and then a small terminal appears on screen,. This imitates hacking into the Fortnite Database and adding V-Bucks to an account but is in fact nothing but illusion
WHAT IS FORTNITE? THE FREE TO PLAY GAME LAUNCHED IN 2017 AND HAS TAKEN THE WORLD BY STORM
Fortnite is a game that originally launched as a disk back in July 2017 and was then turned into a free-to-download game by its developer, Epic Games, in September.
There are three forms of the game: 'Battle Royale', 'Save The World' and 'Playground'.
Save the world is the original form of the game and is currently not available to play as part of the free-to-download game, instead it comes as part of a £30 ($40) extra.
It is aco-op mode with a story that's playable solo or online with friends.
Fortnite is a battle royale-style survival shooter where players create a superhero avatar and compete against each other on a dystopian island
Users compete in teams of up to three to complete a variety of missions.
It is rumoured that the game will be added to the free-to-play version of the game in the future.
Whilst Save The World may be the original version of the game, its sister mode is by far the most popular.
Battle Royale is a gameof survival where players create a superhero avatar and compete against each other on a dystopian island.
Each game, or 'match' as each competition is known, starts with 100 players.
The aim of the game is to be the last one standing. Users can form allegiances and play in small groups.
To enable this and the interactive experience, the game allows completely open communication between players.
Inspired by the Hunger Games novels and films, gamers search for weapons to help them survive.
Armed with quirky weapons and amusing dances, the game has swept across the gaming world, with children flocking to it.
While there is no exact figure on how many children play Fortnite, the game has so far pulled in an audience of over 125 million players.
Playground is the latest addition to the game and is a consequence free mode with more loot and unlimited respawning to allow players to get creative.
It involved groups of up to four people working as a team and the players can hone their skills as the practise in advance of entering Battle Royale where they will face better players.
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'We focused our research on Fortnite scams, since this game is hugely popular in the freemium game category, especially among teenagers.
'This demographic makes for a soft target, given that young people are often constrained financially on account of being, well… young.'
The scam's aim is to lead users to V-Bucks generators and eventually trick them into clicking on ads. In order to hide their intentions, attackers use a variety of disguises.
For example, they tweak the URLs that link to the scam to resemble a legitimate well-known site.
After a series of successful clicks, an error message pops up requiring 'human verification'. This is the end goal for the scammers as this leads through to a survey site with a survey pool
By clicking on the surveys, which subtly disguise as adverts, the user is transported through to either legitimate businesses or other scam sites. Either way the completion of this never results in V-bucks being obtained, but it does generate ad traffic, and therefore revenue, for the scammers
This way the pages that advertise the generator are hosted on innocent online services without getting removed.
The V-bucks generators asks for a username and how many V-Bucks the users wishes for and then a small terminal appears on screen.
This imitates hacking into the Fortnite Database and adding V-Bucks to an account but is in fact nothing but illusion.
After a series of successful clicks, an error message pops up requiring 'human verification'.
This is the end goal for the scammers as thisleads through to a survey site with a survey pool.
The popularity of Fortnite, and the penchant for it from younger gamers, means it has become a popular target for the hoaxes.The researchers say that the younger demographic makes for a soft target, given that young people are often constrained financially
By clicking on the surveys, which subtly disguise as adverts, the user is transported through to either legitimate businesses or other scam sites.
Either way the completion of this never results in V-bucks being obtained, but it does generate ad traffic, and therefore revenue, for the scammers that own the ads the unsuspecting Fortnite fan is clicking on.
Pay Per Click Advertising is an advertising model in which an advertiser pays a site owner for each ad click.
According to data taken from Similar Web,one group of attackers has made over$93,000 (£71,000) in the last month.
The firm has urged gamers to be cautious when they spot suspicious sites offering free currency, as it is likely a scam.
