Scammers will always be around, and sadly their targets are usually those who don’t know better when it comes to spotting that they’re being hoodwinked. These scammers don’t just stop with real-life fraud either but use things such as video games to gain people’s trust and steal from them. Fortnite scammers are no different.
It isn’t the first time that Fortnite has had scammers. If you can cast your memory back to May you’ll remember the scam that had players believing that Epic Games had sent invites out to certain players through email to see if they wanted to test the Android beta before it officially released. Of course, that particular rumor led to Epic Games publically announcing that it was a scam.
The most recent scam seems to be websites promising free V-Bucks, a virtual currency that allows players to buy loot such as skins, sprays and emotes. Though Epic Games has warned players not to fall for these websites, it seems as though people are still being duped.
According to The Telegraph’s report, the demographic that is being targeted is, of course, young children. What’s worse is that these free V-Buck scams are being advertised on websites such as YouTube and Facebook, enticing children to hand over their account details for Fortnite. Once they have the information they want, these scammers then steal the banking details of the account – which usually belongs to the parent – and take away fraudulent amounts of money.
Action Fraud, a department of the City of London Police says that it has received a number of reports about fraudulent charges thanks to these kinds of scams. Like Epic Games, they have encouraged that players only use the official website when it comes to buying V-Bucks.
As for free V-Bucks? To quote Regina George: stop trying to make free V-Bucks happen, it’s not gonna happen.
