HEAT VISION
Epic Games Responds to 'Fortnite' Money Laundering Accusations
Epic Games has issued a response to a recent report in the U.K. news outlet The Independent that claims cyber-criminals have been using the game Fortnite to launder stolen funds via the title's in-game currency, V-bucks.
"Epic Games takes these issues seriously, as chargebacks and fraud put our players and our business at risk," a spokesperson for Epic Games told The Hollywood Reporter. "As always, we encourage players to protect their accounts by turning on two-factor authentication, not re-using passwords and using strong passwords, and not sharing account information with others."
This Week In Heat Vision breakdown
According to the Independent report, criminals were using stolen credit card details to purchase V-bucks, Fortnite's virtual in-game currency, and then selling them on the dark web at a discounted rate to players, effectively "cleaning" the stolen funds by running them through an official transactional process.
Fortnite's V-bucks generate serious revenue. The game, which is free to download, made more than $3 billion in 2018 based on its in-game purchasing system and boasts more than 125 million players.
In recent months, Epic has been at the center of a number of lawsuits involving purchasable dances for player's characters in Fortnite. Rapper 2 Milly and Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star Alfonso Ribeiro have both filed suits against the company for using dances they created in the game.
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