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."
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.

- Patrick Shanley
- patrick.shanley@THR.com
- @pshanley88
GET THE
SCOOPS FIRST!
Sign up for Heat Vision's weekly newsletter for all things comics, sci-fi and more.
Thank you!
HEAT VISION
The scoops will hit your inbox every Friday.
-
by Mikey O'Connell
-
by Bryn Sandberg
-
by James Hibberd
-
by Lesley Goldberg
