Virtual Goods, Real Fraud

Fraudulent credit cards allow attackers to make real money through virtual currency fraud from virtual goods in a virtual world.

The recent announcement from Activision Blizzard to acquire King Digital Entertainment, maker of the hit game Candy Crush, for a staggering $5.9 billion certainly turned some heads. Is there really that much money in the mobile gaming industry? In a word, yes, but it’s not just the game makers who look to profit. With the market booming so favorably, it is not surprising that online criminals have also found their way into the ecosystem and created a thriving underground market for in-game virtual goods. We recently authored a post for TechCrunch that explores some of the common attack techniques we’ve observed in the wild and how using proxy servers, fake identities and, virtual currency fraud, fraudulent credit cards allow attackers to make real money through virtual currency fraud from virtual goods in a virtual world. Check out the full post here: http://techcrunch.com/2016/01/20/virtual-goods-real-fraud/

Originally published at www.datavisor.com on January 22, 2016.