Kriminelle bruger Clash of Clans til at sende penge til hinanden

Tyske sikkerhedsfirma Kromtech rapporterer om kriminelle, der bruger Free-to-Play spil som Clash of Clans og Clash Royale til at sende store pengeoverførsler til hinanden. Kromtech udtaler:

Bob Diachenko, Head of communications, Kromtech Security:
"If you have ever played a free-to-play game you know that most of them require resources of one type or another to play. Whether it be gems, gold, power ups, or other, these resources are required to advance within the game, making them critical to the game play. Manually gathering the free resources is a slow process and one can play a game for months working to move up levels. This is where the game makers make their money. They sell resources through "In-App Purchases" to help people play the game and speed up the game play. The lure of speeding up your play is a strong incentive to spend money on resources, and many spend to play. This has turned free-to-play games into a multi-billion dollar industry.

The resources even maintain value after purchase, because in many cases, once bought, they can be traded, adding to the game play. The game itself can also be transferred from one account to another. Because of this, resources gathered or bought and games built to advanced levels can also be resold. It is the selling of these on third party markets that holds the door open to the illicit activity that we found taking place."