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.