Have you played Fortnite yet? If you haven't, you probably know someone who has, as the game's popularity has exploded over the past year, attracting celebrities, professional athletes and gamers of all ages. Unfortunately, Fortnite's mass appeal is attracting hackers and scammers, too—and exposing security vulnerabilities that can put users at risk.

Part of the game's attraction is that it's free and available to players across multiple video game consoles, PCs and mobile phones. The Hunger Games-like world of Fortnite allows players to showcase their creativity while playing. However, scammers are also getting creative. That, combined with a recent security breach, means players and parents need to be vigilant to help reduce the risk of identity theft and fraud.

In January 2019, Fortnite creator Epic Games acknowledged security researchers from Check Point Software had discovered a major cybersecurity vulnerability in the popular game. The flaw may have enabled hackers to access player accounts, where they could possibly covertly steal login credentials and gain access to stored credit card information as well as in-game friends and contacts.

Fortnite creator Epic Games has not commented on whether any player accounts were compromised as a result of this security flaw. Scams have also created problems for players. Last year, Epic Games warned about the most common Fornite scam on its Twitter account for players: "Say NO to scams! Beware of scam sites offering free or discounted V-Bucks."

Say NO to scams!



Beware of scam sites offering free or discounted V-Bucks. The only official websites for Fortnite are https://t.co/8CxczhrZwk and https://t.co/zxorPaoiJb.



For more information of Account Security: https://t.co/oF57QdfDLH pic.twitter.com/5oTKougmuq — Fortnite (@FortniteGame) May 25, 2018

How Big Is Fortnite? Fortnite: Battle Royale has more than 80 million players worldwide monthly and some 200 million registered players, according to Epic Games. A live-streamed game last year set a new Twitch record for individual online streams, with over 600,000 people watching. The game featured rappers Drake and Travis Scott, Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and one of the game's popular players, Tyler "Ninja" Blevins. Professional athletes are using the popular Fortnite dances in their own game celebrations, and Boston Red Sox pitcher David Price missed a start because he had carpal tunnel syndrome from playing too much Fortnite. Nielsen's SuperData Research, that specializes in video games, reported that Fortnite earned $2.4 billion in annual revenue in 2018. That is more digital revenue in 2018 than any game in history.



A Common Fortnite Scam: YouTube Free V-Bucks That kind of money and the addictive nature of the game has drawn criminal elements to the Fortnite universe. New players mean new opportunities for fraudsters who promise something free to help elevate your game. In Fortnite there are V-bucks, the virtual money that players can use to buy new gear. While recently playing the game with my son and wanting to help advance our "Battle Pass" standing, I did a search for "free V-bucks." I found results promising we would win huge amounts of Fornite V-bucks. My son suggested I check out those third-party videos on YouTube, and what came back were more than 4.6 million various videos promising players to get free V-bucks by following their instructions or tips. Most send you to a website where you share an obscure code from your game account; in some cases, that allows scammers to gain access to your payment information either on your smartphone or game console. The third-party sites also have plenty of ads (which can lead you to download malware on your computer) or follow up with an email, which is really a phishing attempt or to download their app that can have spyware. I know because I watched plenty of the videos hoping to find one I thought was legitimate but was too nervous to click on anything. Ironically, one video demo of how to get free V-bucks has the username shown as "VIRUSS999." While that username may be an easy sign of a fake, other ways to spot a scam video are to look at the number of likes and dislikes a video has received, and whether or not the poster is verified by YouTube with a check symbol next to their name.

Android Fornite App Scam Another scam that has been affecting Fortnite players are fake apps in the Google Play store. Before the game was available on Android devices, security researchers at Zscaler found a bunch of Android apps posing as the official Fortnite app for Android. When players download the fake version of the game on their phones they ended up downloading spyware and adware that ends up being a real-life cyberattack. Many of these fake apps ask users to rate and review it with prewritten comments that make it look like the app is legitimate. In one case, Zscaler found an app that had over 5,000 downloads with more than 4,000 five-star reviews. You should make sure to check your iOS and Android privacy settings to see if you're allowing third-party app downloads from untrusted sites. If you do, you may want to change that setting or delete those apps. You should only get apps from the official Apple and Android stores.

