New Research Warns of Gaming Scams Targeting Kids

A gaming platform is warning parents about gaming scams aimed at children.

Cybercriminals are targeting young gamers, exploiting their innocence for financial gain, according to a report released Friday by Mobile Premier League (MPL), a popular gaming platform.

Gaming scams pose grave risks to children’s safety, privacy, and financial security, particularly because younger people are more vulnerable, MPL noted.

Cybercriminals may exploit personal information to commit identity theft, access bank accounts, or even engage in online harassment and cyberbullying, it added. Additionally, malware infections can compromise device security, exposing children to further risks.

“Children are particularly vulnerable because they are less able to distinguish between what is real and what is imaginary compared to adults,” explained Alex Ambrose, a policy analyst with the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF), a research and public policy organization in Washington, D.C.

“Children may confuse fictional immersive experiences with real ones,” she told TechNewsWorld. “This is a normal part of a child’s cognitive and emotional development, but there are still questions as to how immersive experiences like gaming exacerbate this confusion.”

Kimberly Sutherland, vice president of fraud and identity strategy at LexisNexis Risk Solutions, a global data analytics and services company, added that scammers target kids for a number of reasons. “They can be targeted to get access to their parents’ information, or unfortunately, they’re often targeted for more harmful reasons, like for online sex crime and predatory activity,” she told TechNewsWorld.

7 Million Attacks

Earlier this year, cybersecurity products and services company Kaspersky reported that in 2022, its security solutions detected more than seven million attacks relating to popular children’s games, resulting in a 57% increase in attempted attacks compared to the previous year.

The top children’s games by the number of users targeted included games for the youngest children — Poppy Playtime and Toca Life World — which are designed for three to eight-year-olds.

“What raises even more concerns is that sometimes children prefer to communicate with strangers on gaming platforms rather than on social media,” Andrey Sidenko and Anna Larkina wrote on the Kaspersky Daily website.

“In some games, unmoderated voice and text chats form a significant part of the experience,” they continued. “As more young people come online, criminals can build trust virtually, in the same way as they would entice someone in person — by offering gifts or promises of friendship.”

“Once they lure a young victim by gaining their trust, cybercriminals can obtain their personal information, suggesting they click on a phishing link, download a malicious file onto their device disguised as a game mod for Minecraft or Fortnite, or even groom them for more nefarious purposes,” they added.

Sutherland noted that there are commonalities between how children and adults are targeted. “It’s ultimately about trust and often begins with grooming,” she said. “Looking at social media sites where people share information could be something that could be done for both a child and an adult.”

“Trying to use fake information to present themselves — fake profiles, fake photos, something that allows the child or adult to connect with the fraudster — would be done to a child or an adult,” she added. “So establishing that relationship is very similar for adults and children.”

Scammers Favor Roblox

Spawning the bogus information predators need for their scams has become easier with the rise of artificial intelligence. “Artificial intelligence makes it easier to create fictitious identities,” Sutherland said. “The problem was bad before. And the ability to create fake profiles, fake voices that could represent a minor, has become even more difficult to detect with AI.”

However, fraudsters also use differences between children and adults when crafting scams. “Scammers rely on psychological tricks to gain their targets’ trust and prevent them from asking too many questions,” explained Ashley Johnson, a senior policy manager at the ITIF.

“These tricks may be more effective on certain populations, such as children, because children are less psychologically developed than adults,” she told TechNewsWorld.

The MPL report also noted phishing attempts disguised as legitimate gaming websites or updates are also prevalent, tricking children into downloading malware or revealing sensitive data.

According to Kaspersky data, phishing pages created by cybercriminals mostly targeted Roblox, Minecraft, Fortnite, and Apex Legends games. In 2022, more than 878,000 phishing pages were made for these four games, 823,000 of which targeted Roblox alone.

How Parents Can Protect Kids From Gaming Scams

Ambrose argued that developers need to balance making a game compelling and entertaining while looking out for children’s best interests.

“The video game industry, either voluntarily or due to proposed regulatory mandates, has introduced various measures to minimize the negative effects of gambling-like mechanics, such as loot boxes,” she said.

“These measures include setting spending limits for underage accounts to $0 by default, disclosing every item included in a loot box’s pool alongside its drop rate — how likely a player is to get the best item — and imposing hourly and daily limits on purchases of loot boxes by an individual user.

“When it comes to immersive games, such as AR/VR experiences, the expectation is that they will support and carry betting apps,” she added. “Therefore, it is important to understand that children may interact with these platforms and, as a result, may experience gambling-like situations and behaviors.”

The MPL report made these recommendations to parents for protecting their children from online gaming scams:

• Enable parental controls and restrict in-app purchases to help prevent unauthorized spending.
• Educate children about safe online practices, such as recognizing phishing attempts and never sharing personal information with strangers.
• Monitor gaming activities regularly and foster open communication with children to help identify potential threats early on.
• Encourage children to report any suspicious activities or requests for personal information immediately.

“Limiting online access with most children is the best approach,” Sutherland maintained. “Parents need to have parental control where they can monitor usage and access and limit children’s access to safe places online — age-appropriate gaming and social media sites.”

“Setting clear boundaries, limiting screen time, and making sure they’re going to age-appropriate platforms and playing age-appropriate games is most important,” she said.