New research warns of gaming scams targeting kids

A gaming platform is warning parents about gaming scams targeting children.

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

Gaming scams pose serious risks to children’s safety, privacy and financial security, especially because young people are more vulnerable, MPL noted.

Cybercriminals can use personal information to steal identities, access bank accounts, and even engage in online harassment and cyberbullying, it added. Additionally, malware infections can compromise device security, putting children at greater risk.

“Children are particularly vulnerable because they cannot distinguish between what is real and what is imaginary compared to adults,” explains Alex Ambrose, a policy analyst at Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), a research and public policy organization in Washington, DC

“Children can confuse imaginary immersive experiences with reality,” he told TechNewsWorld. “This is a normal part of a child’s cognitive and emotional development, but there are still questions about how immersive experiences like gaming exacerbate this confusion.”

Kimberly Sutherland, Vice President of Fraud and Identity Strategy LexisNexis Risk SolutionsA global data analytics and services firm, added that scammers target children for a variety of reasons “They can be targeted to gain access to their parents’ information, or unfortunately, they are often targeted for more harmful reasons, such as online sex crimes and predatory activity” he told TechNewsWorld.

7 million attacks

Earlier this year, cybersecurity products and services company Kaspersky reported that in 2022, its security solutions detected more than 7 million attacks related to popular children’s games, resulting in a 57% increase in attack attempts compared to the previous year.

The top children’s games by target user base include games for the youngest children — Puppy Playtime and Toka Life World — which are designed for ages three to eight.

“What raises even more concern is that sometimes children prefer to interact with strangers on gaming platforms instead of social media,” write Andrey Sidenko and Anna Larkina. Kaspersky Daily website

“In some games, uncontrollable voice and text chat form a significant part of the experience,” they continued. “As more young people come online, criminals can virtually build trust, the same way they lure someone in person – with gifts or promises of friendship.”

“Once they’ve lured a young victim into their trust, cybercriminals can get their personal information, suggesting they click on a phishing link, a malicious file disguised as a game mod for Minecraft or Fortnite on their device. Can download, or even create them for more. For nefarious purposes,” they added.

Sutherland noted that there are similarities in how children and adults are targeted. “It’s ultimately about trust and often starts with decorum,” he said. “Looking at social media sites where people share information can be something that can be done for both a child and an adult.”

“Trying to use fake information to represent yourself — fake profiles, fake photos, anything that allows a child or adult to connect with a fraudster — would be done to a child or adult,” he added. “So establishing that relationship is the same for adults and children.”

Scammers favor Roblox

With the rise of artificial intelligence, it has become easier for predators to create the fake information they need for their scams. “Artificial intelligence makes it easier to create fictional identities,” Sutherland said. “The problem was worse before. And the ability to create fake profiles, fake voices that can represent a minor, has become more difficult to detect through AI.”

However, fraudsters use the distinction between children and adults when creating scams. Ashley Johnson, a senior policy manager at ITIF, explains, “Scammers rely on psychological tactics to gain their target’s trust and keep them from asking too many questions.

“These techniques may be more effective on certain populations, such as children, because children are less developed emotionally than adults,” he told TechNewsWorld.

The MPL report also noted that phishing attempts masquerading 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 target Roblox, Minecraft, Fortnite and Apex Legends games. In 2022, more than 878,000 phishing pages were created for these four games, with 823,000 targeting Roblox alone.

How Parents Can Protect Kids From Gaming Scams

Ambrose argued that developers need to balance making a game interesting and entertaining while looking out for the best interests of children.

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

“These measures include setting a $0 spending limit by default for minor accounts, disclosing each item included in the loot box pool along with its drop rate — how likely a player is to get the best item — and imposing hourly and daily limits on loot purchases. Box 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,” he added. “Therefore, it is important to understand that children can interact with these platforms and, as a result, experience gambling-like situations and behaviors.”

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

• Enable parental controls and limit in-app purchases to help prevent unauthorized spending.
• Educate children about safe online practices, such as recognizing phishing attempts and not sharing personal information with strangers.
• Monitor gaming activities regularly and foster open communication with children to help identify potential threats early.
• Encourage children to report suspicious activity or requests for personal information immediately.

“Limiting online access is the best approach with most children,” Sutherland maintains. “Parents need to have parental controls 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 on age-appropriate platforms and playing age-appropriate games is paramount,” she said.