Fortnite hackers making a mint

Fortnite hackers – some of whom are as young as 14 – are reportedly making a mint through the practice of “Fortnite Cracking”.

Fortnite, the free-to-play online game where users can make in-game purchases like skins for their characters, has opened up a whole new form of black market. Hackers are targeting accounts and stealing them to then resell them based on the value of the account.

Some of the hackers are reportedly making thousands of pounds from stealing the accounts of other users. Now, authorities are set to be stepping-up their efforts to stop this growing black market.

Fortnite hackers part of a growing and global network

Some of the Fortnite hackers are understood to be a part of a global hacking network. The hackers can be kids in their teens, and they’re said to be recruited by other hackers to engage in “Fortnite Cracking”.

They show them how to do it, and how to resell accounts. Accounts can be sold on for as little as 25p, or in some cases, they can be sold for hundreds of pounds.

Gamers who have spent a lot of money on their in-game purchases may wake up to notification that they’re locked out of their account. Once a hacker has broken in and take over the account, they often activate two-factor authentication and link it away from the original user. In many cases, there appears to be nothing that can be done unless you already had two-factor authentication enabled to protect your account from being hacked.

Victims of “Fornite Cracking” are then persuaded to buy new accounts online. This can serve as part of the recruitment process for the hackers when youngsters realise how much money they could make from getting in on the action.

It’s understood that the parents of some of these kids are aware what’s going on, but they don’t seem to be bothered.

What’s being done to stop the Fortnite hackers?

The National Crime Agency is understood to be stepping-up efforts to stop Fortnite hackers and the practice of “Fortnite Cracking”.

The owners of the game appear to be somewhat silent on the issue, despite having reportedly made in the region of £1bn from these in-game sales. There are understood to be something like 200m users worldwide.

That’s a big market for the Fortnite hackers to tap in to.

As the world of online gaming continues to grow, so too will the market for hacking and selling stolen accounts. Online gaming companies themselves may also become targets. We saw this with Bethesda in their recent hack.

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