Given its popularity, Fortnite has already proven to be a prime target for phishing scammers, luring victims in through an email faking invites to the Android beta test. Although the official launch on Android handsets has put a stop to this, a new scam has cropped up that uses various aspects of the game to steal user data.

While most of the attacks discovered by Malwarebytes Labs followed the conventional pattern of fake surveys, the report suggested that the nature of these exploits were “a little more dangerous” by nature. Built with the intention to thieve data and digital cryptocurrencies, the malicious files were found hidden within promises of free season six passes, free V-Bucks, botched versions of Fortnite’s Android download and a slew of cheats, wallhacks, and aimbots.

Many of the scams use YouTube as a means to ensnare victims, with “Fornite Aimbot | Fornite Hacks | Undetected | Season 6 | ESP, Aimbot + Look ESP Free Download!” in particular forgoing the survey entirely. Instead, the conspicuously titled video links to “a fairly good-looking portal claiming to offer up the desired cheat tools,” however the validation never actually takes place before a download link appears.

“Once the initial .EXE (which weighs in at just 168KB) runs on the target system, it performs some basic enumeration on details specific to the infected computer. It then attempts to send data via a POST command to an /index.php file in the Russian Federation, courtesy of the IP address 5(dot)101(dot)78(dot)169. Some of the most notable things it takes an interest in are browser session information, cookies, Bitcoin wallets, and also Steam sessions,” Malwarebytes explains

“Lots of the files we’ve seen similar to this one are packed in entirely different ways. One of them has a process called “Stealer.exe.” Many more post the stolen information to /gate.php instead of index.php, which is a common sign of Zbot and a few others.”

Although Malwarebytes states that the subject of its report is nothing new, the implications of the attack could be catastrophic given the “current fever” for Fortnite, as well as the younger, impressionable demographic looking to get ahead of the competition by any means necessary. “Given how things up above panned out, we’d advise anyone tempted to cheat to steer well clear of this one,” concludes the security firm. “Winning is great, but it’s absolutely not worth risking a huge slice of personal information to get the job done.”

KitGuru Says: While I undoubtedly distain cheaters within any game, my dislike for scams supersedes that entirely. KitGuru urges all gamers to be safe when traversing the internet and be vigilant on what links are clicked.

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