FBI Warns Against Mobile Game Scams Involving Cryptocurrency

Beware of pay-to-earn cryptocurrency games on your mobile devices. The FBI is warning people that criminals are developing fake apps to steal money from them.

The FBI says these situations usually begin with scammers attempting to build online relationships with their targets. Then, after a bond is formed, the criminal introduces a gaming app where they can “purportedly earn cryptocurrency rewards in exchange for some activity, such as growing ‘crops’ on an animated farm,” according to the Bureau.

Criminals will also push their victims to build a cryptocurrency wallet and keep adding to it to ensure more rewards in the game. But once money stops being distributed, the FBI says this is when the scammers empty their digital wallets thanks to malicious programs tied to the app. Even worse, the criminals might even say victims can get their funds back by paying a fake fee.

So what can you do if you’re interested in crypto gaming? The FBI provided the following three tips in a press release:

• Create a unique wallet to use. This isolates your primary cryptocurrency holdings should you unknowingly grant illicit actors access to your gaming wallet.
• Use a third-party blockchain explorer to independently check the balances of the addresses in your gaming wallet.
• Periodically use a third-party token allowance checker to help you see which sites or apps you have inadvertently permitted to access funds in your wallet and revoke those permissions.

In other blockchain gaming news, Square Enix says there will be 10,000 characters in its NFT game called Symbiogenesis. Other companies in the past have faced criticism for incorporating NFTs into titles. For example, Ubisoft saw backlash for its NFT program called Quartz.