Nobody wants to think that they could be scammed when they are spending their free time playing 3D games, but that is turning out to be the case in an increasingly large number of games. Many games now support micro transactions, which are small purchases that are made in game in order to give you some sort of virtual item in the game. In some games, these stores are run by players, and not all of these players are trustworthy. Just as in the real world however, there are those people who are simply looking to make a quick buck, and are willing to scam innocent gamers to do it.
Virtual Organized Crime
Not all of these crooks that work in game are working entirely independently. Misha Glenny, one of the foremost experts on scans involving computers games, has found out that there are several different organized groups whose entire purpose is to scam gamers out of their money. Although the game developers have worked with law enforcement officials to help make their games more secure and less susceptible to these scams, there is only so much they can do. Many of the problems that result in these scams being successful are the not the result of exploits in the programming of the game. The most that can usually be done is to work together with law enforcement to try and track down the scammers and use the law as an aid in helping to convince the scammers that what they did was wrong.
Difficult to Catch
The problem with most of these scams is that is difficult for the developers of the game to prevent them from happening by improving the technology of their game. Most of the scams rely primarily on social engineering. That is, they rely on the scammer having a chat with their intended victim and convincing them to spend money at their virtual store. Because it is often a willing transaction on the part of the victim, it is nearly impossible for game developers to prevent it from happening. After all, you can’t stop the gamers who play the game from doing what they want to with their money. Even law enforcement can’t always track them down, since the internet allows these scammers to strike from anywhere in the world.