Call of Duty Cheaters Lose Their Bitcoin as Hackers Target Gamers with Malware

[Amphenomenon]

I saw this news some days back about call of Duty cheaters losing their bitcoin as hackers target gamers with malware on https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2024/03/29/call-of-duty-cheaters-allegedly-lose-their-bitcoin-as-hackers-target-gamers-with-malware/

The malware has already impacted hundreds of thousands of players and the numbers are still growing, as per malware market informer @vxunderground.
“It should be noted that some of these accounts are also not cheaters,” @vxunderground added. “Some users impacted utilized gaming software for latency improvement, VPNs, and certain controller boosting software.”

Call of Duty cheat code provider “PhantomOverlay” was first to notice the suspicious activity after users reported unauthorized purchases. Rival cheat providers like Elite PVPers confirmed similar attacks to @vxunderground in the past week.

The stolen data includes freshly stolen credentials, with some victims also reporting their Electrum wallets were also drained. The total amount of crypto stolen is still unknown.

Call of Duty developer Activision Blizzard (ATVI) is reportedly working with the cheat code providers to help the affected players. The current estimated number of compromised accounts includes over 3.6 million Battlenet accounts, 561,000 Activision accounts, and 117,000 Elite PVPers accounts.

Base on the same news, this is not the first time hackers have targeted game cheaters have targeted, another popular game, Fortnite were a suppose cheat became a malware to still gamers bitcoin logins in 2018 https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2018/10/05/fake-cheat-for-popular-game-fortnite-hides-bitcoin-targeting-malware/ and then in 2019 they experience another one https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2019/08/26/new-crypto-stealing-ransomware-targets-fortnite-players/


Hackers will continue to target gamers since there are alot of things they get from them if they get access to their gaming accounts like their credit card, email address, bitcoin and other cryptocurrency and others. I would advice to use a seperate device for gaming in what you use for holding of your coins, have a seperate credit card for gaming and also try to have a seperate passwordand email for gaming

 Kaspersky  did research on cyber attacks base on data shared voluntarily by their users from July 1, 2022 to July 1, 2023. Here is their key findings

Key findings
From July 1, 2022 to July 1, 2023:

• In total, Kaspersky detected 4,076,530 game-related desktop infection attempts over the past year, which affected 192,456 gamers worldwide.
• The most common threat was Downloaders (89.70%), followed by Adware (5.25%) and Trojans (2.39%).
• The top game used as a lure was Minecraft, which saw 70.29% of all detections, followed by Roblox (20.37%), Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (4.78%) and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (2.85%).
• Our mobile solutions detected 436,786 gaming-related infection attempts that affected 84,539 users.
• Minecraft users (90.37%) were the biggest targets for mobile malware, with PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (5.09%), Roblox (3.33%) and Baldur’s Gate (0.68%) being the next most often used lures.

[Zaguru12]

Hackers will continue to target gamers since there are alot of things they get from them if they get access to their gaming accounts like their credit card, email address, bitcoin and other cryptocurrency and others. I would advice to use a seperate device for gaming in what you use for holding of your coins, have a seperate credit card for gaming and also try to have a seperate passwordand email for gaming

This hackers have actually found out that some of this gamers uses cryptocurrencies as a means of payment for some game purchases and that Also many of them do not care much about the sites they visit, Infact gamers are the people that usually get caught with malware more because they like to download patch files for games. My advice wouldn’t even be don’t use same device for game but rather they should go totally offline and buy something like an hardware wallet. This way a watch only wallet on their device will wouldn’t be affected in case of attack.

[nakamura12]

This hackers have actually found out that some of this gamers uses cryptocurrencies as a means of payment for some game purchases and that Also many of them do not care much about the sites they visit, Infact gamers are the people that usually get caught with malware more because they like to download patch files for games. My advice wouldn’t even be don’t use same device for game but rather they should go totally offline and buy something like an hardware wallet. This way a watch only wallet on their device will wouldn’t be affected in case of attack.

This is true because I am a gamer as well although I don't usually purchase in game items or weapon skins on call of duty so if I try to use cheats then I might lose my funds. My advice would be to use different device when they want to cheat which this device doesn't have any crypto related stuff (cheating purposes since they really want to cheat) and the other device which is for normal gaming and a little bit of crypto funds which will be used for purchasing in-game items or skins.

[hatshepsut93]

Hackers will continue to target gamers since there are alot of things they get from them if they get access to their gaming accounts like their credit card, email address, bitcoin and other cryptocurrency and others. I would advice to use a seperate device for gaming in what you use for holding of your coins, have a seperate credit card for gaming and also try to have a seperate passwordand email for gaming

Hackers will continue to target everyone. The spread malware by putting it in software, and any software that you are downloading could contain malware. That's why it's important to only install the software signed by developers that you trust - so no cracked software and no software from unknown people like in this case.

It's not just about gamers, lots of people get malware by trying to install cracked Photoshop or some video editor.

[jossiel]

Speaking of cheaters on an FPS game, I've watched a viral video of CS2(former CSGO) players that have been downloading aim, wall hacks that they're using in the rank matches. But this brilliant guy has developed a bot that will literally do the opposite of the cheat and will destroy the players confidence like bombing themselves, aiming at the sky and all of those sort crazy aims and plays that will do to the player that they don't know how it did happened.

So, connecting it with this kind of hack. They're for sure going to be targeted as many of these gamers have been searching and downloading game hacks that they think are safe to use. They don't know once they've downloaded and installed the app from unknown resources, they don't know what there's something that's attached to it and with this recent news on COD cheaters, malware is on it.

It's known that if it's about hacks, cheats and unrecognized resources, expect that there are worms, malware and viruses out there. And the same goes with unlicensed software, support the license creators by availing the licensed ones but I am not saying avail hacks and cheat codes that are licensed because there's no such.

[tech30338]

everyone is a big target for hackers what i mean by this is that if they found out that you have a weak and security issues then they will try to penetrate and break those walls, hackers will try to scans all open ports even a person who only do browsing to the internet because this is what hackers do, so what is important is always secure your network, your computers and never click anything from someone who you don't know, don't be curious of things over the internet without any knowledge of it, so the best way is to harden your securities.

[lovesmayfamilis]

I would like to add interesting and relevant news to this topic. If I understand correctly, gamers mostly play on Windows. Soon, Microsoft will stop supporting Windows 10, and to receive regular security updates for Windows 11, you will need to pay an additional amount of around 60 bucks for the first year of service, and then more.

https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/3/24120093/microsoft-windows-10-extended-security-updates-price

I think few people will want to pay the extra money and will remain on Windows 10, which will lead to even greater security holes on Windows without updates.
Therefore, it is now becoming a pressing issue to learn to use Linux. Although I'm not a gamer, I know that it supports some games. After all, separating your finances and entertainment into different systems would be a surefire way to stay safe.

[Spaceman1000$]

I saw this news some days back about call of Duty cheaters losing their bitcoin as hackers target gamers with malware on https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2024/03/29/call-of-duty-cheaters-allegedly-lose-their-bitcoin-as-hackers-target-gamers-with-malware/

The malware has already impacted hundreds of thousands of players and the numbers are still growing, as per malware market informer @vxunderground.
“It should be noted that some of these accounts are also not cheaters,” @vxunderground added. “Some users impacted utilized gaming software for latency improvement, VPNs, and certain controller boosting software.”

Call of Duty cheat code provider “PhantomOverlay” was first to notice the suspicious activity after users reported unauthorized purchases. Rival cheat providers like Elite PVPers confirmed similar attacks to @vxunderground in the past week.

The stolen data includes freshly stolen credentials, with some victims also reporting their Electrum wallets were also drained. The total amount of crypto stolen is still unknown.

Call of Duty developer Activision Blizzard (ATVI) is reportedly working with the cheat code providers to help the affected players. The current estimated number of compromised accounts includes over 3.6 million Battlenet accounts, 561,000 Activision accounts, and 117,000 Elite PVPers accounts.

Base on the same news, this is not the first time hackers have targeted game cheaters have targeted, another popular game, Fortnite were a suppose cheat became a malware to still gamers bitcoin logins in 2018 https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2018/10/05/fake-cheat-for-popular-game-fortnite-hides-bitcoin-targeting-malware/ and then in 2019 they experience another one https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2019/08/26/new-crypto-stealing-ransomware-targets-fortnite-players/


Hackers will continue to target gamers since there are alot of things they get from them if they get access to their gaming accounts like their credit card, email address, bitcoin and other cryptocurrency and others. I would advice to use a seperate device for gaming in what you use for holding of your coins, have a seperate credit card for gaming and also try to have a seperate passwordand email for gaming

 Kaspersky  did research on cyber attacks base on data shared voluntarily by their users from July 1, 2022 to July 1, 2023. Here is their key findings

Key findings
From July 1, 2022 to July 1, 2023:

• In total, Kaspersky detected 4,076,530 game-related desktop infection attempts over the past year, which affected 192,456 gamers worldwide.
• The most common threat was Downloaders (89.70%), followed by Adware (5.25%) and Trojans (2.39%).
• The top game used as a lure was Minecraft, which saw 70.29% of all detections, followed by Roblox (20.37%), Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (4.78%) and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (2.85%).
• Our mobile solutions detected 436,786 gaming-related infection attempts that affected 84,539 users.
• Minecraft users (90.37%) were the biggest targets for mobile malware, with PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (5.09%), Roblox (3.33%) and Baldur’s Gate (0.68%) being the next most often used lures.

From the report, it said that the hackers are targeting game-cheaters,  so is it that, cheater's are been targeted because they are bypassing the system, are the hackers doing these  to also discourage others from cheating. However if that's the case, innocent persons can can actually download software's with malware attached to it, and then fall victim of this scammers, because from the report I'm seeing, people using Electrum wallet where not spared.

" The game developer is reported working with the cheat code providers to help the affected players",         my question is, is it to help those games Cheaters to recover their lost coins, or help de-escalate the matter my making sure hackers don't get access to cause havoc again, or not to allow cheaters compromise the system again?

[SFR10]

I would advice to use a seperate device for gaming in what you use for holding of your coins, have a seperate credit card for gaming and also try to have a seperate passwordand email for gaming

You have a point, but considering that the extent of the attack goes beyond what's on the subject field of this thread, then most of the victims probably used stripped-down versions of the tools in question ^{[e.g. VPNs, cheats, etc...]} that tend to be free ^{[in other words, they'll always be the product]}!

[sokani]

We've seen this with airdrops and other freebies as scammers tend to feed on people's greed. The hacker knew many gamers will be enticed by the idea of playing the COD game with full access to all the in-app purchases at no cost, so he embedded an infostealer in the cheat.

If there's anything I've learned in life is that nothing is actually free, there's always a catch. Another reason why it's good to keep funds in a device that's not connected to the internet.

[Amphenomenon]

I would like to add interesting and relevant news to this topic. If I understand correctly, gamers mostly play on Windows. Soon, Microsoft will stop supporting Windows 10, and to receive regular security updates for Windows 11, you will need to pay an additional amount of around 60 bucks for the first year of service, and then more.

https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/3/24120093/microsoft-windows-10-extended-security-updates-price

I think few people will want to pay the extra money and will remain on Windows 10, which will lead to even greater security holes on Windows without updates.
Therefore, it is now becoming a pressing issue to learn to use Linux. Although I'm not a gamer, I know that it supports some games. After all, separating your finances and entertainment into different systems would be a surefire way to stay safe.

This will be quite expensive for many gamers notably in my country Nigeria, another thing is that even the windows 11 doesn't guarantee 100% free from malware while using might be tasking for gamer I have friends who actually use it and they were the once who actually introduced me to Linux  

my question is, is it to help those games Cheaters to recover their lost coins, or help de-escalate the matter my making sure hackers don't get access to cause havoc again, or not to allow cheaters compromise the system again?

The victims coins are gone, they are only trying to help in securing compromised account and now they advise their customers to use 2FA, https://gbhackers.com/activision-players-attacked-by-malware/amp/

I would advice to use a seperate device for gaming in what you use for holding of your coins, have a seperate credit card for gaming and also try to have a seperate passwordand email for gaming

You have a point, but considering that the extent of the attack goes beyond what's on the subject field of this thread, then most of the victims probably used stripped-down versions of the tools in question ^{[e.g. VPNs, cheats, etc...]} that tend to be free ^{[in other words, they'll always be the product]}!

Hard truth and this because alot of individuals are actually not cautious/knowledgeable of their privacy and security online while some paid third-parties service may also suffer data breach

[Outhue]

I still don't know how gamers enjoy their games using cheats, it can never be me, if a game is very hard to play it will be worth it if you beat the game later, It makes it more interesting, cheating ruins every fun there is.

Also, cheating softwares are not safe to use, they are always infected with malwares and most of them are downloaded through Torrent websites and search engines, a bad place to download stuff online to your PC.

Some gamers want everything for free, even the Windows OS they have installed is free or patched, there is also software for jailbreaking Windows OS registration, instead of them buying the keys 🔐..

All these moves will give hackers access to your PC, you will be watched and obsessed without you knowing, and if crypto-related transactions are carried out on the PC you will be a target easily.

The best advice is to use a separate device for download and gaming, and have another for crypto, I don't have these problems because there is nothing to steal on my PC if somehow malware or Trojans enter the PC, my crypto coins stays in my air-gapped device.

[Agbamoni]

everyone is a big target for hackers what i mean by this is that if they found out that you have a weak and security issues then they will try to penetrate and break those walls, hackers will try to scans all open ports even a person who only do browsing to the internet because this is what hackers do, so what is important is always secure your network, your computers and never click anything from someone who you don't know, don't be curious of things over the internet without any knowledge of it, so the best way is to harden your securities.

One thing i know for sure is that as long as it involves the internet there are various ways one could possibly get scammed, and which is the main reason we need to be more careful. These hackers use our weakness or flaws to attack. I am not surprised they knew a lot of persons uses cheat to play games online and do other stuff. I am not exempted i play the COD. with most of my friends i don use the cheat access sometimes to stay invisible in the game.  I guess i would talk to my friends to avoid using any cheat in games because this may still happen again within other video games.

[ultrloa]

everyone is a big target for hackers what i mean by this is that if they found out that you have a weak and security issues then they will try to penetrate and break those walls, hackers will try to scans all open ports even a person who only do browsing to the internet because this is what hackers do, so what is important is always secure your network, your computers and never click anything from someone who you don't know, don't be curious of things over the internet without any knowledge of it, so the best way is to harden your securities.

One thing i know for sure is that as long as it involves the internet there are various ways one could possibly get scammed, and which is the main reason we need to be more careful. These hackers use our weakness or flaws to attack. I am not surprised they knew a lot of persons uses cheat to play games online and do other stuff. I am not exempted i play the COD. with most of my friends i don use the cheat access sometimes to stay invisible in the game.  I guess i would talk to my friends to avoid using any cheat in games because this may still happen again within other video games.

One of the reason why you should not play fool around especially if you know that there's some valuable assets stored on your wallet and you should never try to download anything you see online since the same scenario on the topic will happen. There's a lot of methods used by this hackers and they try to see if there's something to get if they try to penetrate on gaming industry and they are successful with those actions so provably we can see a lot of attempts and malwares posted everywhere that's why its better to play clean and don't download any random stuff online including those cheats since they might pick up those cheats with hidden malware and to unfortunate for them if they experience hacking since there's nothing to recover if some private stuffs and money will be in possession of those hackers.

[dzungmobile]

This reminds people that they should not use a device (either computer, laptop, mobile) which is used to store their bitcoins & cryptocurrencies with other activities like gaming, arbitrarily installation of many applications on it.

The most famous story is from a senior Bitcoin developer Luke Dashjr many months ago. He did not play games but installed one or two applications for working and at the end, he lost his bitcoins.

Bitcoin developer @lukedashjr's wallet was hacked

[cryptoaddictchie]

This reminds people that they should not use a device (either computer, laptop, mobile) which is used to store their bitcoins & cryptocurrencies with other activities like gaming, arbitrarily installation of many applications on it.

Thats right. Even they store it there make sure that what they are playing games online are totally safe. Some of these legit gaming company sometimes their software are already infected and been carrying some malicious files already.

Quite annoying that these hackers seems to target the gamers aside from the crypto peeps. Probably they know that gamers become crypto community since a lot of games are now blockchain attached.