One Ohio mom and her son are sharing their story to bring awareness to others about the possibility of being scammed while playing online video games after their own experience with scammers. According to a report from CBS New York , 13-year-old Jake Bates says he was convinced by a fellow Fortnite player to share his username and password. In exchange for the information, the nefarious player promised young Bates would be given free skins and accessories for his Fortnite avatar.
Fortnite was created by Epic Games and allows players from all over the world to chat live while playing together to find weapons and resources while trying to avoid being killed as they attack other players/teams.
Reports from 9to5Mac say the game has already earned over $1 billion through in-game purchases alone. Users are able to download and play for free but additional skins and dance moves cost real money. Bates had his mother’s credit card linked to the game and had already spent over $300 of his own money to pick up new clothes for his avatar.
Amy Bates says the scammer earned her son’s trust over a time before asking for his login information.
“And when he logged into his account he took everything over,” she said. “The guy took over his account, but also took over his email account and changed the passwords, changed the recovery passwords and the phone number.”
The gamer also had access to Bates’ credit card and other personal information.
Bates said she wants to spread the story of her son’s experience to warn other parents about potential scammers preying on their children while online.
“It says on the game not to give your information out and, you know, I’m like it’s a lesson learned,” she said.
Still, she has filed a complaint about the incident with the developers of the game.
In the end, the scammer ended up killing off Bates’ avatar, which he had invested countless hours and hundreds of dollars leveling-up.
As previously reported by the Inquisitr , Fornite earned $296 million in April across all their platforms. At the time, the game was the top grossing game on console and came in at number five on the PC chart. Meanwhile, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds , Fortnite ‘s competitor, appeared at No. 9 on the PC chart.
The similarities between the two games were so similar that Bluehole, the creators of PUBG filed a lawsuit against Fortnite in South Korea over copyright infringement, the Inquisitr reported.
“After listening to the growing feedback from our community and reviewing the gameplay for ourselves, we are concerned that Fortnite may be replicating the experience for which PUBG is known,” VP and executive producer Chang Han Kim in a statement.
“We have also noticed that Epic Games references PUBG in the promotion of Fortnite to their community and in communications with the press. This was never discussed with us and we don’t feel that it’s right,” Chang added.