Epic Games' war on cheaters rages on, and it seems Fortnite's developer/publisher is willing to wage it; after naming and shaming one cheater and giving the recovered funds to charity a fortnight ago, Epic has filed a new lawsuit against an apparent serial fraudster, Isaac Strock, who it is suing for allegedly stealing hundreds of accounts and reselling them.
Epic linked to the lawsuit in its latest anti-cheat update, which certainly looks quite serious. It accuses Strock of fraud, and the firm is suing for damages (thanks, PC Gamer). Epic apparently caught Strock no fewer than four times attempting to deceive its customer support team, claiming to be the owner of the accounts he had stolen via various means.
Epic alleged one way Strock was "gaining access to players' accounts by finding email addresses and password combinations for other, non-Epic-related accounts on the Internet (e.g., via dark web searches or data breaches), and attempting to log into Epic's services with those credentials".
It further states that Strock "sells [accounts] through an online message board or 'channel' on the Telegram platform". Iy cites an example from September 2024 where an account with 146 skins and a small amount of Fortnite's premium currency, V-Bucks was sold for "$425 worth of Bitcoin".
Epic seemingly has Strock dead to rights, finding that his IP address had been used to access the account on the day it was put up for sale. He supposedly sold a guide instructing others on how to do the same, which likely won't help his chances.
What do you think of Epic Games's direct method of dealing with miscreants plaguing Fortnite? Would you think twice about going up against the seemingly endless resources available to Epic Games? Let us know in the comments section below.
[source cdn2.unrealengine.com, via pcgamer.com]
Comments 5
Hopefully they prosecute to the fullest extent the law will allow.
Is this something they will do every once in a while or every fortnite?...
On a serious note, hopefully the police are involved in this one to investigate, and prosecute.
This is so far from cheating I’m screaming at the screen right now. This is THEFT! He is STEALING people’s money in the form of V-bux and then selling them. This has nothing whatsoever to do with cheating at a video game!!!
Sorry, but 2 weeks ago someone hacked into 3 of my credit card accounts, that I’m aware of, my Amazon account, my wife’s Amazon account, my kids Amazon account which isn’t even connected to mine, and several of my social media accounts. (Not this one so you are all still stuck with me.) This has nothing to do with cheating in a video game, this has to do with real crimes affecting real people’s lives. I am so mad right now. 🤬
String him up!
It's a shame that it's fallen to Epic to do this. I dunno about the USA, but here in the UK those would be criminal allegations. With the vast majority of crime being online these days, law enforcement really needs to get with the times.
And when are people going to get the message and stop re-using passwords and enable 2FA.
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