Fraudsters vs. Gamesters: It's a whole new game
Attention social gamers: online fraud has officially arrived. All the players at the table-Nickelodeon, PopCap, Epic Games, Big Fish-really everyone is exposed to cybercrime. As evidence look no further than Offerpal Media’s announcement yesterday of OfferpalSECURE, a new security and fraud prevention product just released with several new features.
Fraud you ask? In casual gaming? Bet on it. Offerpal’s press announcement yesterday says “security experts estimate that when left unchecked, as much as 50% of a gaming publisher’s transactions for intangible goods like virtual currency can be fraudulent-especially if player-to-player transfers are allowed.” TrustWho Founder and CEO Marcus Eikenberry, whose company offers anti-fraud technologies and services to the video game industry goes on to say “and the problem will get worse if it isn’t tackled immediately, because scammers and hackers only become emboldened by their early successes.”
Check out Offerpal’s blog entry for more insights into fraud and casual gaming. It’s worth noting that “machine fingerprinting” (device identification) is called out as a means to prevent fraud such as when scammers attempt to use multiple accounts “in order to game the system.”
ThreatMetrix will be at the Casual Connect conference in Seattle next week as a conference co-sponsor -stop by and visit us and Offerpal if you’re there.
- Tom
