Scammers are using fake job listings to steal from young, hopeful victims looking to break into the gaming industry.
Riot Games, the developer behind League of Legends, has filed a California lawsuit against scammers, whose identities are not yet known, for ripping off job seekers with the promise of a job with the company.
Usually early in their careers & eager for a chance with a gaming company like Riot, job hunters are either targeted by a cyber-criminal posing as a recruiter or with fake ads on popular employment sites like Indeed, Riot’s filing explained.
Fake Listing
The email submitted as part of Riot’s lawsuit includes a fake listing for a video game artist/illustrator.
Then, the applicant is run through an imaginary interview process with questions that seem legitimate, like, “Why do you want to work at Riot Games?” &, “Honestly describe what kind of working conditions you thrive in.”
The interview would often be conducted by chat & followed by a quick job offer.
More Convincing
To make things more convincing, the fraudsters used contacts & other communications doctored-up with Riot branding, including convincing looking employment contracts.
After the interview, there is just 1 step left for the interviewee — they are asked to send money for “work equipment” like an iPad, which the interviewer assures the new hire will be refunded. Spoiler: they are not going to be.
Riot included copies of checks sent to the fraudsters by victims in its complaint, ranging from $2,400-$4,300.
Riot was not the only prominent gaming company used to lure in victims, Polygon reportedly heard from people approached by fake representatives of Rockstar Games & Manticore Games, according to its report.
Young & Naïve
“The scam is absolutely appalling,” Riot’s lawyers wrote in the complaint. “Their victims largely are young, naïve, & want nothing more than to work for Riot, 1 of the most prestigious video-game companies in the world. Defendants prey on the hopes & dreams of these individuals in order to steal their identities & pillage their bank accounts.”
Riot Games representatives stated in an interview with Polygon that the company isn’t exactly sure how many people have already been victimised by the phishing campaign.
Gamers & ‘Dynamite Phishing’
Phishing lure themes change, & ebb & flow with the latest headlines. COVID-19, Chipotle offers, easy infrastructure legislation money, & now, dream gaming jobs, are all bait intended to illicit an emotional reaction & make otherwise rational people take action without thinking it through.
Last summer, the Threat Intelligence Team at Great Horn discovered a rise in business email compromise (BEC) attacks that sent X-rated material to people at work to try & trigger an emotional response, something the report called “dynamite phishing.”
Explicit Material
“It doesn’t always involve explicit material, but the goal is to put the user off balance, frightened – any excited emotional state – to decrease the brain’s ability to make rational decisions,” according to the report.
A fantasy job at a huge gaming company could certainly trigger a highly emotional response in the right person.
This fake gaming company job scam uses both the co-called Great Resignation of 2021, which saw record-breaking numbers of workers looking for better jobs, as well as the pandemic push to work-from-home.
Not Unusual
Now a call from a personal mobile number, or a Zoom interview in someone’s kitchen, does not seem all that unusual & fraudsters are taking advantage.
Gaming itself is under relentless attack. Last summer, Akamai Technologies found attacks on gaming web applications alone jumped by a staggering 340% in 2020.
From Grinchbots scooping up vast amounts of the latest hardware inventory to last month’s back-to-back PlayStation 5 breaches & malicious gaming apps lurking in marketplaces, this latest fake job fraud is just another way criminals are trying to exploit the enthusiasm of gamers.
Dream Company
Now Riot hopes to use this lawsuit as a way to track down the cyber-criminals & make it clear the company was not behind the fraud, according to Riot lawyer Dan Nabel.
“We’re upset that people who viewed Riot as their dream company, even if that’s 1 person, had been defrauded through this scam,” Nabel told Polygon. “Secondarily, we felt a need to protect our employees who are having their identities impersonated.”
