Fortnite hackers as young as 14 are ‘earning thousands of pounds a week’ by hijacking people’s private accounts
Hackers are breaking into other players' accounts and selling them for hundreds a pop
KIDS as young as 14 are earning thousands of pounds a week by hacking the hugely popular video game Fortnite.
Youngsters are cracking into the accounts of other unsuspecting players and selling them online for hundreds of pounds a pop.
Speaking to the , about 20 hackers said they were stealing the private gaming accounts of players and reselling them online.
The stolen accounts are worth cash on the black market because they carry items that are paid for with real money.
These include 'skins', which change the look of a character, and other add-ons.
One of the hackers, aged just 14, explained how a team of cyber criminals showed him how to hijack other peoples' accounts.
He said: “I was approached by a cracking team and they told me what it was and all about 'combos', 'proxies' and I guess they showed me how to crack.”
The group taught him how to find people's usernames and passwords online and then go on to sell the accounts.
He added: “It's lucky dip basically, you either get a good account or you don't. People like the rarity of the 'skins' and it's about the look of them and showing off to friends."
Hacked accounts can go for anything from 25p to hundreds of pounds.
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Fortnite developer Epic Games declined to comment on the report, but said it was working to improve account security.
The hackers also revealed which accounts were the most difficult to access.
They said two-factor authentication, which sends a code to an email address or phone number whenever you log in, makes breaking into profiles much more difficult.
To opt into two-factor authentication on Fortnite, go to your account settings, and click ‘Password & Security.’
At the bottom of the page, under the ‘Two-Factor Authentication’ heading, you can choose whether you want an authenticator app or secondary email as your two-factor method.
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