Players beware: Tech research firm warns of Roblox scams
NORTH TEXAS — Chances are, if your children are not playing Roblox, they know someone who is. The online gaming platform has become ubiquitous among school-aged children, including my own. That's why when I heard about a relatively new way scammers are targeting users, I wanted to know more.
There are two main scams, according to Nick Biasini. He runs a team of researchers at Cisco Systems, a threat intelligence organization that monitors criminal activity online.
"It falls into like, 'hey, I'll give you some code or text you copy and paste and that will give you free things,'" said Biasini. "And actually what it's doing is giving them access to the account so they can still whatever money is in there or take whatever objects are of value."
The other scam involves trades.
"They'll basically propose two trades: one is really good for you and one that is really good for them," he said. "And then they built it so that the trade that benefits you fails, and the trade that benefits them succeeds, so they just take everything of value out of your account."
While Roblox itself is free to play, users can buy Robux to spend on special outfits, weapons, abilities and more. Even as a parent of two Roblox-obsessed girls, I did not know that the stuff inside the game was worth much in the real world. According to Biasini, there are platforms and chat rooms specifically for the Roblox resale market.
"And then because of that, you have a bunch of people that are very interested in making those types of purchases, not knowing that it was stolen from some kid somewhere," he said.
Jessica Weaver and her son Eric live in Arlington. He is an avid Roblox player, so they have regular talks about internet safety.
"We talk about tricky people," said Weaver. "When I was a kid they called it stranger danger."
According to Weaver, that includes conversations about what personal information is safe to share, and how to spot a bully or someone up to no good.
Biasini believes these are good habits to start now, especially with so many Roblox gift cards being given this holiday season.
"Not everybody out here is for good, here are some things that people are going to ask you, this is normal, this is not," explained Biasini. "Those are important conversations to have with your kids now because it's really going to help them down the road."