CINCINNATI, Ohio — A mother in Ohio issued a warning to others after her son was scammed while playing the popular online game Fortnite.
Like most kids his age, Jake Bates quickly became hooked on the game about a year ago, his mom Amy Bates told WLWT. She thought it was all in good fun until suddenly it wasn’t.
She said another gamer played with her son for several hours over the weekend, gaining his trust before asking him for his account information. He said he was going to give him skins, which are reportedly used in the game.
Not thinking anything of it, Jake handed over the information and quickly learned his new “online friend” didn’t have his back.
“When he logged into his account, he took everything over,” Amy Bates said. “The guy took over his account, but also took over his email account and changed the passwords, changed the recovery passwords and the phone number.”
Taking over Jake’s account meant the scammer also had access to his mother’s credit card number.
To add insult to injury, the crook also “killed off” Jake’s character – a character the family had invested hundreds of dollars in since he started playing last year.
The family said they have filed a complaint with the maker of Fortnite.
They said it was a good lesson learned and hoped going public with their story will prevent others from being scammed too.