They prey where kids play: how gaming phishing scams now target kids

By the end of 2025, Roblox had 144 million daily active users (26.1 million in Canada and the US), and 56% of those users were under the age of 16. That’s a lot of young people spending a lot of their time immersed in the game and the culture that exists around it.

With such a loyal following and growing popularity, it’s only natural that games like Roblox have become prime targets for hackers. They use phishing and malware to steal accounts, valuable in-game items (known as beaming) and real money. When the scams are successful, the losses are real – progress gone, prized items stolen and unauthorized charges on linked cards.

So how do you keep gaming safe and fun? Know how to spot the scams, avoid the temptation to act (even if the offer is hard to resist) and trust your gut.

Gaming scams are growing

In its H1 2026 Update to the Top Frauds Trends Report, credit reporting agency TransUnion highlighted that video gaming has seen a sharp rise in fraud activity in Canada. In 2025, the suspected digital fraud attempt rate in gaming was 11.7%. Suspected digital fraud volume rose 53% from 2024.

In addition to gaming fraud, there has been a rise in overall fraud. The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre saw 112,000 reported frauds in 2025, with $704 million in reported losses.

Spotting a gaming scam

Gaming scams follow a familiar formula. Here’s how they typically work:

• Hackers contact gamers through the platform’s chat
• They make great offers of free in-game currency (Robux on Roblox or V-bucks on Fortnite), exclusive skins or project management jobs
• They provide a link to fake log in pages (typically third-party sites)
• Those sites contain malware, which allows them to steal account credentials and stored credit card details or completely take over accounts

In-game currency is coveted by most gamers. When someone messages with “free” offers, it’s exciting and tempting. Hackers also pile on the pressure to “act now.” That urgency coupled with the possibility of getting something for nothing lures a lot of gamers (especially young ones) right into the scam.

Jovan’s story

Canadian-based Jovan Rai is a 15-year old Roblox developer. The game they developed was generating approximately 10,000 Robux daily and had 1,100 concurrent users. It was their primary and only source of income.

One day, Jovan got a message from someone at “Cheesy Studios.” The studio wanted to recruit them as a project manager for their game “The Shadow Network.” To accept the offer, Jovan had to run a file. It turned out to be malicious.

By running the file, Jovan enabled the hackers to take control of his Roblox and Discord accounts. They changed their two-step verification and passkey. And then they transferred Jovan’s “Overcoding Overseers” group to another user.

There was also a recent story out of the Ukraine about an arrest of Roblox hackers. Between October 2025 and January 2026, three individuals, aged 19, 21 and 22, used phishing and malware to access 610,000 high value, elite Roblox accounts. They offered players in-game bonuses and then stole usernames, passwords and tokens. Once they accessed the accounts, they stole valuable items and sold them on Russian websites in exchange for crypto payments totalling $225,000.

Staying safe

Gaming is supposed to be fun. It inspires creativity. It helps kids build community with others with similar interests. But hackers infiltrating the platforms are ruining the fun. If you’ve got gamers in your life, how can you make sure they can protect what they’ve built, earned and care about?

• Know how in-game currency works – it can’t be bought or accessed on any third-party platform
• Be suspicious of in-game messages from strangers offering free access to currency or skins
• Don’t click on any links to third-party sites sent to you on in-game chat or messaging platforms
• Resist the urge to act fast on offers that seem too good to be true – they usually are
• Take a pause, ask questions and think before acting, so you don’t get caught up in the excitement hackers are trying to engineer

The fun and friendship of online gaming is worth protecting. Kids love these games and get a lot out of them socially and creatively. The scams may exist, but that doesn’t mean they’re taking over. They only work if you’re not paying attention. Spotting the scams, knowing when something feels off and thinking critically are the surest ways to help you keep playing and focus on the fun.