Call of Duty players fall victim to bitcoin-stealing malware

A group of cybercriminals has released a malware that targets gamers trying to cheat in Call of Duty. The malware ensures that bitcoin can be stolen from the affected players. They’re basically getting a taste of their own medicine.

The malware has already compromised hundreds of thousands of accounts, and the number continues to grow. According to vx-underground, the software has affected at least 561,000 Activision accounts. This also concerns more than 3.6 million Battlenet accounts and more than 117,000 Elite PVVers accounts.

“Affected users are reporting that they are victims of crypto drainage – their Electrum bitcoin wallets have been emptied. We have no information about the amount of money stolen.”

Over the past couple of days we have become aware of malware targeting gamers! More specifically, a currently unidentified Threat Actor is utilizing an infostealer to target individuals who cheat (Pay-to-Cheat) in video games.

A Call of Duty cheat provider (PhantomOverlay) was…

— vx-underground (@vxunderground) March 27, 2024

Activision Blizzard, the company behind Call of Duty, confirms that it is indeed malware. They say that they are going to collaborate with PhantomOverlay. This is ironically one of the providers of cheat engines and codes for the video game series.

This isn’t the first time cheaters have been targeted by hackers. In 2018, a cheat for the popular video game Fortnite turned out to be malware. This was also designed to extract private keys. Fortnite players were targeted again in 2019, with hackers gaining access to entire devices.

PhantomOverlay first noticed the suspicious activity when users made unauthorized purchases. To date, the total amount of stolen cryptocurrency remains unknown.

But always be careful with which software you install on your devices and where you store your bitcoin. A hot wallet on a device that is always in contact with the internet entails more risks than if you keep your bitcoin in cold storage.