Researchers Expose $73 Million Gray Market for Online Game Cheats

The underground cheating business in online games has been found to generate millions of dollars each year, with sellers earning between $12.8 million and $73.2 million annually.

According to new research, this cheat market operates through about 80 websites, selling products that include software that lets players see through walls, or AI-powered aimbots.

“People can really make a lot of money from selling cheats, and companies have a lot to lose if a game is seen as full of cheaters,” said Tom Chothia, cybersecurity professor at the University of Birmingham, as reported by WIRED.

At the Black Hat cybersecurity conference, researchers revealed that between 30,000 and 174,000 players purchase cheats each month, with prices ranging from $10 to $240. Cheat prices depend more on the difficulty of evading a game’s security systems than on the game’s popularity.

Popular sites like Engine Owning draw up to 500,000 visitors a month, offering cheats for titles such as Fortnite, Call of Duty, Rainbow Six Siege, and Counter-Strike 2. Some cheats are marketed as “undetectable” and customized to fit a player’s style.

TechSpot notes that heating websites such as Engine Owning attract up to 500,000 monthly visitors, selling hacks for games like Fortnite, Call of Duty, Rainbow Six Siege, and Counter-Strike 2. Some vendors claim their products are completely undetectable and even offer customization options to fit individual player preferences.

“The kernel is the deepest part of the operating system, and if cheats operate from there while the anti-cheat does not, they can hide everything,” explained EA’s Elise Murphy, as reported by WIRED.

Chothia noted that during gameplay, “your laptop’s probably never as safe as when you are playing Fortnite; anti-cheat protection will actually keep you safe from a whole range of malware,” as reported by WIRED.

Despite these efforts, cheat developers update their tools every couple of days, ensuring the lucrative gray market shows no signs of disappearing.