Four suspects went to a trial on Monday after allegedly siphoning in-game FIFA coins from developer Electronic Arts and selling them to Europe and China black markets. The FBI said that defendant Anthony Clark was charged for manipulating FIFA coins and amassing between $15 to $18 million in this scam.
Not just FIFA but the entire EA soccer video game franchise is using these virtual coins to buy game goodies. There are two ways to grab these coins, either play game matches or spend real money buying them. However, there is quite an increase in third-party sellers over the years and there are dedicated sites for this trade. Try to Google-search "FIFA coins" and it is going to yield sizeable number of third-party sellers, Kotaku said.
Now how does Clark and his co-accused managed to hoard coins from FIFA, based on that FBI report? Clark allegedly used scripts that played false games and EA servers rewarded them with coins without knowing that the payer isn't an actual human. What made this con business lucrative is the lower selling price compared to what EA really intends. The result is steady demand from Euro players and China, Bleeping Computer reported.
FBI's indictment reads that Clark was busted in September of 2015 and they were able to get few millions in cash plush electronics equipment from the suspect's home. What tipped Clark's activity is the Lamborghini he recently purchased and $2.8 million in his bank account, all allegedly produced from FIFA coins scheme.
The same FBI report stated that Clark tripped the alarm not just because of FIFA coins modus but a follow up from another case as well. FBI have arrested earlier a group called Xbox Underground who in turn pointed at Clark and his crew. Xbox Underground is said to stole softwares from Microsoft, Activision, Epic Games and Valve.