2020 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy

**[MPGH]Dave84311** · 06-06-2021

https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files...%20(final).pdf

The video game industry continues to be concerned about the unauthorized sales of ingame digital items, where cheat software enables the modification of a game to give the player an advantage, as well as the ability for the player to collect and aggregate virtual goods that would otherwise be purchased in-game. The rise of unauthorized digital goods and cheat software negatively affects video game companies and consumers by unfairly altering game play for legitimate consumers, while also diverting significant revenue away from video game 24 developers and publishers. It also increases the threat of consumer fraud, including through account takeovers, via phishing, or attempts to steal users’ payment information connected to in-app purchases. Mpgh is an example of a site that provides “cheats” and reportedly offers several hundred thousand free cheats to over 4 million users. The site generates revenue through advertisements and by offering premium accounts, and Internet browsers reportedly detect and warn of malware on the site.