City of London Fraud Squad officer Chief Insp. Paul Carroll who is in charge of fraud protection is warning Parents this Christmas to be especially vigilant of Fortnite Battle Royale.

Fraud Police in London report 40% rise in crime on Fortnite

Parents warned about online safety.

City of London Fraud Squad officer Chief Insp. Paul Carroll from the UK office for online fraud protection is warning Parents this Christmas to be especially vigilant. His office reported a 40% increase in incidents involving the Fortnite game, Battle Royale, the most popular online game ever released. We know from speaking with Business Groups, Schools, that Parents are largely unaware of the online dangers of this game. It is obvious that Parents taking an interest in their kid’s online safety, internet security is vital to kids healthy development.

Fortnite is recommended for kids over the age of 12 which is much younger than Grand Theft Auto. The children are then being induced to visit sites where the verification process leads them to give away details of the family bank account. These sites sell fake currency to buy weapons, clothing and other armaments for Battle Royale. Parents should not allow a child to enter these details except in their presence. Fortnite; Should I be worried about my child's internet safety?

We recommend using parental control technology such as we sell like Bitdefender, F Secure SAFE to impose time limits, block certain sites and require kids to ask parents, guardian, before signing up for anything or downloading new stuff

Be very careful to buy Battle Royale V-Bucks properly

Kids are being tricked into buying a fake version of the Fortnite currency, V-bucks. Ch Insp. Carroll is certainly most of the victims don't report the crime and he’s warning people about this crime especially for the Christmas season.

Fortnite is an international sensation; we have polled primary school classrooms during internet safety talks and found that Fortnite is more popular than all of the other games put together.

Fortnite; The most successful game ever

Epic Games, the developer, maintains that 200 million players are active at the moment with Battle Royale being the standout success, it's a free online game for up to a hundred people in a fight to the death. Last summer Epic Games introduced the mobile version, just in time for the summer holidays. The company urges people not to fall for offers of free V-Bucks.

YouTube has started actively taking down the most inappropriate reviews of Fortnite (which encouraged kids into buying fake currency, using private data) Facebook has yet to comment. We think that Facebook and YouTube ought to be more proactive. Do you need parental control?

Here at BeSecureOnline, we have previously warned parents about this Fortnite game, Battle Royale released in 2017. It’s free, aimed at children of 12 years of age, there is no moderator, as well as concerns about kids playing with strangers online in Fortnite Battle Royale. We recommend that parents play this game themselves and learn more about it. It's a great game, good fun, might even enjoy yourself. Cyberbullying facts and advice for parents, children and young people

The game itself lasts about 20 minutes and it's a race to survive, that's it. You have to decide on building or shooting. So it involves strategy, thinking and planning. We recommend that parents tell kids to play no more than 2 or 3 games in one go. Games start by dropping onto the map of the game, ‘Tomato Town’, ‘Tilted Towers’. One of the best aspects is tricking others into explosive traps.

The record number of players is about 3.5 million players, with 45-50 million players online actively. It’s already the most successful game overtaking Grand Theft Auto, another multiplayer game. Grand Theft Auto from Rockstar games however is an X rated game, not aimed at kids.

In conclusion, we are warning parents to learn more about Battle Royale from Fortnite, to be aware it’s available on mobile.  To warn kids about the YouTube and Facebook con artists inducing kids into buying fraudulent Fortnite V-Bucks and giving away vital personal details including banking details. Check out Bitdefender Total Security.