What’s more, the FTC says Epic used inconsistent and often counterintuitive designations for the buttons, an alleged digital dark pattern that also led to unauthorized charges. Users also reported unwanted purchases when the game was waking from sleep mode or in a loading screen. The upshot: One misaligned click by a user still in the window shopping phase and Epic immediately deducted the cost of the item from the player’s V-Bucks balance. For example, for users playing Fortnite on the small screen of a smartphone, the company placed the button to preview merchandise very close to the purchase button. I authorized a 1-time Epic Games purchase for my 11 yr-old son, only to discover EG did NOT erase my credit card info, & thus my son has been making unauthorized purchases, racking up $140 in less than 8 days after the initial authorized purchase.”Įpic’s own Fraud and Risk Consultant expressed similar concerns internally and recommended that the company require account holders to confirm their CVV numbers before charging the card on file: “This is standard / best practice and it prevents kids from using mom’s credit card without her permission” However, by the time Epic finally took that advice, the company had already billed account holders for millions of V-Bucks transactions – many of which were unauthorized, according to the FTC.Īnother dark pattern alleged in the FTC’s lawsuit is Epic’s design of in-game purchases in a way that made it easy for an inadvertent button push to lead to unwanted charges.
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