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A college student from Dubai was arrested for obtaining private photos from underage Fortnite players in a blackmailing scam.
The 25-year-old student obtained pictures from 10 kids aged between nine and ten mainly saying that they could obtain a V-Bucks, Fortnite’s in-game currency, and points for doing so, Brigadier Jamal Al Jallaf Director of Criminal Investigation department in Dubai Police, told Gulf News.
The issue was brought to light when an underage player told her mother that a stranger was asking for her naked pictures via an in-game chatroom in exchange of V-Bucks. The mother immediately notified the Dubai police, the Daily Mail reports.
At the time of the arrest, police found 200 pictures of naked children which he was allegedly planning to use for blackmailing and to sexually abuse the children, Gulf News reports.
The police arrested the student at his house in front of his parents and, if found guilty, will be facing a sentence of no less than five years in prison and a fine of no less that £55,000, The Daily Mail reports.
The student’s parents were shocked to know the other side of his son’s life, said Al Jallaf to Guf News. His father was unable to speak.
According to his parents, the young student would spend many hours alone in his room but his parents thought that he was studying all the time.
The nationality of the student was not disclosed.
The 25-year-old student took advantage of Fortnite’s underage players desire to achieve higher scores on the game which will allow them to level up or buy more weapons. A user player can purchase 1,000 v-Bucks blocks for £7.99, which in American dollars would be almost $10. Another way to acquire more v-bucks is by completing daily challenges and winning game rewards.
Fortnite is a shooter-survival online video game released in 2017 where players can battle against each other or in groups.
