It’s undeniable. There really is a huge secondary market (read: RMT or Real Money Trading or “PHP Trading”) in the online gaming industry. I have heard stories about huge amounts of money being spent for in-game items here and abroad.

We at Level Up always try our best to police these incidents but we simply cannot be there all the time. The games have policies which punish caught PHP offenders. In fact, we do not encourage  PHP trading/RMT due to the risks involved – the items could have been stolen, the sellers are out to get you or your account, etc. etc.

Meanwhile, due to this growing “underground market”, members of the underworld may be turning to online games to launder illegal acquired cash.

Details after the jump.

According to a post by m-net, Symantec has published a report concerning the state of MMOG trading and believes that “they could be used by criminals illicitly, especially as all identities are virtual in these worlds.”

Furthermore, Symantec says in that report:

“… a criminal enterprise could open several thousand MMOG accounts. Each could be used to trade with other players in the purchase or sale of in-game assets, the funds from which would ultimately be withdrawn from the accounts. Since thousands of accounts may engage in millions of transactions, each with small profits or losses, it would be difficult to trace the true source of the funds when they are withdrawn. These transactions can be conducted worldwide without the oversight that typically accompanies international bank remittances. In fact, in February 2007, China’s central bank and finance ministries called upon companies to stop trading QQ coins and virtual currencies, presumably to curb the unregulated exchange of currency.”

According to Symantec senior systems engineer Rogan Mallon, gamers often make themselves more susceptible to these types of threats. “Keen gamers will often disable security applications to increase the speed of their machines, and many join LAN parties [a temporary networking of computers for gaming] that can easily spread viruses.

“Gamers will also use cracked software that allows them to run games without having the disc in the machine. These all make it much easier for cyber criminals,” he said.

Via M-Net