There is a legitimate, free version of Angry Birds for Android. But one app that appeared on the Android Market (now Google Play) last year wasn’t it. It was a fake, a piece of malware explicitly designed to part phone owners from their cash. Now, the scammers that took the money have been ordered to give it back.
In case you needed proof that online poker sites were shady, the Department of Justice has unsealed an indictment against the founders of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker, charging defendants with bank fraud, money laundering and illegal gambling.
I find security issues facing games pretty interesting; PlayNoEvil is one of my favourite spots for discussion about security related issues. Gamasutra sat down with Gene Hoffman, CEO of Vindicia, a billing and fraud management company, about the issues facing MMOs and ways to mitigate those issues. Of particular concern are the RMT resale markets (if it exists), and chargebacks. And what of the mingling of real and virtual economies? Hoffman has this to say: