Esports Scams Targeting Kids: Fake Tournaments, Cheats, and Account Theft

A 14-year-old Fortnite player receives a Discord message from someone claiming to represent “EsportsNation Pro Circuit.” They’ve been “scouted” based on their gameplay stats — “impressive enough to qualify for a $2,000 prize tournament.” All they need to do is register, verify their account by logging in through a provided link, and pay a $25 “entry processing fee.” The message looks professional. The website looks real. The “tournament bracket” has other participants’ names. By the time the family discovers it’s a fraud, the kid’s Fortnite account credentials have been stolen and the $25 is gone. This exact scam format — with variations for Minecraft, League of Legends, Valorant, and Apex Legends — is among the fastest-growing categories of fraud targeting the under-18 demographic.

Key Takeaways

• Legitimate esports organizations never cold-contact players via Discord, TikTok, or Instagram DMs for recruitment — all major tournament operators use official platform registration.
• Cheat and “aimbot” software is the leading malware delivery vector for young gamers — the FBI’s IC3 documented this as a significant category in gaming-related cybercrime.
• “Paid tournament entry” scams target the specific psychology of competitive gamers — the promise of prize money is used to justify the fee, and the “other players” are fake.
• Account theft through fake login pages is particularly damaging because gaming accounts accumulate real monetary value in in-game currency, rare skins, and items.
• The FTC reports that teens 13-17 have a higher per-capita fraud report rate than adults over 70 — young people are more frequently targeted, not better protected.

The Scam Landscape: What’s Actually Happening

Scam 1: Fake Esports Recruitment and Tournaments

How it works: An attacker builds a semi-professional looking website and social media presence — sometimes using real esports organization logos and names with slight modifications. They message promising young players claiming they’ve been “scouted” through public game statistics (many games have public leaderboards and stats). The message creates urgency and flattery simultaneously.

The scam has two monetization paths:

1. Entry fee fraud: Collecting “registration fees” ranging from $15 to $100 per player across multiple victims.
2. Credential theft: The “registration” page requires logging in with the gaming platform account (Epic Games, Steam, Riot Games) — the login page is a phishing site that harvests credentials.

Red flags to teach kids:

• Any “tournament” that requires payment to enter and is not a well-known, publicly documented event.
• “Scouting” via direct message from someone the child has never interacted with.
• Urgency: “Register in the next 24 hours or lose your spot.”
• Login links that don’t go to the official platform’s domain.

Legitimate esports for reference: Major esports organizations like ESL, DreamHack, and official first-party tournaments (Epic Games’ Fortnite Champion Series, Riot Games’ VCT, Valve’s BLAST) always use official platform registration, never cold-contact via DMs, and never charge entry fees to non-professional tournaments.

Scam 2: Cheat Software (Aimbots, Wallhacks) That’s Actually Malware

This is the most technically dangerous esports scam and one parents rarely know exists.

How it works: Competitive gaming creates demand for cheats — software that gives players unfair advantages (auto-aim, seeing through walls, auto-building). Players willing to bend rules search for “free aimbot download” or similar terms. The overwhelming majority of “cheat” software distributed through unofficial channels is malware.

The malware distributed through fake cheat software commonly includes:

• Stealers: Programs that harvest saved passwords, browser cookies, and cryptocurrency wallets.
• RATs (Remote Access Trojans): Give attackers full remote control of the victim’s device.
• Cryptominers: Use the victim’s device to mine cryptocurrency, draining battery and slowing performance.
• Ransomware: Less common in this category but documented.

A 2023 report by Kaspersky documented over 700,000 attacks on gamers via malicious “cheat” software in the first half of 2023 alone [2]. The Minecraft modding community, specifically, has been repeatedly targeted — the 2023 “Fractureiser” malware spread through malicious Minecraft mods on CurseForge.

What parents should know:

• The install process for fake cheat software often requires disabling antivirus (“the antivirus gives false positives on cheats”). This is a manipulation tactic.
• It also frequently requires running executable files (.exe, .bat) with administrator permissions.
• Once installed, the malware persists even if the game is uninstalled.

The right response: Make clear that cheat software is:

1. Against terms of service (results in permanent account bans).
2. Almost always malware.
3. Not worth it on both ethical and security grounds.

If a child has already installed something suspicious, run a full scan with Malwarebytes (free) immediately and change passwords for any accounts logged in on that device from a different, clean device first.

Scam 3: “Verified Server” Impersonation and Account-Linked Discord Bots

How it works: A Discord server claims to be “Official Minecraft SMP” or “Verified Valorant Community.” To join or access special features, players must “verify” their gaming account by clicking a link and logging in. The login page harvests credentials.

Alternatively, a Discord bot claims to grant free in-game items (“click here to claim your free 1,000 V-Bucks”) in exchange for “verification” — which requires logging into a phishing page.

What’s actually dangerous here: If a child’s gaming account is linked to a parent’s email or credit card (common in household accounts), a compromised gaming account can lead to unauthorized purchases or access to the parent’s email.

Scam 4: “Account Boosting” Scams

Competitive game rankings can be “boosted” — players pay someone to play on their account and increase their rank. This is against terms of service, but it’s offered widely.

The scam version: A “booster” takes the account credentials and never boosts — instead selling or stripping the account of valuable items. Or they use the credentials to access other linked accounts (email, same password elsewhere).

The risk: Account sharing itself violates terms of service and can result in permanent bans. Combined with a credential theft layer, it’s a losing proposition.

Comparison: Legitimate Esports Tournaments vs. Scam Tournaments

Factor	Legitimate Tournament	Scam Tournament
How recruited	Public registration on official platform	DM on Discord, TikTok, or Instagram
Entry fee	Free for amateur divisions; fees for professional events are well-documented	”$25 registration processing fee”
Prize money structure	Documented, transparent, paid through platform	”Up to $2,000” vaguely described
Login required	Through official platform (epicgames.com, riotgames.com)	Third-party site with login form
Organization verifiable	Real organization with years of documented events	New organization with professional-looking but shallow web presence
Contact method	Official platform notifications, verified social accounts	DMs from accounts created recently
Urgency	No artificial deadline pressure	”Register in 24 hours”

How to Verify Whether an Esports Opportunity Is Real

Teach kids (and practice with them) this verification checklist before engaging with any gaming opportunity:

Step 1: Check the URL of any login page. Gaming platform logins should only happen on the official platform:

• Epic Games: epicgames.com (not epic-verification.com, epicgames-tournament.com, etc.)
• Steam: steampowered.com or steamcommunity.com
• Riot Games: riotgames.com or leagueoflegends.com
• Blizzard: battle.net
• Microsoft/Xbox: xbox.com or live.com

Step 2: Search the organization name + “scam” or “review.” Most scam operations have victim reports filed somewhere — Reddit, scam-reporting sites, or gaming community forums. A quick search for “EsportsNation Pro Circuit scam” or “EsportsNation Pro Circuit review” will often surface reports within minutes.

Step 3: Check the organization’s verifiable history. Real esports organizations have years of documented events, Wikipedia pages, verified social media accounts (blue checkmarks on major platforms), and community coverage on sites like Liquipedia (a comprehensive esports wiki). A new organization with no Liquipedia presence has no history.

Step 4: Independently verify any entry fee. Legitimate paid amateur tournaments exist (local LAN events, school esports programs) but they’re documented locally and not sourced from unsolicited DMs. If a fee is required, the organization should be independently findable — don’t rely on links from the recruiting message.

How to Talk to Kids About This Without Killing Their Enthusiasm

The goal is not to make gaming feel dangerous — competitive gaming is a legitimate skill-building activity and a growing industry. The conversation should be calibrated:

For kids who play casually (ages 8-12):

• “Cheats download malware — this is why even if you saw them, you don’t download them. And it’s not fair play anyway.”
• “If someone says you won something or can join a special tournament through a message you didn’t expect, tell me before clicking anything.”

For competitive teenage gamers (ages 13+):

• “Esports recruitment is real, but real scouts don’t DM you on Discord. They work through official platform systems or school esports programs.”
• Walk through the verification checklist together with a real or hypothetical example.
• “Your gaming account has real monetary value. Treating its credentials like they’re disposable is how accounts get stripped.”

What to Watch For Over 3 Months

Month 1: Have the cheat software conversation. Ask your child directly — without accusation — whether they’ve ever downloaded “cheat” software, mods, or performance tools for their games. If they have: run Malwarebytes. Explain what the software actually does. If they haven’t: explain why downloads from unofficial sources for gaming tools are almost always malware.

Month 2: Review Discord servers and connected apps. Ask your child to show you their Discord server list and go to Settings → Authorized Apps to see what third-party apps have been granted access to their Discord account. Any unfamiliar apps should be revoked. Review the server list — do they recognize all servers? Have they been added to unknown servers?

Month 3: Do a gaming account security audit. For each gaming platform your child uses: log into the account, go to Security settings, enable two-factor authentication if not already enabled, review recent logins for any unfamiliar locations, and check connected apps/linked accounts. On Steam: go to Steam Guard → check active sessions. On Epic Games: account.epicgames.com → security → check linked accounts.

Frequently Asked Questions

My child downloaded something to help their game and now it’s running slow. What do I do? Run a scan with Malwarebytes Free immediately. Before removing anything, change passwords for the gaming accounts used on that device from a separate, clean device. If Malwarebytes finds infections, follow its removal recommendations. If the computer still behaves abnormally after removal, a factory reset may be necessary — save important files first to a drive that hasn’t been connected to the potentially compromised machine.

Are Minecraft mods and modpacks safe to download? Mods from the official CurseForge or Modrinth platforms are generally vetted, but even these have had security incidents (the 2023 Fractureiser malware spread through CurseForge). Mods downloaded from random YouTube video links, Discord channels, or unofficial sites have no vetting and should be treated as high-risk. The safest approach: only use mods from the official CurseForge or Modrinth platforms, and keep an antivirus running.

My teenager received a message saying they could go pro in esports. How do we evaluate if it’s real? Apply the verification checklist: check the URL of any linked site, search the organization name for reviews and history, look for them on Liquipedia, and verify whether they have a documented history of events with real participants. Legitimate pathways to professional esports involve school esports programs, regional qualifiers posted publicly on official game developer websites, and established organizations with years of verifiable history — not unsolicited DMs.

How do I know if my child’s gaming account has been compromised? Signs include: unexpected purchases in your payment method, friends receiving messages the child didn’t send, the child being logged out unexpectedly, password change notifications from gaming platforms, or the account appearing in a different region. If you see any of these: change the password immediately from a clean device, enable two-factor authentication, and contact the game’s customer support to report the potential compromise.

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About the author

Ricky Flores is the founder of HiWave Makers and an electrical engineer with 15+ years of experience building consumer technology at Apple, Samsung, and Texas Instruments. He writes about how kids learn to build, think, and create in a tech-saturated world. Read more at hiwavemakers.com.

Sources

1. FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center. (2024). “2023 Internet Crime Report.” FBI IC3. https://www.ic3.gov/Media/PDF/AnnualReport/2023_IC3Report.pdf

2. Kaspersky. (2023). “Gaming-related cyberthreats in 2023.” Kaspersky. https://securelist.com/gaming-related-cyberthreats-in-2023/

3. Federal Trade Commission. (2024). “Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book 2023 — Age Breakdown.” FTC. https://www.ftc.gov/reports/consumer-sentinel-network-data-book

4. Recorded Future. (2023). “Fractureiser Malware Analysis: CurseForge Minecraft Mods.” Recorded Future. https://www.recordedfuture.com/fractureiser-malware-minecraft

5. National Cybersecurity Alliance. (2023). “Gaming and Cybersecurity.” StaySafeOnline. https://staysafeonline.org/resource/gaming-cybersecurity/

6. Liquipedia. (2024). “Esports Organization Verification.” Liquipedia. https://liquipedia.net/