According to the 2023 data of the Indian police, the players who were cheated through the unofficial channel top up pubg mobile increased by 37% year-on-year, and the average size of a single loss was 1,200 rupees (about 15 US dollars). For instance, a player in Mumbai lost 5,000 rupees of in-game currency (UC) after refilling on a third-party site called “UCDeals” and the site did not offer any refund process. These instances are particularly noticeable in the Southeast Asian market. According to a report by the Indonesian Consumer Protection Association, in 2022, complaints about third-party recharges accounted for 42% of the total complaints in the gaming sector, 60% of which involved account suspensions or theft of funds.
Technically, the security of the payment interface of the third-party platform is questionable. Testing by cybersecurity firm Kaspersky shows that approximately 35% of third-party recharge websites do not have the HTTPS encryption protocol, thus making it 12 times more likely for users’ bank card information to be leaked. For instance, in 2021, a Vietnamese site named “GameTopUp” leaked the credit card information of over 100,000 users due to a database vulnerability, with a direct economic loss of 2.3 million US dollars. Besides, certain platforms obtain low-cost UC from “black industry supply chains”, such as via fraudulent credit card transactions or money laundering channels, which causes a risk of players’ accounts getting banned due to unusual sources of funds up to 18% (according to the official 2022 account ban report of PUBG Mobile).
Price difference is among the main reasons why players are attracted to utilizing third-party platforms. Let’s use the Indian market as an example. The official channel has to pay 799 rupees for purchasing 1000 UC, while the third-party platform sells it for only 650 rupees (at a discount rate of 18.6%). However, with such cheap prices come great danger. In the “TopUpGuru” scam case cracked by the Philippine police in 2023, the platform deceived users with pretended discounts. The actual recharge arrival rate was as low as 32%, while the remaining 68% of the funds were diverted to illicit cashing out. Not only will players incur financial losses if they utilize these kinds of channels, but their accounts will be banned permanently for breaching the “PUBG Mobile User Agreement” (14% of Tencent Games’ ban cases in 2023 were due to unofficial recharges).
From the perspective of industry compliance, the third-party platforms are not approved by the authorities in general. PUBG Mobile’s parent company Krafton published a financial report showing that the market size of third-party recharge across the globe was around 730 million US dollars in 2022, but only 12% of the platforms have obtained regional payment licenses. For instance, a class-action lawsuit was filed when a Brazilian player’s account was subjected to additional tax withholding because the platform failed to pay the 15% game tax when topping up through “Pay2Win”. Furthermore, the transaction cycle of third-party platforms is not secure. Approximately 25% of orders are postponed for more than 24 hours (data source: Market research firm Niko Partners), while official channels’ arrival rate is up to 99.8%, and average time spent is only 3 seconds.
User behavior data shows that despite significant risks, 23% of users choose third-party channels due to “price sensitivity” (Sensor Tower’s 2023 report). However, security experts advise players to give first preference to using official cooperative platforms such as Google Play or App Store. The fraud transaction interception rate of their payment systems is as high as 98.5%, and they support no-reason refunds within 7 days. For instance, in 2022, the complaint rate of Saudi Arabian players through top up pubg mobile in the Apple Store was only 0.3%, much lower than 9.7% of third-party websites. Overall, the short-term cost advantage of unofficial channels is difficult to make up for the long-term risks. Players need to balance efficiency, security and compliance well.