Latest threat: It's all about the virtual money

RMT happens when people playing online games trade currencies, items, accessories, and other in-game paraphernalia for real money. For example, in a game like World of Warcraft players can trade items they have "earned" while playing such as money, armor, and weapons. While Trojan spyware attacks against bank and credit card accounts are clearly illegal, hardcore gamers consider RMT to be unethical (though technically legal).

Trojan spyware, which intends to turn a profit, attacks both online banks and online games.

"Trend Micro currently detects 7,008 bank-related spyware, and 3,636 online game-related spyware," says Samir Kirouani, Senior Sales Engineer, Trend Micro Middle East and Africa. "In both cases, the purpose of spyware is to steal account information. Once a bank account is compromised, the money is taken and the spyware has achieved its goal. Profiting from game accounts is more complicated. The only way to profit from stolen game accounts is to sell the account's contents. However, if you think online banks hold more money than virtual realms, it's best to think again."

In 2001, a gamer calculated the value of one unit of the currency of a country in the online game Everquest as being worth more than one Japanese Yen. In 2005, gameusd.com, a game currency price research site, placed the value of one World of Warcraft gold unit at US$0.60. (By early 2006, the value of the gold had diminished to almost one-tenth of its former value).

In addition to in-game currency, other business opportunities, such as the sale of armor, weapons, and other gaming loot, are provided by the popular massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) such as World of Warcraft and Lineage. Players can also trade their in-game items for real cash.

It is clear that the motive behind such Trojan spyware in the world of online gaming is financial gain. Trojan spyware attacks on games such as World of Warcraft, Lineage, and others have all the marks of organized money-laundering schemes. Unlike traditional money-laundering rackets, however, the online versions involve theft as a first step, then the laundering of game money into real money.