The market for virtual items in video games can allegedly be used for money laundering. This conclusion was reached by researchers Dan Cooke and Angus Marshall in an article with the revealing title Money Laundering Through Video Games: A Criminals’ Playground. The text was published in the digital edition of the Forensic Science International scientific journal (via GamesIndustry.biz).
5 days of trading in CSGO
In the study, the authors looked at data regarding exchanges on the Steam Community Market, primarily item trading in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive over a 5-day period in August 2020. The goal was to determine whether the methods used to detect potential money laundering could be applied to identify suspicious transactions in the digital video game market.
