Cross-Platform Trading

Cross-platform trading involves multi-step flows across various gaming ecosystems, third-party brokers, and external sites, explicitly aiming to obscure the trail of illicit funds by distancing them from their criminal origin. This is the primary objective of employing these cross-platform methods.

Criminals exploit vulnerabilities in unregulated or insufficiently monitored cross-platform trading channels. They bypass official processes by using grey-market RMT sites, third-party intermediaries, and blockchain-based asset transfers, all subject to inconsistent AML controls. This allows them to obfuscate transaction flows, evade oversight, and layer illicit proceeds with minimal scrutiny.

Provides publicly available reference data on market pricing for virtual items, external RMT platforms, and user activities. This supports the detection of inflated or irregular pricing structures and the identification of unregulated marketplaces facilitating cross-platform trades.

Includes detailed records of all in-game and external transactions, such as timestamps, amounts, currency types, and counterparties. This enables the detection of unusual flows between different gaming platforms or third-party sites, helping to identify patterns of layering or value transfers that lack legitimate gaming rationale.

Compiles records of user identities, transactions, and operating details from digital wallets and payment platforms. This data helps uncover abrupt or large-value withdrawals and conversions from game environments to fiat, often via third-party brokers with lax AML controls.

Tracks user authentication events, IP addresses, device fingerprints, and account activities across multiple platforms. This reveals potential connections or repeat logins indicative of coordinated cross-game transfers or clandestine 'gifting' strategies.

Holds verified identity information, beneficial ownership data, and risk profiles, enabling scrutiny of account owners and transferees. These records help detect scenarios where multiple account or asset 'gifting' events exploit insufficient customer due diligence.

Captures cross-chain transaction details such as wallet addresses, transaction hashes, timestamps, and token transfers. This enables investigators to follow digital asset movements across multiple blockchain-based gaming ecosystems, helping uncover obfuscated layering activities or unregulated bridging services.

Require comprehensive identity verification for customers engaging in cross-platform or external RMT transactions. Confirm consistent ownership across gaming accounts to prevent misrepresentation or the use of straw accounts. This counteracts criminal attempts to obscure account ownership when shuttling value through unregulated channels.

Implement targeted rules to detect frequent or high-value cross-platform transfers, particularly those routed through grey-market brokers or bridging services, and generate alerts for rapid investigation. By flagging abrupt buy-sell cycles or immediate liquidation of in-game assets, financial institutions can disrupt layering and identify attempts to conceal illicit funds.

Perform due diligence and continual oversight of grey-market RMT vendors, third-party account brokers, and cross-game bridging platforms to ensure they maintain robust AML standards. Require evidence of effective customer onboarding, transaction monitoring, and information sharing to assure consistent compliance across external service providers.

Use specialized chain analytics to track digital tokens, NFTs, or in-game currencies migrated across different blockchain-integrated gaming platforms. This reveals complex cross-chain bridging or token swaps designed to layer funds, flagging high-risk flows for deeper investigation.

Restrict or suspend transactions linked to known unregulated RMT platforms, brokers, or cross-chain bridging services lacking adequate AML protocols. By limiting these higher-risk channels, financial institutions disrupt criminals' ability to transfer illicit value between unrelated gaming or external environments.

Adapt trade-based oversight to monitor virtual item transactions, focusing on anomalous pricing, repetitive flips of rare in-game assets, or rapid transfers across different gaming ecosystems. These checks help uncover artificially manipulated value transfers used for layering illicit proceeds.

• Criminals acquire or sell in-game items, characters, or entire accounts across grey-market RMT platforms to layer illicit funds without using official in-game marketplaces.
• Because these digital assets are tradable outside legitimate channels, they can be exchanged multiple times across different gaming environments, obscuring the original source of value.
• Minimal or non-existent identity verification on many RMT sites enables rapid ownership transfers and hampers straightforward AML oversight.

• Criminals mint or trade NFTs—potentially tied to rare in-game items—on blockchain marketplaces, exploiting cross-chain bridges to move these assets across different ecosystems.
• By repeatedly transferring NFTs among various wallets or platforms, criminals complicate the transactional trail and obscure beneficial ownership.
• The unique and easily portable nature of NFTs allows them to serve as a cross-platform medium of exchange with limited identity checks, hindering AML monitoring.

• Criminals leverage blockchain-based tokens used in gaming ecosystems, transferring them through decentralized exchanges or bridging services that are not subject to robust KYC.
• By converting items or in-game wealth into these tokens, then trading or swapping across multiple platforms, criminals create complex value flows that mask the illicit origin.
• Limited oversight on third-party token services enables layering and cross-platform asset movement with minimal traceability.

When gaming platforms or third-party brokers allow blockchain-based asset transfers, criminals exchange in-game assets or account proceeds for cryptocurrencies.

• These cryptocurrencies can be routed through multiple digital wallets, traded for other tokens, or moved across decentralized exchanges to mask the trail.
• Cross-platform interoperability tools enable shifting between game tokens and general-purpose cryptocurrencies, complicating AML efforts and making it harder to link funds back to their origin.

• Criminals convert in-game items or currencies into widely used cryptocurrencies (e.g., Bitcoin, Ethereum) and then move them across multiple wallets or exchanges.
• This cross-platform exchange adds layers to the laundering process, especially when combined with bridging in-game assets to public blockchains.
• Inconsistent KYC/AML standards at certain exchanges allow criminals to swap value into or out of game ecosystems without straightforward oversight.

• Criminals exploit unregulated or loosely monitored cross-game currency exchanges to switch or "cash out" in-game credits anonymously.
• By shifting these currencies between multiple gaming platforms and third-party brokers, they layer and disguise illicit proceeds, bypassing official payment systems.
• Inconsistent AML controls across platforms reduce visibility into transaction flows, allowing rapid transfers with little to no customer due diligence.

• Criminals can directly trade game-related tokens or proceeds for cryptocurrency, leveraging minimal oversight.
• Multiple user accounts enable layered transfers, obscuring the ultimate beneficial owner.

• Criminals can list or purchase in-game goods or entire accounts, bypassing official platforms with stricter oversight.
• By inflating or undervaluing prices, they layer illicit funds through seemingly legitimate transactions with limited identity verification.

• Facilitates the final conversion of illicitly obtained in-game or cross-chain assets into recognized cryptocurrencies or fiat.
• Criminals hide illicit origins by integrating these exchanges into layered trading patterns before cashing out.

• Criminals use intermediary payment providers with inconsistent AML checks to settle cross-game or off-platform transactions.
• Limited identity verification allows seamless fund transfers between multiple accounts and services.

• Criminals exploit blockchain interoperability by moving tokens across different chain networks, breaking a single traceable path.
• This separation of transaction histories conceals fund origins and disrupts AML monitoring.

• Criminals may auction virtual items or entire gaming accounts, masking payment flows behind competitive bidding processes.
• Inflated bids or sham auctions help integrate illicit funds and obscure transaction origins.

Game developers and platforms are exploited when criminals:

• Use in-game currency systems and asset transfers that lack robust identity verification.
• Rely on platform features (e.g., gifting, trading) to circulate illicit funds across multiple accounts or titles.
• Move digital assets in ways that complicate AML monitoring and obscure transactional trails.

Cryptocurrency exchanges come into play when criminals:

• Convert in-game tokens or virtual items into cryptocurrency, bypassing conventional KYC measures.
• Leverage blockchain-based interoperability to move assets across different virtual ecosystems.
• Reintroduce funds into the financial system, posing challenges to traditional AML detection.

Online marketplaces hosting grey-market RMT (real-money trading) facilitate:

• Buying and selling of game accounts, rare items, or in-game currency outside legitimate channels.
• Cross-game currency swaps and third-party trades with limited AML oversight.
• Rapid layering by quickly transferring digital assets beyond the original platform.

Illicit operators engage in cross-platform trading to layer illicit funds by:

• Acquiring game accounts, items, or currencies on grey-market sites.
• Transferring or "gifting" these digital assets to obscure ownership.
• Ultimately converting them back to fiat through multiple channels with minimal identity checks.