If you have a child who enjoys video games — or you yourself like playing — it’s all but guaranteed that you’ve heard of Roblox. Every day, Roblox sees roughly 80 million players log in and play games, many of whom are 16 years old or younger (although plenty of older players exist as well). While the Roblox platform is free in and of itself, there is a booming economy within the platform that allows users to buy all sorts of in-game items in exchange for Robux (Roblox’s designated currency that can be purchased with real money).
Unfortunately, due to the fact that children are highly susceptible to scams, criminals have targeted Roblox, crafting a number of scams that can put your children and even your own personal finances at risk. Here’s everything you need to know to stay safe.
What is Roblox?
In some sense, Roblox is just a video game, but if we’re getting into technicalities, Roblox is more like a platform that hosts a vast offering of games that players can dive into. In fact, as of a few years ago, Roblox was estimated to have over 40 million different games for players to enjoy. Part of the draw of Roblox is that it offers an almost endless variation of games, as well as worlds built to be social hubs for digital interactions.
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In short, Roblox is essentially a platform that contains millions of different game modes created by users for the enjoyment of players all around the world.
What are Robux?
Even though Roblox is technically free, it has its own in-game currency called Robux. Robux can be purchased with real money and used to buy avatars, outfits, upgrades, access to certain user-created games within Roblox, and other items or premium activities. This includes trading with other players, where you can send Robux directly to players for items, or vice versa.
The combination of Roblox’s popularity, mixed with a successful in-game economy (tied to real money, of course), is exactly why scammers have taken to creating ways to use Roblox (and Robux) for monetary gain.
For those interested, here are the current Robux to USD rates users can purchase:
- $4.99 = 500 Robux
- $9.99 = 1000 Robux
- $19.99 = 2000 Robux
- $49.99 = 5250 Robux
- $99.99 = 11000 Robux
- $199.99 = 24000 Robux
Common Roblox Scams
So, we know that Roblox is popular and has a successful in-game monetization system, but how exactly do scammers target that? Well, there are a couple of different common scams, ranging from simply stealing in-game items or currency to full-on compromising devices and sensitive financial information. Here are some things to train your kids and yourself to watch out for:
Free Robux Scams
Gamers (and people in general) like cool things — fancy costumes, powerful items, exclusive access to the latest trends, etc. — but, generally speaking, children don’t have funds of their own to throw at these items at their own discretion. So, it should come as no surprise that “free Robux” is one of the most searched phrases related to Roblox.
As most of us know, especially adults with some life experience, is nothing in life is free — and that certainly applies to Robux. When people search for “free Robux,” there is no shortage of results that pop up claiming to give free Robux. The problem, obviously, is that not only do they not give you free Robux, they often do give you malware. This malware includes things like keyloggers (which track your keystrokes and can be used to steal login information, passwords, and credit card information) and other information-stealing programs.
Roblox Phishing Scams
Phishing scams are everywhere, and it’s not because scammers love fake links — it’s because they work. Phishing scams are incredibly popular and involve scammers getting victims to click on links they think are legitimate. For Roblox scams, this can work in a couple of different ways.
The first is fraudulent websites that look like the real Roblox website, where players enter in their login information, which the scammers then use to steal the real account and any valuable in-game inventory items, or saved financial information.
Another common phishing scam is fake support emails urging users to click a link to save their accounts. This is pretty classic when it comes to phishing, and works especially well on kids who don’t want to lose all their precious in-game items.
To stay safe, teach your child to avoid interacting with any links sent to them, including those sent by other players, supposed Roblox support, or from random websites found via Google — particularly if they Googled “free Robux.”
Roblox Giveaway Scams
Outside of teaching your children not to click on random links, the next most important message you need to emphasize is that nothing that normally costs money in a game is going to be free, no matter what people are saying or promising. Giveaway scams aren’t exclusive to Roblox, but they are highly effective on the platform, since scammers can go into the game and promise overly trusting children free Robux, memberships, or valuable items.
Technically, this is another form of phishing, since the end goal is having victims follow a bogus link, but doing so under the guise of a giveaway is particularly pervasive and deserves to be highlighted on its own.
Roblox Player Trading Scams
Like we mentioned, players within Roblox are able to trade their items, either in exchange for different items or for Robux. There are official features to ensure this is done safely, but scammers will often convince other users to do these trades more casually, which opens the door for them to take advantage. According to Roblox’s official website, the following “deals” are almost surefire signs of a scam:
- Using the official systems to pay for accounts, real-world money, or groups
- Lending your account or items out or letting a player borrow them
- Making deals where one of the sides has to go first and trust the other person
- Giving your account or item to another person to sell or trade for you
If you want to keep your children’s accounts and items safe, be sure to warn them about these particular interactions.
Is Roblox Safe?
The short answer is yes, and that’s supported by the roughly 200 million monthly users that make Roblox one of the most popular game platforms to ever exist. But, like anything else, there are certain precautions you’ll want to make sure your children understand — or else they might unknowingly expose your devices and financial information to scammers.
How to Protect Your Kids (and Yourself) from Roblox Scams
Roblox should be a fun place for your children and their friends to enjoy, but you should equip them with certain tips to help keep them — and your information — safe.
- Teach them about common scams, and make it clear that no matter what people promise, they shouldn’t click on links or trade items with strangers (with the exception of the official in-game trade system).
- Enable two-factor authentication on their accounts, which could prevent a full account compromise if your child is tricked or makes a mistake.
- Don’t save financial information on a Roblox account, and regularly check to make sure your child isn’t making purchases unknown to you. Not only will this prevent your children from overspending, but it will also limit any damage if their account is compromised.
- Explore Roblox’s parental controls, which allow you to limit or even block certain features, servers, or content. If you’re interested in linking a parental account with your children’s, check out the official support page here.
Don’t Fall for Scams In-Game or IRL
Whether it’s in-game or real life, scammers have all sorts of tricks to try and take advantage of unsuspecting victims. While verifying the identity (and intent) behind another user in a video game isn’t easily done, Spokeo people search can help in the real world, whether it be for finding out who your neighbors are, who you or your children are interacting with on social media, or really any other reason you might need to find out who’s who.
Cyrus Grant is a writer from Southern California with a background in law and dispute resolution. When he isn’t writing he can be found deep-diving into the latest technology trends or simply spending time at the beach.