The video game market is forecasted to be valued at $321.6 billion by 2027. Today, younger generations increasingly prefer spending their leisurely time playing online video games. Beyond providing a leisurely – and often competitive – activity to the bulk of its user base, online video games provide cybercriminals with an environment that is free from the reigns of legal enforcement. More specifically, with the growing popularity and uptake of the microtransaction business model, money launderers are provided with novel channels to move their illicitly gained funds. A continuously expanding body of evidence underscores that money laundering is occurring through online video games. Foremost, cybercriminals are attracted to the anonymity and global reach offered by online video games with few to no controls currently in place to disrupt laundering processes. Furthermore, regulations are struggling to keep pace with the latest money laundering strategies employed by cybercriminals. This paper explores and discusses money laundering in the context of online video games. Core vulnerabilities enabling money laundering to occur through online video games are identified. Security controls to reduce the scale of laundering are proposed.

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