Fortnite is available on many platforms, especially Android. However, many young people search for Fortnite in their app stores without success. This is because many phones and tablets do not have enough power to move the game freely, so it may be the case that they do not see the game in the Google Play Store. Next, what many minors usually do is look for "download fortnite". And unfortunately, it is very likely that many of the results end up hiding a whole swindle.
subscription payment scam
The subscription payment scam is very old, but it is being renewed as new fashion products come out. He modus operandi It's always the same: a group of scammers create a website where they promise us that we can download something. Next, we are asked to enter our phone number, where they will send a message with a confirmation code. Once the process is done, in addition to not keeping their word, they will have slipped us a paid subscription, which will be billed through our operator.
There are many types of scams of this type, and the prices of these empty subscriptions are also varied. They can send us a monthly, weekly or even daily receipt. This is the method you use Game Zentral, a "service" in which many minors end up falling when they seek to download a Fortnite .apk or some trick for the video game.
Fake app stores: the Game Zentral door
Many subscription payment scams target children. They know that minors are not going to read the fine print of any contract and cheating them is a piece of cake for them. As? Well, creating fake app stores. Some of them are an exact copy of the Google Play Store, although there are also clone stores of the iOS App Store looking for the same type of victims.
In this way, when a minor falls into one of these websites and makes click on «Install», instead of getting the download, it is forwarded to a second website. The scam has just begunWell, this second portal will tell us to share a WhatsApp message to 3 of our contacts in order to complete the download. The screen will not let us move forward until we have completed the process. Our contacts of WhatsApp They will receive a message with the text "DOWNLOAD FORTNITE NOW ON ANY ANDROID" along with a link to a website to continue doing viral the fraud.
Then after sending the third link, we will be redirected to Game Zentral, which is allegedly a subscription service that offers quality guides and cheats. A somewhat dubious website, by the way. An image of Fortnite will appear along with a dialog box to introduce our phone number. Many may think that this is finally the final step to download the game, however, it is the materialization of the scam. Once the number is entered, Game Zentral will send us a confirmation SMS with a code. By entering it on the web and pressing the "continue" button, Game Zentral will begin to charge us 3,99 euros per week through our phone bill, that is, 15,96 euros per month. About the price we'd pay for a monthly Netflix membership in 4K resolution.
Si we access the web, either with the mobile or with our computer from a Wi-Fi connection, a pop-up will block our access telling us that we must access the web with a connection 4G. From the PC it is possible to circumvent this system and access the source code of the page to be able to read the guides. There is content from most of the hit video games, such as Warzone, Call of Duty: Vanguard, Valorant or even a guide to get the perfect island in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. However, are empty contents, with almost no relevant information for the user. Its only function is that we place our telephone number to proceed to send us a weekly receipt.
How to unsubscribe from Game Zentral?
If you are affected by this problem, there is several ways to unsubscribe from Game Zentral:
• Clicking on the button 'Cancel' when you access the portal from your mobile.
• Calling customer service phone 900264441 and following the cancellation processing instructions.
• Sending an email addressed to es@digitalmindsmktg.com requesting the cancellation.
How can I avoid a scam like Game Zentral?
Obviously, we are talking about Game Zentral, but there is Hundreds of scams of this type on the Internet, so it will be easy for our children to inadvertently fall into one of these networks. In addition, not all of them are going to make it easy for us to process the discharge. To avoid this type of situation, we recommend that you perform the following procedures:
Do not download anything outside of the Google Play Store: The Google store, integrated into our Android system, is a safe ecosystem in terms of content downloads. It is the only repository of Android applications that we can trust.
Block the Unknown Sources option in Android Settings. This function prevents you from being able to install any APK (Android executable) from outside the Play Store. By default it is disabled, but if it is enabled in your terminal, you must go to Settings> Security> Device Management> Unknown Sources and uncheck this option. Finally, you should establish some kind of security or parental control to prevent your children from manipulating this parameter.
Deactivate payments to third parties in your operator: It is the only way to be protected against a subscription payment scam.
How to deactivate payments to third parties
If you have managed to sneak a scam of this type, you should know that you can nip the problem at the root preventing payments to third parties from your mobile operator. This service is activated by default in most operators, and can be deactivate to avoid future scares on our telephone bill.
The easiest way to disable third party payments is call our operator by phone and request it from the agent who attends us. We can also go to physical store from our operator and request it there. They will solve the problem in a matter of minutes, since it is a procedure that they usually do daily. Still, we can do the procedure by Internet In a simple way.
Deactivate payments to third parties in Movistar
To cancel an active subscription, go to the Movistar website and identify yourself. Then go to the section Subscriptions and click on "unsubscribe" to remove a service. They will send you an SMS to confirm the process. Next, you should complete the operation by filling in the Online Payment Form. However, you can do the last step calling 1004 and commenting the problem to one of the Telefónica agents.
Deactivate payments to third parties in Orange
To deactivate Orange Pay, you must access the Orange customer area or to the mobile app. In your line settings, you can access Orange Pay and disable “third party services”.
Deactivate payments to third parties in Vodafone
Accede to My Vodafone and go to the Options> Payments to third parties section. From there you will have to deactivate the option «Allow payments to content portals», which is in charge of managing this type of Premium SMS subscriptions and services.
