Hackers exploit Japan’s mobile gamers with fake fantasy cash

This photo taken on February 6, 2017 shows a woman playing the popular dating simulation game Ikemen series produced by Japanese mobile content business company Cybird in Tokyo. The Ikemen app has been downloaded some 15 million times since its launch about nearly five years ago, while the firm has also released an English version. Mirroring the smartphone boom, female-targeted virtual romance games have ballooned into a market worth about 15 billion yen ($135 million) annually in Japan, according to the Tokyo-based Yano Research Institute. / AFP PHOTO / Kazuhiro NOGI / TO GO WITH Japan-technology-lifestyle-algorithms-culture-computers, FEATURE by Karyn NISHIMURA-POUPEE

Gamers beware: hackers offering free virtual trinkets don’t care about your passwords or personal data, but your employer’s most closely guarded secrets. 

An employee at a Japanese high-tech company learned this the hard way, duped by a fake giveaway for 300 magic stones for the smartphone game Puzzle & Dragons. “Congratulations,” began the e-mail promoting free in-game currency for the first 100 lucky takers: “Click here!” That initiated a drive-by download that surreptitiously installed remote access software.