The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has approved $126,000,000 in refunds to be sent to 969,173 Fortnite players as part of a settlement over allegations that Epic Games tricked users into making unwanted purchases.

At the same time, the agency has reopened the claims portal for eligible Fortnite players to submit refund claims, which will be examined for the third round of refunds.

This latest development marks the second phase of the settlement the FTC reached with Epic Games in December 2022, in which the company agreed to pay $520 million to settle allegations of violating children’s privacy laws and using dark patterns to trick millions into making unintentional in-game purchases.

These so-called patterns included:

• Displaying confusing purchase prompts
• Promoting misleading offers
• Allowing underage account holders to make purchases without parental consent
• Charging players unintentionally by waking the game from sleep mode, during the loading screen, or while they attempted to preview an in-game items

These charges occurred without additional confirmation, and those attempting to dispute and reverse them had to go through a complex process that made it likely for them to give up prematurely.

In some cases, these users were blocked from accessing their very accounts before the payment was reversed.

The first round of refunds occurred in December 2024, during which $72,000,000 was distributed among 629,344 eligible Fortnite players.

The average reimbursement in the first round was $114, while in the second, the figure has been raised to $130.

As previously happened, consumers whose reimbursement claims have been approved will be given 90 days to cash their checks or 30 days if they opt to use PayPal as the redemption method.

A dedicated phone line and support email were also set up by Rust Consulting Inc., which handles the refund process.

If you have performed Fortnite purchases between January 2017 and September 2022 that fall into the category of ‘dark patterns’ as those were defined by the FTC, you are invited to submit a claim through this portal until July 9, 2025.

Claimants must be at least 18 years old to complete a claim form. However, parents or guardians can do it on their behalf.

More information about FTC refunds in general is available on this FAQ page.

The losses suffered by Americans as a result of fraudulent bank transfers and payments have significantly increased over the past five years, according to government numbers.

Data from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) shows that US consumers lost $2.088 billion to fraudulent bank transfers and payments in 2024.

The amount is significantly higher than the figure recorded in 2020 when consumers reported losing $319.6 million to fraudulent bank transactions. The losses increased to $745.1 million in 2021, $1.58 billion in 2022 and $1.86 billion in 2023.

The most recent data from the FTC, which was published on March 7th, shows that in the first quarter of 2024, consumers lost $508.3 million via bank transfers or payments. The number slightly rose to $511.1 million in the third quarter and surged to $563.7 million in the last quarter of the year.

Fraudulent bank transfers or payments were the leading cause of financial losses among payment methods last year, far surpassing cryptocurrency transactions, which account for the second-highest amount of losses of about $1.42 billion in 2024, slightly up from $1.41 billion in 2023. Transactions by payments app or services was third with $391 million in losses.

The FTC says it shares fraud reports with over 2,800 law enforcers.

“We can’t resolve your individual report, but we use reports to investigate and bring cases against fraud, scams, and bad business practices.”

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