To judge whether the topping up by Delta Force is safe, it needs to be analyzed from several sides: payment security, credibility of trading platforms, account risk control, and market supervision. The entire global in-game purchase market has reached 214 billion dollars in 2023, and it is expected to reach 260 billion dollars by 2025, with about 8.7 percent illegal transactions that cause losses of over 18 billion dollars every year. According to Statista, in the last 12 months, 12.5% of gamers reported online payment scams, while the top-up by unauthorized third-party services accounted for 37.2%.
Different payment methods have a great impact on security. About 58% of clients use credit cards to pay for the top-ups of Delta Force, but there are so many cases of credit card theft that in 2022 the amount of losses will reach $4.2 billion. On the other side, PayPal and Google Pay offer much better mechanisms of buyer protection: in case a transaction failed or was defrauded, users can claim a full refund which will be performed in more than 85% of cases. In addition, some players choose cryptocurrency top-up. These kinds of transaction took 9.6%, though the anonymity of the transaction was strong, owing to the inability to recover the funds once cheated; it is close to 100% in loss rate.
Account blocking is a direct risk of illegal top-up. Online game platforms, like Garena, have been carrying out stern management over illegal topping-up, having banned in 2021 more than 350,000 accounts suspected of illegal transactions involving more than US$12 million. According to research firm SuperData, which tracks the gaming industry, more than 62% of gamers reported that their accounts have been blocked as a result of buying discount top-up, with the amount topped up either being recycled or them even losing permanent access to their account. Some illegal merchants get the game coupon through stolen credit cards or black market channels and offer bargain top-up, but once being identified by the game official, the player’s account will be facing a high risk of lock.
Different trading platforms have great influence on the security of Delta Force top up. Formal platforms like LootBar use 256-bit SSL encryption technology, ensuring transaction data is not compromised by third-party users. User complaint rates are less than 1.5% or less. However, some unofficial top-up sites can see fraudulent transaction rates as high as 27.6 percent, and according to a report by cybersecurity firm Kaspersky, gaming top-up related phishing sites increased by 41 percent in 2022, with victims losing an average of $138. Besides, the formal platform usually cooperates with the game company to provide API direct connection services, and the recharge time is controlled between 30 seconds and 2 minutes, while the illegal channel recharge may take 1-48 hours, and there is a risk of non-payment or recovery.
Another important factor affecting the safety of top-up is price fluctuation. The real top-up prices are always based on the official prices, such as 1000 points of game coins for $9.99 in the official channel. The formal third-party platform may give a discount of 5%-10%, while the informal channel will say that their price is low, as much as 40%-60%. This kind of super-low price usually involves illegal funds or stolen transactions, which means the account will more than probably be blocked within more than 70% of the time. For instance, in the 2021 PUBG Mobile top-up storm, more than 40,000 players were punished for taking a black market top-up, with individual users losing upwards of $800.
The government and game companies have furthered supervision to protect the rights and interests of players. In 2022, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China promulgated the “Online Game Management Measures” to demand real-name authentication for all game top-up transactions, and third-party trading platforms must undergo compliance reviews. European GDPR regulations strictly crack down on payment transactions without user authorization, and more than 14 illegal top-up websites have been shut down in 2023 due to the illegal processing of player payment data. Besides, the Federal Trade Commission has investigated unauthorized deductions and fined more than $370 million on game scam merchants in the past three years.
According to the famous cyber security expert Kevin Mitnick, “On the Internet, every transaction needs to be reviewed, and low prices often mean high risk.” In the process of topping up in Delta Force, to ensure safety, players should first make use of official top-up channels or some other reputable third-party platforms, rather than lose account assets or face security risks on the basis of low prices. By choosing a reasonable payment method, ensuring the credibility of the trading platform and following the official top-up rules, it can effectively reduce the transaction risk and ensure the stability and security of the game experience.