The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a government body in the U.S. tasked with shielding consumers from shady practices by banks and financial organizations, unveiled a new initiative on Friday to safeguard Roblox users from scams and hacks. The agency is seeking feedback from players who use virtual currency, aiming to gather insights on challenges they may have faced and how firms responded when scams were reported.
This proposal isn’t about crafting a new law but rather fine-tuning the existing Electronic Fund Transfer Act. Back in 1978, President Jimmy Carter spearheaded the EFTA to shield people from unauthorized debit activities when ATMs first hit the scene. Now, the CFPB hopes to broaden the EFTA’s reach to some gaming platforms, including Roblox.
“The way these gaming currencies and accounts operate is evolving at breakneck speed, increasingly resembling banking and payment systems,” the agency highlighted in a blog post.
“As this change has unfolded, gamers—or sometimes their parents and guardians—have been grappling with issues like converting real dollars to in-game currency, unauthorized transactions, account takeovers, theft, scams, and losing assets. Many folks have reported receiving either minimal or no assistance from gaming companies or the financial entities involved. Often, refunds are rejected, and gamers find their accounts suspended when they attempt to claim a refund through their bank or financial institutions. Others face endless loops with AI-driven customer service, desperately trying to get a clear response.”
The proposed regulation isn’t blanket coverage for every game featuring in-game purchases. It specifically targets those with a shared virtual marketplace among users, akin to Roblox. The proposal outlines three key criteria for these marketplaces: transactions for goods or services from multiple vendors, fund withdrawal or cash access, and person-to-person transfers.
In Roblox, users purchase a currency known as Robux, which is frequently used to buy in-game upgrades and accessories from other users. Roblox developers earn a share of the Robux spent on their creations and can convert those Robux into U.S. dollars via the Developer Exchange Program. This rule might not affect games like Fortnite, where players can’t resell cosmetic items or transfer V-bucks among each other, nor engage in service exchanges.
