The F-Game otherwise known as Fraude Game

The bonker, the lebber, the nippa and the spitta, just some key figures from a game that the players call F-Game. Unfortunately, this is not a game but cybercrime, referred to by young people as “The F-Game” (Fraud Game).

At the end of last year, various media covered the topic already. When checking social media channels one quickly learns that the F-game is openly discussed and rapped about on, for example, YouTube, Telegram and TikTok. Posts are marked with the hashtags #Fgame and #Money to make them easier to find. Ads on TikTok “Are you 18 plus and want to make money quickly? Then slide into my DM” are used to recruit future F-gamers. Fortunately, we have also come across various prevention messages, including from a local police officer and a community worker.

What are we talking about?

Most people can tell you a story of someone close to them who has become a victim of cybercrime on Marketplace. The example of a WhatsApp message in which one of the children says their phone has broken and that money needs to be transferred quickly will also sound familiar to many. We also call this friend-in-need fraud. Or what about bank fraud, where the bank can solve the problem remotely with the Anydesk program, but in the meantime a lot of money is being embezzled.

These are all examples of cybercrime for which the term F-Game is also used. F-Game stands for Fraud Game and that makes it very clear what it is about.

Cybercrime in the narrow sense and digitalized crime

Do a Google search for the article “Trendbeeld 2022, politiewerk in onrustige tijden”

which is in Dutch but worth the effort of translating. The title translates to “Trend image 2022, police work in troubled times”. The article is written by the Amsterdam police unit. In this article you will read the definition of cybercrime: “Cybercrime in the narrow sense and digitalized crime.” Cybercrime in the narrow sense means committing criminal offenses with ICT as a means and as a goal. Digitized crime concerns classic crimes that are (partly) committed using ICT as a means. In the world of F-Game, you will encounter both cybercrime in the narrow sense, such as hacking back accounts and then transferring large amounts of money, as well as digitalized crime, such as marketplace fraud. In this same article, you can read on page 13 that during the corona pandemic, the physical world and the digital world have become more intertwined, that cybercrime has boomed and that ready-made criminal packages are available for sale to commit cybercrime, the entry threshold is low and the merit is high.

The internet is a large part of our daily lives and can’t be ignored. As a result, sooner or later you will come across cybercrime. The call for more knowledge in investigations is great. If you would like to learn more about cybercrime, take a look at our cybercrime training courses.