Call of Duty is easily the biggest video game franchise in the world. Black Ops III made over $550 million in the first week it came out and is played by tens of millions of people all around the world. Apparently some of the people, however, are using the mic functions in C.o.D. to talk about more than just leveling up their XP on the ICR-1. During a talk on Thursday evening at the New York Hedge Fund Round Table, FBI Special Agent David Chaves suggested that games like Call Of Duty are be used by hedge funders for insider trading, according to Business Insider:
As expected, some were using burner phones they purchased at retailers like Walmart and Kmart. Others, the FBI found out, were using social networks to send cryptic messages to signal when a trade was on.
Perhaps the most creative method, though, was the use of video-game chat rooms.
“Things like PlayStation and Xbox, brilliance here — get on the internet, play anyone else in the world in a game like ‘Call of Duty’ and be able to get in a private bunker and have a conversation and guess what — pass on material, nonpublic information,” Chaves said.
If this sounds familiar, you’ll recall hearing something similar from law enforcement officials after the Paris Attacks. Back in November, there was a lot of speculation that ISIS commandos were using the encryption technology from multiplayer video game chat servers to communicate. Here’s what Paul wrote at the time:
French authorities are scrambling to find exactly how these ISIS terrorists were able to plan such an elaborate, multifaceted attack right under their noses. Standard communication channels such as land lines, cell phones and email are all monitored, but terrorists may have utilized the PS4 to facilitate their evil doings.
Terrorists could easily setup their own private party on a specific game and simply send messages or voice-chat over the PlayStation Network (PSN) online gaming service. They could even write temporary messages on walls in a game such as Call of Duty. They could freely plan their devious blueprints for disaster without fear of being caught because there would be little if any eavesdropping by government agencies on this platform since IP-based communications are so difficult to monitor.
“PlayStation 4 is even more difficult to keep track of than WhatsApp,” Belgian federal home affairs minister Jan Jambon said. Belgium is deeply involved in the Paris tragedies because they have arrested three men suspected to be involved in the attacks.
In 2010, the FBI pushed for access to all manner of Internet communications, including gaming chat systems like on the Xbox and Playstation, but the FCC did not grant the FBI access to peer-to-peer communications.
Asshole Gordon Gekko-types definitely seem like the type of asshole who quick-scope or camp in Team Deathmatches. Screw those C.o.D players. They’re evil.