Cheeky Hackers Flood EverQuest II with Fake Money

It’s been less than a month since SOE launched Station Exchange, but already a group of hackers have managed to exploit the “secure marketplace” for EverQuest II.

Last weekend, hackers figured out how to create tons of EQ II platinum, the game’s currency that can be exchanged for items or cashed in for real currency on Station Exchange. According to SOE’s Chris Kramer, the hackers had a field day, managing to inflate the game’s economy by a fifth. However, the sudden influx of money set off alarm bells over at fortress Sony and the scam was quickly shut down:

Once the team identified the hackers, it immediately shut down their accounts. Sony does not disclose the names of its players.

Kramer also said that SOE has tools that allowed it to track all the duped platinum and remove it. Thus, he said, while the EQ2 economy had taken a huge inflationary hit on Saturday, the company’s customer service team put in a lot of overtime over the weekend and the problem was largely resolved by Sunday.

Hackers slam ‘Everquest II’ economy