Kids Are Obsessed With Roblox, But Is It Safe?

pcmag.com:

When Bailen Meyercheck learned that his Roblox avatar had suddenly changed, the 11-year-old immediately knew his account had been hacked. Roblox, an online multiplayer game used by millions of players each day, is an important part of the fifth grader’s social life, as it is for many kids his age. As soon as he realized what happened, he took steps to secure his account, which included turning on two-factor authentication. Unfortunately, he had created his account with a now-defunct email address and said he lost years of hard work. “My avatar, my Robux [in-game currency], game passes, and games I had created got deleted. I lost all of the progress I had made,” he said.

Bailen's losses might sound minor to a grown-up who doesn’t know much about Roblox, but kids work hard to gain special items and build friendships in the virtual world. Whether they're catching zombies, exploring virtual reality, or creating their own unique games, the options within the Roblox empire are endless. And for many kids like Bailen, this virtual world rose in importance when their actual world shuttered in the face of the coronavirus—Roblox's revenue increased by 200%(Opens in a new window) during the pandemic. Not able to run around the playground with friends, many kids settled for their avatars running around a virtual town in Roblox instead. 

Despite contacting customer support, Bailen’s mom Jen Meyercheck said she was unable to recover his account. Her son lost at least $100 in digital items he had purchased or bought with gift cards he received. Now that he’s created a new account, Bailen said he doesn’t purchase digital items anymore. “If that happens again, I don’t want to lose another $100,” he said.

Given the popularity of Roblox,