Epic Games / Fortnite — The $245M FTC Fine for One-Click Charges
Fortnite's UI made it one tap to spend V-Bucks, near-impossible to refund, and trapped kids in 'unwanted purchases' confirm screens with no cancel. Largest FTC consumer refund in history.
Watch the trick unfold, layer by layer.
- 1Step 1 — One-click to spend
Adjacent to common gameplay actions (preview an item, hover a skin), a single button press triggered a real-money V-Bucks purchase. No confirm dialog, no parental check, often no on-screen indication a charge had occurred.
The trick: The Pre-Checked Box → - 2Step 2 — Sleep-mode purchases
Charges fired even when the device was asleep or being held in inventory screens. Parents discovered hundreds of dollars in charges weeks later via credit card statements.
The trick: The Hidden Door → - 3Step 3 — 'Cancel' that didn't cancel
When users tried to dispute charges in-app, Epic's UI showed a confirmation screen labeled 'Cancel and lose progress?' that, when confirmed, did NOT cancel the purchase — only the dispute flow. Charges remained.
The trick: The Roach Motel → - 4Step 4 — Account locks for chargebacks
Players who disputed charges through their bank had their entire Fortnite accounts locked, losing access to all previously purchased items — even items unrelated to the disputed charge. The threat was the deterrent.
The trick: The Guilt Decline → - 5Step 5 — The historic fine
Dec 2022: $520M total FTC settlement. $245M in consumer refunds (largest ever in a gaming case) for dark-pattern charges, plus $275M for COPPA violations (collecting children's data without parental consent). Epic ordered to overhaul UI and adopt explicit-consent purchase flows.
The trick: The Switcheroo →
Steal it. Use it tonight.
- 1Don't. The FTC's 2022 Epic order is now the precedent every game and app studio is being measured against.
- 2If you sell in-app: every purchase requires an explicit, dedicated confirm step that names the dollar amount and is impossible to confuse with gameplay.
- 3If a child could plausibly use your app, COPPA applies — verifiable parental consent before any data collection or charge.
Activision, EA, and Roblox all face active class actions on similar mechanics. The UK's CMA, the Netherlands' ACM, and Belgium's gaming commission have separately banned variants. The 'whales fund the game' business model is being legislated out from under itself.
Study the techniques behind this teardown
You bought something you never agreed to buy.
You can't find the option you want — so you take the one they want.
Easy to check in. Designed to make you give up trying to leave.
You feel like an idiot for clicking 'no'.
You came for one thing. You're being sold another.