The greatest risk in attempting to buy poe 2 currency online is the threat to account security. In a report released in 2023 by cybersecurity vendor Kaspersky, they discovered that about 32% of third-party trading websites that violate the terms of service have malware or phishing links, resulting in 15% of players losing their accounts to theft, with an average loss of $85 per transaction. For instance, in 2022, the site “ExileDeals” was discovered to have a database breach, which resulted in the selling of gaming accounts, payment information and IP addresses of 42,000 users. Of those, 23% of the victims also had their accounts on other sites compromised due to them using the same password. Compliant websites such as PlayerAuctions have reduced the risk of intrusion risk to 0.5% through two-factor authentication (2FA) and end-to-end encryption technology, which is much lower than the 12.7% of non-compliant websites.
Price fraud and financial losses are another major hidden risk. VirtualEconomy, a market research firm in 2023, reports that approximately 41% of orders on non-compliant websites entail price manipulation. For instance, Chaos Orb is $0.12, but when settling, it turns into $0.18 through hidden fees (i.e., “handling fees” or “exchange rate losses”) at a premium of 50%. The typical case is that in 2021, the site “PoECoin” used false promotional activities (“20% discount on the first order right away”) to lure users into making payments and then cancel orders on the grounds of “out of stock”, with a scam amount of over 280,000 US dollars. The success rate of victims’ appeals was as low as 9%. On the contrary, the error rate of prices on compliant platforms is within ±3%, and the refund rate of disputes is as high as 97%.
Legal and game compliance risks can also not be ignored. Developer Grinding Gear Games (GGG) banned around 73,000 illegal accounts of purchasing poe 2 currency online in 2023, and the ban rate increased by 18% year-on-year. According to the game rules, trading through unofficial channels can result in permanent account suspension, and the success rate of user complaints is less than 2%. For example, a player purchased 2000 Chaos Orb for $120 through the site “FastExile”. Since the transaction record was detected by the anti-cheating system, the account was banned within 72 hours and all the currency and equipment assets were lost. Additionally, some countries (such as Japan and South Korea) have included illegal virtual currency trading in their criminal codes. In 2022, three cases of prosecution against players were initiated, with the largest fine reaching 5,000 US dollars.
Delays in delivery and standard order fraud are also inherent risks. According to a 2024 Reddit community survey, 27% of orders on non-compliant websites were not delivered within the advertised timeframe (advertising “5-minute arrival”, while the median actual wait time was 47 minutes), and 15% of orders were never delivered at all. For instance, on day one of the 2023 new season, 14,000 orders were cancelled on the website “Poe2Gold” due to server overload. Consumers waited an average of six days for refunds. Compliant platforms such as MMOGA achieve 93% of orders in 10 minutes through an automated logistics system and have 7× 24-hour customer service, with the order failure rate kept below 0.8%.
Finally, market fluctuations and asset devaluation can lead to the failure of expected returns. The virtual currency price in “Path of Exile 2” is significantly affected by the season cycle. For example, Chaos Orb’s average price is $0.15 at the beginning of the season, and the price could plummet to $0.07 (a reduction of 53%) at the end of the season. In 2023, a player purchased 5,000 Chaos OrBs at a unit price of $0.14 (totaling $700). Due to the failure to sell them in time, the asset value fell to $350 two months later, and the loss rate rose to 50%. Such fluctuations are even more pronounced in non-compliant platforms, and their price standard deviation (SD) can be as much as 3.2 times that of compliant platforms. For example, during the same time period, the price fluctuation range of Chaos Orb in non-compliant platforms is $0.05- $0.25 (dispersion 80%), while that in compliant ones is $0.12- $0.16 (dispersion 13%). Players should take the risk premium and compliance cost into complete account and choose the trading channels carefully.