The FBI has arrested a 29-year-old Alabama man who allegedly used Fortnite voice chat to threaten to murder people, including federal agents.
Edward Frith, a Fortnite player using the account name WagesOfNinja, was arrested after Epic Games reported him to the FBI on September 20 for making disturbing statements inside the Fortnite client, according to an affidavit obtained by Aftermath. Some of the statements were made over voice chat, and recording files were handed over to federal investigators, according to an affidavit filed September 21.
In those recordings, Frith allegedly said he was "letting all [his] rage out because I want to literally murder somebody" and that he thinks about murdering people "every day."
Frith was apparently an avid Fortnite player. According to the court document, he had accessed his account more than 1,700 times, most recently on September 21, the same day the criminal complaint was filed.
Other transcribed statements attributed to Frith include threats directed at law enforcement itself. "Let's see if the FBI is going to show up at my door because I'll shoot them motherfuckers too," he allegedly said. In another recording, he reportedly stated, "I'm going to be a murderer one day."
In perhaps the most alarming excerpt, Frith allegedly described wanting to provoke a lethal confrontation with police: "One day I'm going to turn into that person just like the people you see on the fucking videos on YouTube where they fucking run up to the police officer and they have no reason at all and then they make the police kill them. I'm gonna be that guy."
Frith was indicted for violating the federal interstate threatening communications statute on September 23. The United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama ordered him remanded to a corrections facility as he awaits trial, according to a detention order. Frith entered a plea of not guilty on September 24, and a trial is expected in December.
Epic Games likely flagged Frith's threats using the voice reporting system it announced in 2023. Under that system, Epic only receives a copy of voice chat audio when voice reporting is enabled and another participant affirmatively reports the conversation using the in-game feature. The system captures the last five minutes of voice chat audio, which means a report must be filed within five minutes of the offending statements, according to the company's FAQ.
Fortnite players can also report text chat, which preserves messages for 30 days. Epic additionally moderates text chat with automated systems designed to detect what it calls "categories of potentially high-harm interactions," including self-harm, child endangerment, and threats of real-world violence, and submits reports for human review.
Anything that violates those rules can be reported to law enforcement, Epic has said, and offending accounts are banned.
