PC gamers beware, a new scam is circulating on the highly popular Steam platform that could very well compromise your account and risk your entire game library.As spotted by some eagle eyed Reddit users, it takes the form of a phishing link sent via direct message.
It purports to be an official playtest invitation, in this example allegedly for the upcoming game Mafia: The Old Country. The text accompanying the link states that “You have been invited to join a Steam Playtest!” and need to “Visit the invite link below to add it to your Steam Library!”The link preview shows the logo of the game and reaffirms that “You have been invited to join the open playtest for Mafia: The Old Country.” At first glance, the link looks pretty legitimate, with the first half of the official Steam store URL, but if you’re paying close attention you can spot some extra text added on that reveals it is not the genuine domain.Thankfully, it looks like the page from this specific scam has already been taken down, but it’s not difficult to imagine what it could be.
You should, of course, never click any dodgy links, but if you did it would likely lead to a fake login page that would then harvest your Steam account details or potentially even initiate a download for some malicious software to hijack your PC.The repercussions of falling for this kind of phishing attack could be severe, locking you out of your account or risking exposing your personal details to cyber criminals.
Always treat any message that contains a link with suspicion, even if it comes from someone you trust — their account could have been hacked.
Steam will thankfully also warn you if you try to open an external page, which should prompt you to think twice.The platform does have its own play test invite system, but it is rarely used and any such invitations will appear in your Steam notifications tab rather than in the form of a message.Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more.