GTA V Online PC Beta Tests Could Be A Scam
Those interested in playing GTA V online for the PC could be swindled into getting a load of malware on their computers thanks to a new scam.
Email invites are going around asking people to participate in a PC beta test of the game that security software company Trend Micro says are completely fake. These so called tests actually pack a good amount of malware and could be harmful to player's computers.
"We recently found spammed messages that pretend as an invitation for beta testing the popular game, Grand Theft Auto V on Windows platform," explained the company on its website this week. "It bore the subject, GTA V and informed users about a promotional code that they need to access by clicking the URL. It has .ZIP file attachment, which actually contains malware detected by Trend Micro as TROJ_FORUCON."
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The actual emails fail to look like something that would actually be sent out by Rockstar. Trend Micro put up a sample of the email that is packed with grammar errors and has a section written in Eastern European languages.
Similar spam emails were sent out for other popular games in the past such as World of Warcraft and Grand Theft Auto IV.
"Clearly, the worldwide success of these games makes it a good social engineering lure to trick users. In this specific case, spammers capitalized on the much-anticipated release date of Grand Theft Auto V on PC, Xbox One, and PS4. We highly advised users to verify first the validity of email messages they received pertaining to any game beta testing as this may possibly lead to system infection or even information theft."
GTA V for the PC is rumored to be released sometime this year. This unreleased version of the hit game showed up on Game Stop's website earlier this week.
