Steam cracks down on “fake” game developers & refunds scammed users
ValveSteam has officially addressed the wave of fake games that flooded that site at the end of February and scammed multiple users.
Game developers uploaded fake copies of popular titles to Steam’s storefront to scam players into buying their titles. The most notable scam came from the popular title Helldivers 2. A game that has amassed hundreds of thousands of players since releasing on February 8.
These fake developers posted an identical storefront of Helldivers 2 to Steam and put the game at a high discount to entice players. One had the game listed for 50% off while another had it at a staggering 75%.
Multiple people fell for the scam which resulted in Steam having to issue refunds to those affected. In addition to the refunds, these accounts were also banned.
Scammed Steam users receive refunds
One of the users affected by these discounted game scams took to Reddit to share a statement made by Steam to them regarding the situation. However, those within the comments were concerned about what this could mean for the platform in the future.
“Unfortunately, fake versions of the games were uploaded to Steam, that shared the same name as popular games on Steam,” said the support statement. “You purchased one of these fake games. We have banned the company that published them and refunded your purchase.”
What these fake game developers were attempting to accomplish confused multiple commenters. One person pointed out that Steam often withholds money made from storefront purchases. This means that the “developers” would not be able to run away with the money easily.
“I wonder if the fake games contained some malware,” questioned one commenter. “Like if they were some malware, keyloggers, etc?”
Users who purchased fake games have no proof that the games contained malware, but the possibility exists since these were not genuine copies of the game. As others have pointed out, although developers may not have received payment, they could have inflicted more damage by issuing malware.