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Potential malware containing game on Steam?

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boldahehe

So, today a person added me randomly on Steam and wrote a comment on my profile stating he wanted me to idle a game. I was like "sure, why not, which game?". He told me it was called "RUSSIAPHOBIA" and when I looked at the store page, at first glance it just seemed like one of those very cheap trash games, nothing out of the ordinary. But then I looked at the reviews and found out that a lot of people were accusing this game of being a cryptominer or containing some sort of malware. Then I found out that the person didn't even own the game himself, which seemed weird as well, because why don't you just activate it and idle it yourself? Anyway, I just told him that I wouldn't do it and unfriended him, so I don't really know if there was something wrong with it.

But it made me wonder... if it is really harmful, how come Valve hasn't noticed in the year and a half of the game being available on Steam? And how did it ever get released on Steam in the first place? And if there's nothing wrong with it, where are those reviews coming from and why did he want me to idle a game he didn't own himself? Does anyone have any idea and would care to explain it to me?

3 years ago*

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5 Comments
Greenule

I had a game (sadly don't remember its original name) which was hacked, re-named into "Fornite" something and also all files of the game were replaced. I actually didn't check it out much, but the developer posted that his account was hacked and nobody should download the game. I think he got the account back and switched everything to normal again, but it seems like I got rid of the game anyway since I can't find it now.

Steam probably doesn't check every single update of each game? Or I'm not sure how these things happen, its just a guess.

3 years ago
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AllTracTurbo

I remember the game "Measurement Problem" and the files got changed and it was renamed to "PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATLLEGROUNDS". The new download was much bigger than the original, but I think they were just blank files. I don't know what happened, but they released the game again as a new game on Steam and did nothing for everyone that originally owned the game.

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3 years ago
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MikuIT

I'm pretty sure Valve checks game files before they're made public... but so does Google, and look how many news we can find about Play Store scams.

By the way, in cases like this, "idling" implies using software like ASF, Idle Master, Idle Daddy, SAM, etc., "tricking" Steam servers into thinking you're accumulating playtime, in order to drop trading cards.
It's 100% safe, as it doesn't even require downloading games, let alone launch them.

As for the game itself, it seems to be a simple case of poor optimization, as found out by the more inquisitive users... and even confirmed by the dev themselves (YES, not kidding).

3 years ago
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This comment was deleted 2 years ago.

3 years ago
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Maxsaga

I have the same game and I doubt it is malware or cryptominer, since as they commented steam checks every game and every update.

In the forums there are many opinions, some indeed say that it is a malware/cryptominer and others comment that only the game is poorly optimized, as it makes excessive use of the gpu and perhaps many confuse it with malware/cryptominer.

3 years ago
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