Scams based on Half Life 3 are a perennial favorite – now there's a new campaign centered on GTA 5 for PCs.
Grand Theft Auto V (GTA 5) is already available on some consoles. It is expected to become the world's best selling video game, and in the four months from its release in September 2013, it became the UK's best seller for the whole year. Hard-core PC gamers are waiting impatiently for the desktop version; but Rockstar Games has given no release date, nor even confirmed that there will be a PC version. In fact, the supposed release dates for GTA 5 on Xbox One and PS4 were only apparently leaked this weekend (probably June 2014).
"This uncertainty did not stop cybercriminals from taking advantage of the pre-release publicity," warned Trend Micro Friday. "We recently found a spam campaign making the rounds; this one claims that the user has been invited to the GTA V PC beta test."
The example email provided by Trend Micro is written in Slovak. It provides links in the body and includes an attachment. The message suggests that the recipient is invited to become a beta tester for GTA 5 on Windows. But it's a scam. One of the links goes to a phishing site. However, "The biggest problem," warns Trend Micro, "is the attached .ZIP file, which when opened reveals an application named Your promo code in app rockstargames.com. The extension may actually make people believe that it is a link to the Rockstar [website]; in fact it is a backdoor detected as BKDR_ANDROM.ATG."
Any gamer tempted by the opportunity to become an early user of GTA 5 on PCs will not get that opportunity by clicking the links or opening the attachment. In the latter case, all the gamer will get is a nasty infection designed to steal information from the PC. There is no GTA 5 for PCs, nor even confirmation that there will ever be one.
The malware itself, however, is well known to the anti-virus industry. Anybody who has been tempted and has opened the attachment should scan their computer with a reputable and up-to-date anti-virus system.