Video Games

PSA: Fake Helldivers 2 sales on Steam are trying to scam people

One scummy publisher is trying the same with Last Epoch

Marco Wutz

PSA: Fake Helldivers 2 sales on Steam are trying to scam people
PSA: Fake Helldivers 2 sales on Steam are trying to scam people /

Update (March 1, 2024, 11:45am CET): Steam has taken action against the fake listings of Helldivers 2 and Last Epoch on its platform. Please remain cautious when you buy titles on the store, as there is always the possibility of other scammers trying a similar trick.

Original (March 1, 2024, 9:20am CET): Several fake listings showing Helldivers 2 being on a sale have appeared on Steam, trying to trick people into purchasing games. This is a scam attempt – the real Helldivers 2 page on Steam does not have a discount on the game.

It looks like whoever controls the store pages for games called Figurality and DO NOT SMILE was able to change the complete make-up of their pages to match that of Helldivers 2, which includes the game title, developer, and publisher.

Publishers listed on Steam as Fest Studio and Bside Studio appear to be behind the scams.

Screenshot of a fake Helldivers 2 listing on Steam.
Steambase is showing what's truly behind that "Helldivers 2" listing / Steambase

Fest Studio is not only trying to impersonate the Helldivers 2 page, but has also changed the page of a game called Furious Rage into a fake page of Last Epoch. This one, at least, is no longer available on Steam, so there is no danger of falling for the scam anymore.

Steam is probably going to deal with these cases of impersonation quickly, but this still brings concerns about security to the forefront: Why can publishers simply change their own store pages to match those of other companies without this being checked by anyone? Keeping the process as smooth as possible for publishers is one thing, giving scammers the opportunity to run rampant is quite another.

For now, just be very careful in case you want to buy Helldivers 2 or have motivated your friends to do – do not buy the game on sale, do not give the enemies of space democracy any money.

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Marco Wutz
MARCO WUTZ

Marco Wutz is a writer from Parkstetten, Germany. He has a degree in Ancient History and a particular love for real-time and turn-based strategy games like StarCraft, Age of Empires, Total War, Age of Wonders, Crusader Kings, and Civilization as well as a soft spot for Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail. He began covering StarCraft 2 as a writer in 2011 for the largest German community around the game and hosted a live tournament on a stage at gamescom 2014 before he went on to work for Bonjwa, one of the country's biggest Twitch channels. He branched out to write in English in 2015 by joining tl.net, the global center of the StarCraft scene run by Team Liquid, which was nominated as the Best Coverage Website of the Year at the Esports Industry Awards in 2017. He worked as a translator on The Crusader Stands Watch, a biography in memory of Dennis "INTERNETHULK" Hawelka, and provided live coverage of many StarCraft 2 events on the social channels of tl.net as well as DreamHack, the world's largest gaming festival. From there, he transitioned into writing about the games industry in general after his graduation, joining GLHF, a content agency specializing in video games coverage for media partners across the globe, in 2021. He has also written for NGL.ONE, kicker, ComputerBild, USA Today's ForTheWin, The Sun, Men's Journal, and Parade. Email: marco.wutz@glhf.gg

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