GoKawiilThe Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has seemingly launched, or at least made public, a new investigation into malware-ridden fake games on Steam. Anyone who installed and played one of these games between 2024 and 2026 was likely affected, and the FBI is urging them to come forward. Victims of these malware-embedded titles will help with the investigation and be kept completely confidential.
There are several games part of this list, including Chemia, Dashverse / DashFPS, Lampy, Lunara, PirateFi, Tokenova, and BlockBasters. Most of these have their own dedicated stories from the time they were released, and stole victim info and compromised their accounts. BlockBasters is the most high-profile mention here as the game exfiltrated $32,000 worth of cancer donations from a streamer last year.
Moreover, pretty much all of these games — and likely more that the FBI didn't explicitly name — are crypto scams that drain your wallets once launched. Most people are logged into every website on their browser, which only makes the perpetrator's job easier as the automated attack ransacks everything. Even your Steam account will be hijacked, and you might lose access to your library.
Article continues below
The frequency of these thieving games has only gone up in the past few years despite Valve's efforts to regularly combat them. It's likely that the influx of new releases overpowers the vetting system, letting a few bad apples through. In some cases, subsequent updates or patches introduce the malware, letting the base game pass Steam's checks. That's why it's important to provide any relevant info that can help the authorities catch and/or prosecute these criminals under federal law.
You can fill out the "Seeking Victim Information" form on the FBI's website if you've been affected. If you know someone else who was targeted by these fake, malicious Steam games, then send an email to [email protected]. In any case, the process is entirely voluntary, but if you choose to step up, you might be followed up with later based on your responses.
Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.